Zachary Ochoa Picks Up W on Kownacki-Helenius Undercard at Barclays

After a nearly two year hiatus Brooklyn’s Zachary “Zungry” Ochoa (21-1, 7 KOs) made his return to the ring to pick up a hard-fought, eight-round unanimous decision victory over the very game Angel Sarinana (10-10-3, 4 KOs) on the Adam Kownacki-Robert Helenius undercard from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

The official scores from ringside were 77-73 x2 and 76-74.

The 27-year-old Ochoa dug down deep into his Puerto Rican and Brooklyn roots to fend off a wild Sarinana, who wanted to brawl. The Mexican fighter caught Ochoa with a looping right hand which stunned “Zungry” at the end of the second round. Ochoa came out energized in the third round hurting Sarinana right back and opening up a cut over his right eye.   

The two men brawled in the center of the ring in rounds four and five with Ochoa getting the better of the exchanges with his solid technique. The fight became sloppy at times when Ochoa seemed to tire and Sarinana was trying to land a home run with ever wild swing.

Referee Mike Ortega deducted a point from Sarinana in the seventh for intentionally trying to headbutt Ochoa and later in the eighth round Ortega returned the favor by deducting a point from Ochoa for excessive holding.

Both men let it loose in the eighth and final round with each getting in huge looping rights on the other much to delight of the crowd. Ochoa enjoyed the home cooking and hometown support in his fifth appearance at Barclays Center.

This was Ochoa’s first appearance in the ring since defeating Daulis Prescott in October of 2018. Ochoa was a rising star much like Ryan Garcia is today, popular with young women and on Instagram until he was outclassed by Yves Ulysse Jr. in March 2017 and lost by stoppage.

Ochoa rebounded to win four straight before taking a break. 

In welterweight action Arnold Gonzalez improved to (4-0, 1KO) with a pulverizing beat down of Traye Labby (4-5-4, 3 KOs). The official time of the stoppage was 2:07 of the fourth round.

The 25-year-old Gonzalez from Harlem, NY unleashed a furious combination to hurt Labby and send him into the corner in the fourth round. Gonzalez sensing his first professional stoppage was  close at hand seized the opportunity and pounced on the Illinois native with a six-punch combination as the referee jumped in to stop the bout. 

Gonzalez joined Manny Pacquiao’s training camps for both the Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman bouts, emerging as one of Pacquiao’s favorite sparring partners.   

In the opening bout of the evening Francis Hogan (1-0, 1 KO) won his professional debut in spectacular fashion by knocking out Brent Oren (2-4) with a vicious left hook to the body in the fourth round.

The end came at 2:11 of the round.  

The 19-year-old Hogan, from Weymouth, Massachusetts, dominated Oren for much of the bout with his sharp jab and quick combinations. With his nose bloody, Oren tried to find solace in the corner towards the end of the fourth round when Hogan landed a brutal body shot to finish him off. The Virginia native laid on the canvas for approximately five minutes until he managed to get the wind back in his body and make it back to his feet.