Vardan Gasparyan used his head. A little too much. The Armenian
welterweight’s bout with fellow prospect Aaron Martinez was ruled
a first round technical draw after an accidental head butt opened a gash over the right eye of Martinez. Even the premature ending to Friday night’s main event couldn’t put a damper on an entertaining evening of fights in Montebello, California.

Nam Phan KO2 Ivan Diaz.... The card at the Quiet Cannon banquet hall kicked off with a four round junior middleweight bout between MMA standout Nam Phan and Ivan Diaz. Phan didn’t need to resort to chokeholds in this bout- his devastating body attack was sufficient.

Phan looked to land the left hook downstairs from the outset, setting it up with left-right combos to the head. Lefts to the body knocked Diaz to the canvas twice in the second round, before a right hand downstairs ended the bout. Phan improves to 3-0 with 2 KOs, Diaz falls to 1-2 with 1 KO.

Sergio Herrera W4 Rogelio Valenzuela... Next up was a bantamweight bout between Sergio Herrera and Rogelio Valenzuela. Herrera’s constant pressure early in the bout overwhelmed Valenzuela, who looked like he may not make it past the first round. Valenzuela hung in there, and somehow made it to the final bell, as the aggressive Herrera wasn’t able to put the right sequence together to end the fight. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 for Herrera.

Frank Gutierrez D4 Jose Pacheco... Fight of the night was the four-round draw between junior featherweights Frank Gutierrez and Jose Pacheco. Pacheco rallied back from two first round knockdowns to get the better of the action in the latter rounds, pinning Gutierrez on the ropes and mixing his punches well to the body and head. Good toe-to-toe action in this one. All three judges scored the bout 37-37. It looked like Gutierrez 38-36 from my vantage point. Gutierrez is now 1-0-1(1), while the gutsy Pacheco is 0-0-1.

Artyom Hovanessian W4 Francisco Zepeda... In the co-feature, Artyom Hovanessian improved to 3-0-1 with a four-round unanimous decision over Francisco Zepeda. Hovanessian’s quicker hands and superior skills were too much for the brawling Zepeda, who hit the deck twice in the opening stanza. All three judges scored the bout 40-34 for Hovanessian, who was able to catch Zepeda throughout with sharp right uppercuts. Zepeda is now 4-6-3(2).

Vardan Gasparyan TD1 Aaron Martinez... And then came the main event. The unintentional Gasparyan head butt appeared to have come with Martinez against the ropes somewhere near the halfway point of the round. Soon after, with blood visible over Martinez’s right eye and smattered on Gasparyan’s arm, referee Ray Corona waved the bout off after consulting with the ringside physician. Official time was 2:06. Martinez is now 7-0-1(2), while Gasparyan’s ledger stands at 8-1-3(4).

WBO Junior Featherweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon was honored by promoter All Star Boxing during the evening. Ring announcer was Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald.

All Star Boxing will return to the Quiet Cannon in Montebello on Friday September 28. Junior welterweight prospect Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis is slated to face Lowell Brownfield in the main event.