Chocolatito vs. Martinez Ringside Undercard Report

The Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California, was where the Matchroom Boxing card was headlined by the main event action between Roman ‘Chocolatito' Gonzalez and Julio Cesar Martinez. But before that contest took place, there was an undercard with some exciting action leading up to that main event.

Here's what went down before that took place:

To kick off the card, Anthony Herrera(2-0) got into some one-way traffic before stopping Jose Toribio (7-5) in the fourth round in a bout which is a reminder that there are levels to boxing, and Toribio was outgunned. Herrera moves

It was the pro debut of Skye Nicholson and took on late replacement local southpaw Jessica Juarez (3-1) which she won wide by decision using her distance to stay out of harm's way. The six rounds of preliminary action were a tactical matchup, but this is what you usually see in pro debuts. We'll see how she grows from here. White, the in-ring effort was tame. Her ring walk music choice of “New Sensation” by INXS was superb.

Skye Nicolson and Jessica Juarez during their March 5, 2022 fight at the Pechanga Arena. Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.

Marc Castro recovered from an early knockout to remain undefeated (6-0, 5 KOs) by edging Julio Madera (3-2). Madera was game and sent Castro to the canvas in that second round, but Castro regained his legs and recovered sufficiently to close out the six-round contest.

The Youtube portion closed out with Diego Pacheco (14-0) giving Gene Pllana (9-4-1) the kitchen sink over two rounds. Pllana's reputation of being a tough out was not the case here as Pacheco could land anything and did just that in two rounds before the fight was waved off.

The live-action portion kicked off with a fight that escalated quickly between Roberto Valenzuela Jr. (23-3) and Souleymane Cissokho (15-0) exchanging knockdowns in the 4th round of their contest. From there, Cissokho kept an eye out for that right of Valenzuela and proceeded to outbox him over the rest of ten rounds.

The following support bout didn't provide as much entertainment but was a hard-fought majority draw between Angel Fierro (19-1-2) and Juan Carlos Burgos (34-6-3). If you missed this one, the biggest takeaway was that Fierro started strong, but Burgos could adjust, and the fight was a pretty competitive back and forth over thirty minutes.

Mauricio Lara celebrates after defeating Emilio Sanchez in their March 5, 2022 fight at the Pechanga Arena. Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom.

The co-main event of this card was where the fireworks were re-lit as Mauricio Lara (24-2-1) bought his hammer hands and violence with him as he looked to make a statement against Emilio Sanchez (19-2). Sanchez wasn't going down swinging, and what transpired was a shootout that ended as the third round ended as Lara sent Sanchez down for the second.