DAVID RODELA BARELY ESCAPES JUAN GARCIA
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 12 Jun 2009
Thursday night at the Club Nokia located at the trendy downtown LA Live area of the City Los Angeles right next to the Staples Center, David Rodela, the lightweight prospect from Oxnard, California barely won a very hard fought 6 rounder against Juanito Garcia of Los Angeles.
Rodela (13-1-3, 6 KO) edged Garcia who parades a record of (14-3-0, 5 KO) via a split decision.
The judges scores were 59-55 (Rey Corona), 59-55 (Alejandro Rochin) and 56-57 (Vince Delgado) for Rodela.
The fight started rather slow with each boxer measuring each other very cautiously. The highpoint of the first two rounds were a few animated exchanges that drew a roar from the crowd, particularly from those that drove down from Oxnard and Ventura to see the hero fight.
In round three, Garcia landed a solid right cross during a furious exchange that staggered Rodela. However, he recovered very quickly and came back with a vengeance in round four, almost dropping Garcia with several combinations punctuated by upper cuts. Rodela was so dominant in that round that one judge (Delgado) gave him a 10-8 score.
Rounds five and six was less spectacular as both boxer slowed down and only had occasional furious exchanges at ring center. Rodela however appeared to have landed more telling blows leading to the split decision win.
The decent number of fight fans that crowded Club Nokia had an entertaining night. They also had the chance to spend the rest of the evening at the club where rock music and alcohol freely flowed.
Judging from the turn out which included TV star Mario Lopez, boxers Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins and Victor Ortiz, Golden Boy Promotions will surely put up more of the same exciting cards at the same venue in the months ahead.
In the other cards, unbeaten Luis Ramos (10-0-0 (6KO) of Sta. Ana, California KO?d Baudel Cardenas (18-17-2, 6KO) of Los Mochis, Mexico. Ramos dropped Cardenas in round 1 with a hard body shot and then in round 5, he landed a strong right that landed flush on the jaw of Cardenas knocking him down for the full count. Time was 2:26.
Charles Huerta (11-0-0, 6KO) of the City of Paramount, CA in a featherweight fight beat
previously unbeaten Noe Lopez, Jr ( 4-1-0 (3KO) of Nogales, Mexico in three rounds. Lopez fell three times during the round. Time was 1:02.
In the opening bout, undefeated Ricky Lopez (4-0-0, 2KO) won via unanimous decision over Rufino Serrano ( 1-1-0) of Santa Maria, California.
What seem to have stolen the show however was the swing bout for TV between Jose Roman (5-0-0 (4KO) of Santa Ana, CA and Ramon Flores (3-6-1, 3KO) of Wilmington, CA.
In the initial minutes of round one, Flores dropped Roman for an 8-count with a surprise left straight. After the count, Roman however recovered quickly to continue the fight
The following round, Roman scored a spectacular KO that left Flores on the canvas for more than 5 minutes being attended by doctors and his trainers. He however walked out of the ring in his own power.
Later, as this writer passed by the dressing rooms, Flores was seen being fitted a neck collar by the paramedics preparatory to his obligatory trip to the hospital.
Top photo: Perennial Manny Pacquiao sparring partner David Rodela (L) tags Juanito Garcia with a left straight in this bit of action from their fight Thursday night at the Nokia Center in downtown Los Angeles. Rodela has been declared a winner by split decision by the referee after the bout (above photo). Photos by Dr. Ed de la Vega.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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