RINGSIDE REPORT: Golden Boy on ESPN

As you travel thru the county of Riverside, you will run into the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in the city of Indio, which is part of Coachella Valley.  

This site is a familiar one to fight fans, as Golden Boy Promotions uses the facility quite often to showcase fighters through the ESPN platform.

While the temperature outside was easily over 100 degrees, inside it was volcanic as the action was ready to explode in the form of boxing.    

The main event featured Andrew “El Chango” Cancio who recently re-signed with GBP while posing a record of 18-4 with 2 fights being a draw. Cancio found himself being inactive after suffering a TKO loss to JoJo Diaz in 2016. It wasn’t until this year that he decided to fight again.

His opponent, Dardan Zenunaj, was a former NABO Super Featherweight Champion who last fought in December in which he lost by decision, in a fight that was stopped early due to his opponent’s cut.

Main Event: Andrew “El Chango” Cancio vs Dardan Zenunaj

The main event lived up to the hype it was getting by GBP all week. Cancio started the fight fast by landing flashy combinations and his uppercut couldn’t miss. As the rounds went on though, Zenunaj (14-5) started to find some rhythm and was landing huge counter rights and lefts. Cancio regained some momentum in the seventh but gave it right back in the eighth. In much needed rounds, Cancio dug really deep with a bloody, swollen face to land some counter shots that showed the judges he wanted the win more than his opponent. In the end, the fight went to the scorecards and Cancio won by unanimous decision.

Co-Main Event:  Yoshihiro Kamegai vs Greg Vendetti

For those that don’t remember, the last time we saw Yoshihiro Kamegai was at the StubHub (#WarGrounds) fighting against the great Miguel Cotto, giving him 12 tough rounds in a decision loss. Staying true to form from the Cotto fight, this one was a good ole “phone booth” type of battle. Both men started well with punches in bunches but it seemed as though in the fifth, Kamegai started to fade. He was stepping back in exchanges while taking very deep breaths. Vendetti (20-2-1) saw Kamagai (27-5-2) fading and was landing the counter right and left on a consistent basis all the way to the end of the fight. As anticipated, it went to the score cards and Vendetti came away with the unanimous decision win.

Luis Feliciano vs. Jonathan Fortuna

Luis Feliciano was very calm in the first as he was picking his shots and seeing what Fortuna had to offer. In the second, Feliciano started to land a sneaky over hand right which continued to land throughout the round. In the third, it was Fortuna applying the pressure but Feliciano adjusted by focusing his attack to the body. The fourth saw more of that body attack by Feliciano (8-0). In the fifth though, the left hook to the body led to two knockdowns in which the second of the two, saw the referee stopping the fight as Fortuna (8-2) looked as though he did not want to continue.

Honorable Mention:

Shakhram “Wonder Boy” Giyasov (4-0) opened the GBP card against Albert Mensah (31-7-1). In the third, Giyasov landed combinations to the head and body but it was the left hook upstairs that turned his opponent’s lights out. Mensah did not get up by the count of ten and “Wonder Boy” came away with the KO victory.

Normally in boxing, there aren’t any guarantees that fights will fulfill the expectation the promotion has given them.  Tonight was different, the co-main and the main event consisted of four fighters that were “war ready” and that led to an action packed evening with fans left wanting more.