By Luis Sandoval
At the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California, the night opened up with a 10 round Lightweight attraction between John “Action” Jackson (15-1, 13KOs’) and Carlos Hernandez (14-8, 5KOs). Hernandez was the busier fighter throughout but it was Jackson who seemed to land the harder cleaner punches. Jackson managed to put Hernandez down with a short left hook in the 7th round. A spirited attack by Hernandez in the last round that had Jackson on wobbly legs would be halted as Jackson put him down for a 2nd time with a hard left hook. Hernandez beat the count but lost the battle as Jackson received a Unanimous decision with scores of 97-92 and 97-91 twice.
La Puente’s Abraham Lopez didn’t waste any time as he disposed of his opponent Edward Utorov (7-11, 3KOs)in a mere 16 seconds of the first round. Lopez was able to catch Utorov with a devastating left hook to the body that put him down for good as Lopez improved to his undefeated record to 8-0, 7KOs.
In a special female attraction, Kaliesha West (11-1, 2KOs) took on Washington DC native Rolanda Andrews (8-8-1, 4KOs) and put on an exciting scrap. Kaliesha entered the ring with a warriors mask and tried to live up to it by going straight at Andrews. Both decided to exchange in the middle of the ring but it was Andrews who was winning the exchanges. West tried her best to pour it on but the southpaw from DC continued to land straight lefts and right hooks. After a 6th and final round that saw both women throw everything but the kitchen sink at each other, it was West who walked off with a surprising unanimous decision that received boos from the crowd.
The big boys took the stage as Heavyweights were in action much to the delight of the energetic crowd. Bowie Tupou (19-0, 15Kos) took on Michigan’s Demetirce King (14-18, 12KOs) in a bout that saw big bombs being thrown from the opening bell. After a successful opening minute by King, Tupou began finding the range and landed a huge left hook that dropped King hard. On shaky legs, King beat the count but at the start of the 2nd round, Tupou unleashed a vicious attack of right and left hooks and put King down for a 2nd and final time.
Undefeated Super Welterweight Alberto Herrera (4-0, 3KOs) made easy work of his out of shape opponent John Red Tomahawk (3-5, 3KOs) by dropping him twice in the first round and forcing his corner to put a halt to the fight. The Riverside native landed a hard left hook to Tomahawk’s soft midsection to get the first knockdown. He would follow it up with a straight right and left hook combination that put Tomahawk down yet again as his corner threw in the towel.
In a one sided Super Bantamweight 4 rounder, Ontario’s Jonathan Arellano (2-0, 2KOs) put a beating on Fernando Moreno who was making his professional debut. Arellano went to work fast landing hard left and right hooks. Moreno would hit the canvas twice after being tagged with right hands and was finally put down a 3rd time and final time as the ref had seen enough and waived the fight off.