David Diaz Does It Again, 'Speedy' Grinds Down Ortega
by
Julius Stecker - Ringside
12/11 - All that can be said about David Diaz's effort this past Friday
night can be explained by one word, outstanding. The highly ranked Jr.
Welterweight Contender; overcame some rocky moments early on to score
a
10th round TKO victory over the game and strong Jamie Rangel, 29-6, at
a
jam-packed house, in the loud Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL. Diaz,
26-0,
entered the ring at 136 pounds, and he once again demonstrated why he
deserves a big fight against any of the top lightweights and jr.
welters in
the world. Talkingboxing.com was ringside to catch the action of this
amazing fight.
Many people will remember Rangel from his shocking 1st
round knockout loss to Zab Judah last December. A
different Rangel showed up this time though, and he
gave Diaz a helluva fight.
It was perhaps one of the
top fights of the year, but unfortunately there were
no TV cameras to record the action. I would not be
surprised if you see some bootleg camcorder action of
the fight ending up on Ebay.com, the fight was that
good.
The 1st round began with both guys coming out with
guns blazing, but it was Rangel who got the best of
the exchanges early on. He rocked Diaz mid-way
through the round with a huge right hand. Diaz kept
his composure, and finished strong, but he did not do
enough to win the round.
The 2nd round Diaz pressed
the action more, but Rangel was still landing the
cleaner shots, taking another round, but Diaz
was closing the distance.
The 3rd round was when the fight turned and it was
when Diaz took control of the action. He began
landing his left hand and his uppercut. He started to
pick Rangel apart. Diaz did much of the same in round
4 to make it an even fight, after 4 rounds of action.
The 5th was a fantastic round of will and of skill.
Rangel had will, but Diaz combined his will with
skill, and he punctuated the round was some
blockbuster power punches. The round closed with both
exchanging on the ropes and the crowd was in an
uproar, pleased at the effort of their hometown hero Diaz.
Round 6 was the beginning of the end for Rangel, he
was deducted a point for a low blow and he just could
not keep Diaz off him. The next 3 rounds were action
packed and well fought and the enthusiastic crowd
could not contain itself. Diaz was in control of the
action, and the pro-Diaz crowd loved every minute of
it.
Round 10, is when Diaz closed the show in
spectacular fashion, landing a huge uppercut and he
capped it with a nice combination. Rangel then
began to wobble, and once Diaz smelled blood, it was
over. He was all over Rangel like white on rice,
prompting Rangel’s corner to throw in the towel.
Overall it was a brilliant performance by Diaz, while he could have
used his defensive skills more in this fight, he displayed the kind of
crowd-pleasing performance that usually makes major networks salivate. Diaz has a February Showtime date against Kendall Holt, so if he gets past Holt, the sky is the limit.
Undercard
In the co-feature, jr. welterweight Al “Speed” Gonzales scored a
uniamous decision over the dirty Roberto Ortega, by
scores of 97-92, 99-90, and 96-93. The fight was a
lackluster affair, thanks in part to the holding and
low blow efforts of Ortega. When Gonzales tried to
make the fight, Ortega would just hold and not allow
for anything to happen. Overall it was a good
learning experience for Speedy.
Also Luciano Perez demonstrated why Chicago fights
fans can’t get enough of him, by scoring a first round
knockout of Jerome Elder. The fight was stopped
early, but it was only a matter of time before Elder
was knocked out.
Cruiserweight Mike Nevitt scored a TKO victory over Vinson Durham,
after the 42 year-old Durham inexplicitly quit.
Nevitt continues to get better, as he makes the
transition from kickboxing to boxing.
Ivan Rodriguez scored a unaimous decision over Omar
Reyes, in an entertaining fight between two young and
limited fighters.
Tommy Bach and Jaime Alvarado fought to a draw; that
probably should have gone Bach’s way.
8 Count Productions and Dominic Pesoli once again put
on an excellent fight card for Chicago fight fans.
Discuss this at our Boxing Forum
