The Philippines Sweep Mexico 3-0 in Small Carson Card

Reporting by Jacob Rivera

Billed as Philippines vs Mexico, I was excited to finally get to see headliner Donnie Nietes the long reigning Flyweight Champion who I missed the last time he was in the states & same venue of the famed Stubhub Center in Carson, CA. I was also excited to see the other 2 fighters on the main card to see if I saw anymore talent, more specifically Mark Magsayo, who is being touted as the next Manny Pacquiao.

So we jump right in to the 5th of the 7 fights on the card: Arthur Villanueva (30-1-0, 16 KOs) vs Juan Jimenez (22-11-0, 15 KOs) was a rematch of a fight they had in May that was stopped controversially by a headbutt that the ref did not see, thus Jimenez was counted out. Jimenez was looking to get his revenge but it was not to be. Both fighters came out aggressive to make a point in an exciting 1st round. In the 2nd round Villanueva absolutely blasted Jimenez with a beautiful right hand that sent Jimenez down like a ton of bricks. It was a very impressive definite win this time without controversy & on my short list for KO of the Year.

The next fight was the highly touted Mark Magsayo (15-0-0, 11 KOs) vs Ramiro Robles (13-6-1, 8 KOs) & all eyes were on the kid they said was the next Manny Pacquiao. In the 1st round Magsayo impressed me very much by going hard to the body against the much slower Robles. In the 2nd round Magsayo caught Robles with a counter right hand down the pipe that floored him. I thought this fight was all but over at this point & although I didn't see flashes of Manny Pacquaio, I liked what I saw so far. Than came the 3rd round, & 4th round, & 5th round, where Magsayo elected to through 1 power punch & less body work. I actually gave Robles 3 of the mid rounds due to his come forward approach & volume. There was no way that Robles who was not only slow but had severely bad balance & footwork, should have lasted 3 rounds with the likes of Magsayo. In the 7th Magsayo put Robles down again in what looked like a body punch, but later during the replay I saw that it was a head shot. Of course Magsayo didn't close the show & picked up the unanimous win, which had me scratching my head on how he got compared to Pacquiao in the first place. Now not to totally discredit his performance but he did have some excellent body work, seemed to move well around the ring, & credible defense. What I would like to see is his team work on more combinations counters, stamina, & patience.

In the main event Donnie Nietes (39-1-4, 22 KOs) took on Edgar Sosa (52-10-0, 30 KOs) who once was a force to be reckoned with but after his destruction at the hands of Roman Gonzalez, he seems on the end of a decent career. Opening round was a very feel it out round but once we got to the 2nd round the fight started to heat up. Nietes was the obvious faster & more skilled boxer, as he chose to mix it up with left jabs that couldn't miss & big right hands that followed it. Sosa seemed to have trouble timing Nietes who had good head movement & was defensively sound. In the 4th round Sosa was having his best round of the fight until he was hurt by Nietes near the end of the round. Nietes elected to to trade with Sosa but was getting the better of him in rounds 5 & 6, but in round 7 Sosa again had another decent round, or as decent of a round he could have at that point. In the 9th, I wasn't sure but it seemed to me that the bell rang a full minute early, & caused me to do a double take. Maybe there is something about Stubhub that is starting to happen since we were not that far removed from the Bradley vs Vargas 12th round fiasco. In the 10th round Nietes once again hurt Sosa badly & by the end there was nothing Sosa could do. I was very impressed by Nietes & would like to see him step up in competition & get big fights.

The Undercard:

Ezra Hernandez (0-1-0) (debut) vs Abraham Ruiz (1-3-0) - In a four round fight Ruiz spolied Hernandez's debut walking away with the UD & getting his 1st win of his career.
Bengar Garcia (0-1-0) (debut) vs Latorie Woodberry (1-2-1) - In another spoiled debut the extreamly cocky Garcia showboated the entire fight which bothered me to no end especially in his 1st fight. In my opinion create a good record than you can start to fight that way but not in your debut, which incidentally he lost hands down in my opinion. Similar to the other debut Woodberry walked away with his 1st win via SD.
Cesar Hernandez (2-1-0, 1 KO) vs Martin Murillo (0-2-0) - Both fighters came to bang but it was Hernandez who hurt Murillo badly in the 1st & put him down. By the 2nd round Hernandez was all over Murillo & hurt him so more with 2 knockdowns before Reiss stepped in to protect the proud but unskilled Murillo.
Joel Siapno (2-2-1, 2 KOs) vs Isaac Freeman (3-3-1, 3 KOs) - In a fight that had what looked like decent support for Siapno from the crowd, ended up being a nightmare. Coming off a 2 fight win streak & both of those wins by KO, the first 2 rounds were very competitive. Freeman tended to keep his left hand super low in what I thought was a great opportunity for Siapano to step to his right inside & unleash a right hook. Although this is not what came to be. In the 4th round Freeman knocked down Siapno hard & once again before the fight was stopped.

The Philippines Sweep Mexico 3-0 in Small Carson Card

Jacob Rivera

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