Huerta Shines at The Grand Plaza Ballroom
By Michael Campbell
Competition from MMA broadcasts is pushing boxing promoters to assemble cards with quality match-ups. Top Rank leads the pack in delivering good boxing shows and brought three top prospects and an explosive title fight to the Grand Plaza Hotel Thursday evening.
In the Lightweight division’s roll call of champions, Houston’s very own Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz holds the WBA & WBO titles, and will attempt to add the IBF belt on October 13th in Chicago versus Julio Diaz. Miguel Huerta hopes to gain status amongst the top fighters in the division by winning a regional title.
In his most recent bout, Huerta fought terrifically versus former WBC Titlist Kid Diamond. Both the WBC and Top Rank recognized his performance by placing him at #12 in their rankings and giving him a shot at the NABF belt versus veteran Efren Hinojosa.
Huerta is nicknamed “El Anestesista” (The Anesthesiologist) because, he says, “…when I hit somebody, I put them to sleep.” He made good on this proclamation early in the fight when he dropped Hinojosa with a big left hook. Hinojosa got up but proved still woozy as the next solid punch from Huerta put him on the canvas again. Huerta began teeing off going for the knockout but Hinojosa proved tough in recovering enough to land his own staggering punch as the round ended.
Left hooks from Huerta opened a gash over Hinojosa’s right eye that bled throughout the fight, prompting multiple examinations from the ringside physician who recommended the bout continue. Hinojosa proved his toughness by trading punches toe to toe with Huerta numerous times and coming on late to win a few of the late rounds. But with a big lead, Huerta takes the decision and wins the title.
Vanes Martirosyan, a U.S. Olympian in 2004, returned for his third professional contest in Houston. The Armenian-American is deemed a future star by his promoter, and he provided backing for this prediction when Alexis Division was unable to answer the bell for the third round.
“Vicious” Victor Ortiz earned the biggest victory of his career by stopping the very durable Emmanuel Clottey just before the bell of the 10th and final round. The 20-year-old Ortiz had never been past the 8th round in his fights and the slow starting Clottey’s plan appeared to be to take him deep in the bout, while Ortiz was clearly pacing himself to go the distance.
Ortiz is a fighter who knows the meaning of dedication and hard work. The highly rated prospect works full time outside of his boxing training and helps support his siblings, recently gaining custody of his younger brother, Temo.
The blemishes on his record are due to disqualification when he knocked out his opponent with a punch after the referee’s command to break a clinch, and a technical draw when he was cut by an opponent’s elbow.
Clottey is the toughest foe Ortiz has faced in his young career. The bout began slowly with Ortiz showing patience, and attribute he’s learning with maturity, and flicking his right jab which Clottey has trouble dealing with. Ortiz controlled the scoring until late in the fourth when Clottey came on strong just before the end of the round. Referee Ronnie Ralston warned the Ghanian fighter repeatedly for holding and punching which culminated in the 8th round when he twice penalized Clottey with point deductions.
With a huge lead on the scorecards, Ortiz brimmed with confidence and let his fists fly. Midway through the final round, Ortiz landed a straight right which dropped Clottey. After Ralston’s count, Clottey tried to weather the “Vicious” attack, but would succumb again prompting the referee to wave off the contest.
Argenis “La Tormenta” Mendez got things rolling in the first bout of the evening. The prospect from Brooklyn displayed a tight defensive stance which Mochis had trouble penetrating. Mendez spent the first two rounds digging body punches which caused damage that would pay off later in the bout. Mid-way through the third round, he began landing head shots which hurt Mochis repeatedly until referee Laurence Cole deemed the punishment too severe and stopped the bout late in the fourth round.
Houstonian based fighters filled out the remainder of the card. Jonathan Velardez, Willie “Dynamite” Edwards, Marty Osuna, Bobby “El Jefe” Flores and Chase “White Tiger” Shields picked up victories.
Michael “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” Buffer and Lupe “Le Voz del Box” Contreras shared the ring announcing duties.
Results
NABF Lightweight Title
MIGUEL ANGEL HUERTA of Mexico City, MX (25-8-1, 17 KOs) over EFREN HINOJOSA of Lakeside, CA (29-4-1, 17 KOs) by Unanimous Decision with scores of 120-106, 119-107, & 118-108.
Super Lightweights
VICTOR ORTIZ of Oxnard, CA (19-1-1, 14 KOs) over EMMANUEL CLOTTEY of Accra, GHA/Bronx, NY (24-8, 14 KOs) by TKO at 2:59 of the 10th round.
Super Welterweights
VANES MARTIROSYAN of Glendale, CA (15-0, 11 KOs) over ALEXIS DIVISION of Miami, FL (16-6, 13 KOs) by TKO at 0:10 of the 3rd round.
Featherweights
ARGENIS MENDEZ of San Juan, D.R./Brooklyn, NY (7-0, 6 KOs) over MARTIN ARMENTA of Los Mochis, MX (11-15-3, 7 KOs) by TKO at 1:05 of the 4th round.
Heavyweights
WILLIE EDWARDS of Beaumont, TX (3-0, 1 KO) over MARON JACKSON of Kansas City, KS (0-3-2, 0 KOs) by Unanimous Decision with scores of 40-36 on all judges scorecards.
Super Featherweights
MARCELINO OSUNA of Houston, TX (5-1, 2 KOs) over MARTIN SOLIS of Brownsville, TX (0-4, 0 KOs) by Majority Decision with scores of 39-37, 38-38, & 39-37.
Flyweights
JONATHAN VELARDEZ of Cleveland, TX (5-0, 4 KOs) over JOSE MANUEL GARCIA of Dallas, TX (1-2, 0 KOs) by Unanimous Decision with scores of 40-36 on all judges scorecards.
Heavyweights
BOBBY FLORES of Houston, TX (6-1, 6 KOs) over JOHN RUDOLPH of Kansas City, MO (0-3, 0 KOs) by KO at 2:03 of the 1st round.
Super Welterweights
CHASE SHIELDS of Houston, TX (23-1-1, 12 KOs) over MIKE McGUIRE of Topeka, KS (5-17-1, 2 KOs) by TKO at 0:31 of the 4th round.