The first LA Fight Club of 2016 thrilled a sold-out crowd with an action-packed performance from Julian “El Camaron” Ramirez (16-0, 8 KOs) who forced Christopher “S.D. Kid” Martin (28-7-3, 9 KOs) of San Diego, Calif. to go the distance in a 10-round featherweight fight live on Estrella TV on Jan. 29.
Known as “El Camaron,” Ramirez established his dominance early in the fight, delivering a series of hard-knocking blows on Martin. The crowd was clearing pro-Ramirez, with chants of “Camaron, Camaron!” ringing through the Belasco Theater from the first bell. Ramirez slowly but effectively wore Martin down with the judges bestowing “El Camaron” with a unanimous decision victory.
“I’m really happy with the decision,” said Ramirez. “I know this fighter, Chris, and I knew he was going to go in there and give it his all. For my next fight I know that I need to get with my camp focus on training and not get caught up with any distractions.”
In the co-feature of the night, undefeated featherweight Abraham “Chamaco” Lopez (20-0-1, 15 KOs) of La Puente, Calif. took on San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Carlos “El Valcal” Valcarcel (14-7-4, 5 KOs), in an exciting 10-round featherweight bout that had the audience cheering on the action with Ole’s . Lopez stalked Valcarcel and consistently landed heavy blows to the body and head. In the eighth round after a thrilling exchange between the fighters live from at The Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles, Lopez was able to get the knockout blow that kept Valcarel down to maintain his undefeated record.
“I will take a short fight any day,” said Lopez. “I trained hard enough to possibly make it all 10 rounds, but the intensity of the fight made it possible to end things early. I want to get a world championship this 2016, and this is the beginning of that dream.”
Jonathan Navarro (4-0, 3 KOs) of East Los Angeles came out swinging against Carlos “Coreano” Rodriguez (9-3, 4 KOs) in their scheduled six-round super lightweight bout that only went two rounds. Navarro landed a flurry of heavy and devastating blows that sent Rodriguez to the mat, unable to get up awarding Navarro his third knockout victory.
“I came into the fight calm and steady,” said Jonathan Navarro. “I wanted to make sure I measured my opponent. After the first round I had a good idea on what I needed to do to keep my undefeated record.”
Edgar Valerio (5-0, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles had his home crowd cheering him on as he cornered Justin Lopez (5-5, 5 KOs) of Grandville, Mich. on the ropes during the first round, forcing Lopez to take a knee. Lopez made the count but was ambushed by Valerio forcing the referee to stop the fight at 2:47 in the first and awarding Valerio a knockout victory.
“Knocking him out in the first round was a part of the game plan since day one,” said Valerio. “This knock-out is a great way to get the momentum started in 2016, and fight anyone who is willing to step up to the boxing mat.”
In the second fight of the evening, Joshua “El Professor” Franco (4-0, 2 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas went the distance in his second career six-rounder against Juan Benavides (5-7-1, 2 KOs) of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico. The super flyweight bout had both fighters exchanging blows consistently. In the end Franco out boxed Benavides, winning the fight via unanimous decision with scores of 60-54 by all three judges.
“I am glad I got the decision, but I feel like my performance could have been better,” said Franco. “He was a tough opponent for me and I feel like I need to go back to the gym and make sure to fix some of the mistakes I made during the fight, keeping my distance and working more on my defense.”
Whittier, Calif.’s Pablo “The Shark” Rubio, Jr. (4-0, 3 KOs) of Whittier, Calif. opened up the night and the Ring TV live stream in spectacular fashion defeating Bryan Perez (2-3-1, 1 KO) of Carolina, Puerto Rico via knockout. “The Shark” attacked the Perez with a brilliant flurry of punches in the second round forcing the boriqua to take a knee and miss the count.
“I was very excited about my first fight of 2016 and was filled with a fury to take him out early,” said Rubio Jr. “In the end we all have great respect for each other and I look forward to the next fight and more victories this year.”
