Night Of Four Rounders Turns Out To Be Pretty Interesting

Jose Diaz Wins Second Pro Fight By TKO!

24.05.04 – By Carlos Kalinchuk: – huge photo gallery – Younger brother of Lightweight rising star Jose Diaz improved to 2-0 when referee Bobby Gonzales called a halt to the action 45 seconds into the second round of there four round scheduled fight. Diaz came out aggressive with ripping hooks and combinations. This seemed to take all the fight out of Raphael Torres 1-5 when his blistering body attack sent Torres down in agony from a shot to the body in round one. Torres beat the count and came back but looked weary for the rest of the round (and fight). In round two Diaz through a left hook to the body followed by and right cross that finished Torres for good. If Diaz stays in the Featherweight Division, with his strong defense and extremely fast hands he could spell trouble for any Champion down the road. But it’s early and there are many more tests to pass.

Barnica Decisions Toughest Test Yet!

Jose “Beto” Barnica 6-0 (5 KO’s) got a wake up call early after a slow start in round 1 of his fight with Jr. Featherweight Abisai “Moy” Orozco 5-0 (5 KO’s). Barnica seemed to be a little out of sorts when the taller Orozco pressed him and had Barnica against the ropes for close to the entire round until an Orozco shot finally put Barnica on the offensive. Suddenly Barnica seemed to get a level of comfort and he began to wing shots off Orozco. In round two after an Orozco miss, Barnica made him pay and when he ducked under an Orozco looping punch only to follow it up with a huge overhand right that sent Orozco falling to the ropes. Since the ropes were the only thing that caught Orozco from falling to the canvass, referee Bobby Gonzales began the mandatory ten count much to Orozco’s chagrin. Barnica won rounds three and four even though they were two very hard fought rounds. The final scores were 40-35 all around.

Emmanuel Ford Acts Like He Wins Superbowl In Final Decision!

In what had to have been the funniest moment of the night, with Emmanuel Ford sporting a record of 5-22-3 with only 2 KO’s heard the final unanimous decision scores he threw his hands in the air and shouted to the delight and amuse of everyone present “WHEW-YES!!!” It nearly made everyone jump at the shock of his reaction; even his opponent Jacob Godinez 5-15-1 (2 KO’s) appeared spooked by his response.

In Other Action…Alexander; Edwards; Mohamad Win!

Heavyweight “Diamond” Dominic Alexander improved to 6-1 (4 KO’s) when he TKO’d Horace Robinson 1-3 of Louisiana in round four. Robinson had gone down in round 1 but he came back and put up a fight in round two. Round 3 was all Alexander though as he dominated the round with more aggression.

Jr. Middleweight Ives Edwards opened his pro career with a victory against Chris Taylor who was also making his pro debut. The win was by TKO in 2:27 of round two.

Another Houstonian making his pro debut, Light Heavyweight Hasim Mohamad opened with a victory over Brandon Morris 0-4. The referee called a halt to the action in 1:45 seconds in round two after Morris kept going to the canvass and he was asked if he wanted to continue.

Closing Thoughts…

In a night that was supposed to feature two 8 rounders that were cancelled at the last minute, one had to think the action would be dull and for some of the night it was; but Jose Barnica and Jose Diaz made an otherwise bad night of boxing a good night of boxing (even though they were only going four rounds). Ironically before the main event started one of those fighters was called into the ring to accept the Middleweight title. It was said that he could not fight because he was wearing a cast on his foot just the day before. Not only was Chase Shields not fighting but he was also not wearing a cast. Interestingly enough, even though he had already won the middleweight title earlier this year, they presented it to him again in the middle of the ring flanked by two ring card beauties. Nonetheless the fight card was a decent one in spite of who fought or didn’t fight.

Carlos “Stiff-jab” Kalinchuk
Contributing Writer & Photographer