Boxing

Ubaldo Hernandez Gets Robbed By Lopsided Score Card; Decision Taints Spirited Fight!


all photos © Carlos Kalinchuk
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By Carlos "Stiff-jab" Kalinchuk

04.10 - If having not seen 2 recent questionable decisions wasn't enough, fans everywhere were once again treated to the theatre of the unknown when Judge David Robertson scored the 10 round main event a 98-92 victory in favor of Lightweight Francisco Lorenzo. Francisco Lorenzo improved to 19-2 (11 KO's) after being awarded the split decision victory over Ubaldo Hernandez 19-11-2. While the other two judges had it 96-94 for each fighter, Robertson's scorecard was atrocious! Unfortunately, this is not the first time Houston fight fans have been treated to Robertson's twilight zone scorecard. Enough is enough! If it were an isolated incident with Robertson, perhaps the off night could be overlooked but this is the 4th or 5th fight I've seen in which Robertson's scorecard smells like yesterdays garbage.

The first round was a cautious round for both. As is his regular style, Lorenzo was warned for low blow early on. You may remember Lorenzo from his foul filled fight with Juan Diaz earlier this year. Most observers felt Lawrence Cole was far too patient with the Lorenzo's dirty tactics but he let the fighters decide who would win the fight.

Off of sheer activity Lorenzo clearly won round 1. In round 2, Hernandez woke up and began to land more shots. It was a tough round to score, but Hernandez evened the fight. In this round, Lorenzo was warned for a rabbit punch. In round 3, Hernandez retaliated to Lorenzo's repeated dirty tactics by rabbit punching Lorenzo in return. Both fighters were warned for rabbit punches and punching on the break. Lorenzo threw several wild punches that missed their target but he connected some shots of his own. Hernandez's more accurate shots won him the round. Both fighters landed low blows that were missed by Referee Barry Yates in round 4. Although Hernandez landed the more accurate shots in this round, he clearly lost this round for being inactive. In round 5, both threw rabbit punches in the clinch. Hernandez seemed to make a resurgence in this round with his better connects. Lorenzo seemed to take a breather although he was still swinging for the fences with his lunging punches. In round 6, the smaller Lorenzo seemed to tire as the taller Hernandez pressed him to the ropes. Hernandez won this round by bullying Lorenzo. In round 7, Lorenzo connected his best shots of the round but so did Hernandez. Lorenzo seemed to start running out of gas although he made a good account of himself in this round. I scored this round in favor of Lorenzo. In round 8, Lorenzo landed a descent overhand right, but his shots seemed to be more arm shots than earlier in the fight.

Hernandez connected some shots of his own in this round but the smaller Lorenzo would continue to press the action and stole the round but before the sound of the bell as he wobbled Lorenzo in an exchange in the middle of the ring. In round 9, both fighters collided heads. Hernandez got the nastier of the butt, as a gash opened up over his left eye. Although the blood was steady, it didn't seem to bother Hernandez. On the contrary, the blood seemed to spark something in Hernandez as he began to look more aggressive in the bout. In fact he hurt Lorenzo in the round which resulted in Lorenzo spitting out his mouthpiece on purpose in order to allow himself time to recoup. As both fighters met in the middle of the ring to touch gloves for the 10th and final round, both fighters embraced as if to say, "You've made me work and I respect you, now let's go home grab a beer!" Although you had the impression that both should put it all out on the line, they were both tired and except for Hernandez's more accurate punches, Lorenzo was spent. Oops! Almost forgot, they were once again warned for rabbit punches in round 10.

Yours truly had the score 96-94 in favor of Hernandez. Another ringsider had it an even fight, while another had Hernandez winning the fight. At the conclusion of the fight, the fans let the judges know whom they thought won the fight, and it wasn't Lorenzo!


Browning Boxing & Telefutura; A Winning Combination! Steven Martinez Wipes Out Scrappy Sanchez in 8-Rounder!

In the co-featured bout of the evening, Houston Jr. Middleweight Steven Martinez 43-5 beat Colorado's Frankie Sanchez 14-6-1 from pillar to post in all eight rounds. All the judges scored it a unanimous decision with scores of 79-73 twice and 78-74. In spite of this, Sanchez tried his best to make it an interesting fight. Round 1 saw Martinez land body shot after body shot on the shorter Sanchez soft mid-section. Although Sanchez landed some punches of his own, he was clearly being outclassed by the taller and more experienced Martinez. Otherwise an easy round to score in favor of Martinez. In round 2 Sanchez decided to mix things up a bit when he switched to a southpaw stance midway through the round. News to Sanchez! It didn't work! Sanchez got caught with two more hooking rights in the round that shook him. He tried to make it a rough fight along the ropes but he continued to be battered mercilessly. In round 3, Martinez came out trying to establish the jab. Sanchez's only hope seemed to be making the fight a street fight in the inside. Sanchez landed a rapid combination along the ropes that seemed to be his most effective of the fight, but he was still being battered to the body repeatedly. This round was the toughest of the fight to score, but still this was a Martinez round. Round 4 saw Martinez do more of the same. His reach, jab, and body shots were just too much. Round 5 saw Sanchez land his first significant punch along the ropes but the punch was not enough to steal the round compared to Martinez's persistent connects. Round 6 saw Martinez do more of the same until Sanchez bought some time when the bout was stopped momentarily to re-tape his gloves. For whatever reason, this seemed to spur Sanchez on. This was the only round that Sanchez may have won but I still would have awarded the round to Martinez. Round 7 was a repeat of 6 except when the tape came off his glove in this round, he was not able to repeat the energy level as he did the previous round. Round 8 was much of the same.

Why does Sanchez do this to himself? If I were Sanchez, I would fire everyone on my team. Sanchez continues to fight opponents that totally out-class him. He's fought Bojado, Cintron, and now Martinez way too early in his career. Instead of losing the extra 20 lbs he's carrying around at the Welterweight level, Sanchez needs to be fighting at lightweight. His opponents often tower over him and he has no business fighting these more talented and tenured fighters. I don't blame his team, I blame the fighter but Sanchez really ought to examine the people managing his career.

In other action

The opening bout of the evening Gracie Olivares 4-1-1-1 (1 KO) won a decisive 4 round fight against the much less experienced Jenny Tokouoka 0-2. The first round was tactical until Olivares drew first blood with two straight rights early on. Towards the round end of round 1, she capped it off with a 1-2 combination that rocked Tokouoka's head back. This was an easy round to score for Olivares. The second round saw the lefty Tokuoka catching more leather with her chin held high. In every exchange, Tokuoka would throw punches with her chin up/exposed. Round 3 saw Olivares land more combinations. In round 4, Olivares landed a 1-2 combination to the body and then the headshot that brought the lively crowd on hand to oh and awe in unison. Naturally Olivares won on all three judges score cards with a score of 40-36.

The third bout of the evening featured small Heavyweights BJ Flores 3-0 against Gabriel Taylor. Although much of the first round was spent feeling each other out, BJ was able to land a few significant head shots that shook the tattooed covered Taylor. Taylor even shook his head momentarily as if to say, "I need to shake that one off." In round 2 BJ started to connect with much more consistency after he discovered Taylor was there for the taking. . Flores improved to 4-0 when Referee Ronnie Ralston felt he had seen Taylor wobble one too many times in round 2. The bout was officially called to a halt (by TKO) in 2:59 of round 2.

When most people tend to walk out after the main event, the crowd was still around in large numbers as Super Bantamweight Jose "Beto" Barnica 4-0 (3 KO's) took on Jaime Ovalle 1-3 (1KO). Barnica sent Jaime Ovalle to the canvass with a crushing short right hook along the ropes towards the latter stages of round 1. Only the bell saved Ovalle in this round but it didn't last. In round 2, Barnica picked up where he left off and floored Ovalle twice more before Referee Ronnie Ralston felt he'd seen enough. The official stoppage was 2:28 seconds of round 2.

In the last fight of the evening, Jr. Middleweight Chase "White Tiger" Shields KO'd William Brown in 58 seconds of round 3. The fight was never in question and we can only hope Shield's next fight is against a more formidable opponent. Until then, I still have my questions about his porous defense and his chin. Perhaps, his defense is fine and his chin is made of granite, but until he quits fighting stiffs, we'll never know.

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