LA FIGHT CLUB REPORT: “Fireworks”

Tradition dictates celebrating our country’s independence with barbeques and fireworks.

Golden Boy Promotions decided to continue the festivities, post July 4th, with their L.A. Fight Club show at the Belasco Theater on Friday evening.

The main event showcased NABF Bantamweight Champion Oscar Negrete from Colombia, who we last saw on HBO in December against WBC Super Bantamweight Champion Rey Vargas.

His opponent Diuhi Olguin was a bantamweight contender who does not have the sexy boxing record as he entered 13-9 with 3 KOs.

However, he is a fighter that likes to play “wedding crasher” and ruin plans for prospects and contenders.  Kevin Rivers Jr. and Horacio Garcia found out what that felt like in previous fights.

Main Event: Oscar “El Jaguar”Negrete vs Diuhi Olguin

Negrete’s ring experience was clear from the beginning as he was dictating the pace of the fight. Olguin was hesitant at first but started to open up after the second round. This fight would have been over early if Negrete, now at bantamweight after taking an L at super bantam vs Vargas, possessed the punching power to finish fighters…but he doesn’t.

Therefore, he chooses to outwork his opponents.

His eyes were consistently focused on the footwork of Olguin as he noticed a pattern which led to him successfully countering to the head and body.

This fight contained a lot of back and forth action, but in the end, Oscar Negrete was victorious by way of unanimous decision.

Co-Main Event:  Rigoberto Hermosillo vs Ernesto Guerrero

Rigoberto Hermosillo..

..is a super featherweight fighter who was bumped up to the co-main event slot due to the Seniesa Estrada fight being moved to next week’s Golden Boy card.  He’s been inactive as his last fight was a year ago in Mexico.

Looking to establish his presence more in the U.S, he took on Ernesto Guerrero who is a veteran fighter with 8 years as a pro. Early on, Hermosillo (above in Albert Baker pic) dictated the fight with a good jab from his southpaw stance. Although he was wining the rounds, he kept getting hit by Guerrero’s sneaky right hand. Hermosillo focused on the body in rounds 2-4 while continuing to work upstairs. In the 5th, he caught Guerrero with a low blow and later in the round, finished him with a left hook to the body. The referee counted until 10 but Guerrero was unable to get up.

Honorable Mention:

Former Olympian Raul “Cougar” Curiel, who  is trained by the legendary Freddie Roach, had a 4 round welterweight clash with Demetrius Wilson. The size difference is what caught my eye initially as Curiel was the much bigger fighter.  Curiel was a little over anxious with his punches but was landing enough to get the attention of Wilson right away. Wilson was in survival mode after feeling the effects of the first left hook to the body in round one. The left hook to the body once again came into play in the second round sending Wilson to the ground. After getting up at 8, Curiel went into predator mode and the ringside doctor stepped in to stop the fight. While there is still some technique work that has to be refined, it will be interesting to see how he is matched moving forward.

Although the 4th of July was on Wednesday, it seems as though there were plenty of M80 fireworks that were left over to light up.  The Belasco Theater served as the venue for this to happen and there was no shortage of fireworks on this night in downtown Los Angeles.