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Cortez Stops Avitia at The Tank, Oslon Retains Title
FRI July 21, BRIAN BLAKE - San Jose Sports & Entertainment, Goosen-Tutor Promotions and the HP Pavilion hosted the third installment of their well known "Fight Night At The Tank" series this past Thursday night with the IBA Americas Super Middleweight king Ricardo "El Guerrero" Cortez abruptly stopping challenger Paulino Avitia, in the third round. WBC Female Champion Eliza Olson defended her crown over the course of six rounds against a tough but less skilled Mariam Brakache.
2,248 boxing fans loudly cheered in anticipation as their hometown fighter, Ricardo Cortez made his way to the ring for the night"s main event.
As the opening bell rang Avitia came out quickly and tried to apply the pressure. Cortez found success sitting back and countering Paulino's shots. Cortez also exhibited excellent head movement, as he was able to evade many of Avitia"s punches while backed against the ropes. While Avitia tried to press the action it was the hard right hands landed by Cortez that were the key to winning the round.
Cortez found his range in the next round and began to open up more offensively. Working his stiff jab to set up combimations to the head and body of Avitia proved to be effective. Both fighters landed their fair share of punches often exchanging hard right hands. A huge uppercut landed for Cortez at the end of the second round. Cortez once again came out on the offensive in the third round.
A stiff jab immediately followed by a right cross by Cortez was able to stop Avitia in his tracks and bring him to his knees. Without a count and before Avitia could get up Referee Jon Schorle waved it off at the 38-second mark. With that Cortez improves his record to 19-1-1, with14KO's while Paulino Avitia falls to 13-7, with 9 KO's.
In the semi-main event of the evening fans were treated to a six round bout featuring the WBC Female and IBA Ladies Champion, Eliza Olson (10-5-3, 2KO's), who fights out of nearby San Francisco. She took on the rugged Mariam Brakache (4-4, 1 KO) of Atlanta, GA.
Olson came out strong throwing lots of combinations and landing big rights to the head of Brakache. While both fighters began to tire in the third round Olson was still the fighter landing more often with the harder punches. The conclusion of most rounds found both fighter throwing shots well after the bell with Referee Marty Sammons having to step in to break them up.
While Brakache proved to be a tough and durable opponent she was simply outmatched. While Olson seemed to dominate the fight she was unable to drop her opponent. Official scores for the bout were 60-54, 58-56, and 59-54 all in favor of the champ, Eliza Olson.
In a bout that would have made Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward proud San Jose's own Arturo Quintero (15-4, 9KO"s) took on Ulises Pena (14-6, 4KO's) of Palmdale, CA. Right off the bat the two combatants went right for one another both landing hard shots. The difference between the two appeared to be the slight edge in speed in favor of Quintero. The fight carried the same back and forth action into the second round this time with Pena coming on just a little bit harder than Quintero.
Quintero opened up the third round quickly landing several shots to the head and body of Pena. Both fighters began to tire a bit towards the tail end of the round. 28 seconds into the fourth round Quintero landed a flurry of big shots resulting in Pena finding himself on the canvas. As the bout resumed Pena continued to throw bombs but was still on unsteady legs. Less than a minute later he got caught again and for the second time in the round he picked himself off of the canvas. It was solely the heart of Pena that allowed him to finish the round.
At the beginning of the fifth round Pena seemed to have his wits about him again and both fighters went back to the non-stop brawl they had been entertaining the crowd with. At the 1:42 mark of the round the faster Quintero was able to connect to the head of Pena and drop him for the third time in the fight. Once again the gutsy Pena beat Referee Jon Schorle's count. Quintero continued to land bombs and try to capitalize on the situation but Ulises Pena sheer will prevailed as he refused to go back down. As much as Pena was getting tagged he made sure he landed hard shots of his own.
Quintero's speed advantage allowed him to land almost at will in the final round. Observer"s ringside had to simply be amazed that Pena was able to stay on his feet for the remainder of the fight. As the final bell rang the crowd sprung to their feet as it did after many of the rounds in this exciting affair. The scores read 58-54, 58-53, and 59-52 all in favor of Arturo Quintero. While Quintero got the nod it was really the fans in attendance that won, and both fighters should be given a pat on the back for what they accomplished.
As I mentioned earlier, Quintero and Pena's bout would have made Gatti and Ward proud. Unfortunately, the second fight of the evening between heavyweights Teke Oruh and Shaun Ross would have made John Ruiz proud.
Undefeated heavyweight prospect, Teke "African Prince" Oruh (11-0-1, 5KO's) took on Shaun Tyrone Ross for the second time in his career. The first round came at a very slow pace as both fighters tried to feel the other one out. Teke turned it on a bit in the second round and he began to connect with hard shots to the head and body of Ross.
Throughout the round Ross seemed to do little more than try to hold Oruh. At the beginning of the third round Ross came out and fired off some quick shots to the head of Oruh. Oruh fired back with a huge left. Then once again the action slowed to a crawl as the crown began to grow restless. In the fourth and final round Ross came out looking to counter Oruh's punches. As Ross tried to hold on to Oruh throughout the round Oruh focused on working the body until the bout came to an end. All three judges scored the bout at 40-36 in favor of the Nigerian, Teke Oruh. Former Jr. Olympic Champion Hector "El Rey" Martinez took on Major Mendoza in a four round heavyweight fight to kick off the evening. Martinez quickly made Mendoza's professional debut an unsuccessful one as the out of shape Mendoza tasted leather the entire 38 seconds the bout lasted. The punching power of Martinez just might make Mendoza want to rethink whether or not he wants to jump back to the ring. The former Northern California Golden Gloves Champion, Hector Martinez, improves his professional record to 5-1 with 5 KO's.
Boxing fans not familiar with Hector "El Rey" Martinez can learn more about the hard-hitting Mexican heavyweight in an upcoming interview only on TalkingBoxing.com
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