Rob Frankel W10 Mike Gonzalez... “Red Hot” turned out to be too cool for prospect Mike Gonzalez. The previously unbeaten Gonzalez was outboxed and outfoxed by veteran Robert “Red Hot” Frankel en route to a ten-round split-decision defeat Thursday night in Highland, California. The junior welterweight bout topped an entertaining night of fights at the San Manuel Casino promoted by Ringside Ticket. 

Frankel’s boxing skills and ring generalship built him an early lead over the first half of the bout, as he confused the raw Gonzalez with movement and made him miss repeatedly. When Gonzalez was able to corner the veteran, he couldn’t capitalize as Frankel rolled under the shots before returning fire with hooks and uppercuts or slipping out the side door.

Frankel had Gonzalez on rubber legs in the sixth after connecting with a right during an exchange and some follow up shots. The less experienced fighter dug down, and by the end of the round had resumed the role of aggressor.

Gonzalez was able to close the gap on the scorecards in the later rounds, scoring effectively as the tiring veteran spent more time against the ropes. Frankel was never in any serious trouble however, and a cut over the right eye didn’t appear to hinder his vision. Official scores were 98-92 and 96-94 for Frankel with a dissenting 96-93 tally for Gonzalez. Frankel improves to 20-7-1(4 KOs). Gonzalez slips to 10-1-1 (9 KOs).

“I’m learning to throw my punches a little better. He’s a tough guy,” said Frankel after the bout.

Four other bouts rounded out the card, with local female fighter Demi Nguyen posting a win and hard-hitting Miguel Ortiz scoring a first round kayo.

Allen Cespedes W6 Julio Lanzas- Neither Cespedes nor veteran Lanzas could claim victory at the end of their six round welterweight bout. Judge Fritz Werner’s 60-54 vote for Lanzas was overruled by the 57-57 verdicts of Max De Luca and David Denkin.

Demi Nguyen TKO4 Cheryl Bontz- The women’s bout drew the biggest cheers of the night as middleweights Nguyen and Bontz fought a spirited battle in their scheduled four rounder.  Nguyen was able to capitalize on the debuting Nebraskan’s lack of defense, pot-shotting Bontz with left hooks and clean rights over the top as Bontz pressed the action. With Bontz eating an excessive amount of clean punches, referee Jerry Cantu called a halt to the bout at the 17-second mark of round four. Nguyen improves to 3-1 with 1 KO.

Art Briceno W4 Ross Haskins- Briceno earned his first pro victory with a unanimous decision over Haskins. It was an evenly matched contest between two young fighters, with the harder punches of Briceno the difference in the bout. All three judges scored the bout 39-37. Briceno is 1-2 while Hoskins is 0-1.

Miguel Ortiz KO1 David Hernandez-A well placed Ortiz left hook upstairs ended the opener at the 1:49 mark of the first round. The junior welterweight bout was scheduled for four. Ortiz improves to 4-1 (4 KOs) while Hernandez dips to 5-6-2 (2 KOs).

Jimmy Lennon Jr. was the ring announcer for the event. Patrick Ortiz will become the latest boxing promoter to venture into MMA when Ringside Ticket returns to the San Manuel Casino with a MMA event in August.