Never stand in front of a puncher. Veteran junior middleweight Terry Wright ignored that old boxing adage and wound up paying the price, as the San Diego southpaw couldn't withstand the power punches of hard hitting prospect Enrique Gutierrez. Gutierrez floored Wright in the first round, and stopped him at the 1:41 mark of the second. The scheduled six rounder headlined Monday night's "Path to Glory" card at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California, promoted by Thompson Boxing. The two fighters battled at close range early on, with Gutierrez's superior firepower earning him the upper hand. A left hook to the side of the head stunned Wright close to a minute into the first round. Wright visited the canvas for the bout's only knockdown later in the round, courtesy of a right uppercut. In the second, Wright tried to crowd Gutierrez, but began getting tagged regularly with left uppercuts. After Gutierrez fired off a crisp six-punch combination to the head, referee Jose Cobian decided that he had seen enough and waved off the bout. With the victory, Gutierrez's record improves to 8-0 with 7 KOs. Wright's record slips to 5-7-1 with 4 KOs. In the co-feature, veteran Juan Pablo Montes de Oca pulled off a minor upset, stopping Gustavo Torales in the first round of a welterweight slugfest scheduled for six.
"It was a good fight, the guy was strong. I kept my composure, kept on moving. I found my openings. I just wanna thank God" said Gutierrez afterthe bout. The Santa Rosa, California native has stopped seven opponents in a row since winning his pro debut by unanimous decision. He said he hopes to return to the ring next month.
In the co-feature, veteran Juan Pablo Montes de Oca pulled off a minor upset, stopping Gustavo Torales in the first round of a welterweight slugfest scheduled for six. The two pugilists dispensed with formalities and began trading bombs soon after the opening bell, with Montes De Oca eventually gaining the upper hand. A right hand staggered Torales to the ropes, and a left hook during Montes De Oca's follow up assault floored the local fighter. An unsteady Torales beat the count, but was trapped along the ropes and taking some hard shots when referee Ray Corona wisely called a halt to the contest at the 1:41 mark. De Oca, fighting out of Las Vegas, improves to 7-9-2 with 4 KOs with the victory. Pomona, CA resident Torales
is now 4-2 with 2 KOs.
In a lightweight six rounder, Jorge Perez improved his record to 7-2 with a unanimous decision win over Anthony Martinez. Perez outboxed his shorter opponent for much of the bout, keeping Martinez honest with a quick left jab and using lateral movement to avoid his opponent's advances. With the defeat, Martinez's record is now 20-21-3 with 9 KOs.
Manuel Roman rallied back from a first round knockdown to win a unanimous decision over tough Jose L. Cardenas in a four round junior bantamweight contest. Roman outboxed Cardenas for much of the first, before getting floored with a right hand during an exchange during the round's waning moments. The 18 year old rallied back to win the second round, and returned the favor by dropping Cardenas with a right in the third. All three judges scored the bout 38-36 for Roman, who remains unbeaten at 7-0-1 with 5 KOs. Cardenas's record is now 4-6-1 with 3 KOs.
In the early bouts, Ivan Stovall won a unanimous four round decision over Juan Carlos Parra in a super middleweight contest, while the junior welterweight contest between Carlos Martinez and Felipe Campana was declared a technical draw in the third round due to cuts sustained by Campana as a
result of unintentional headbutts.
Attendance for the evening's action was 1,113. Prior to the main event, veteran manager Frank Espinoza was honored by promoter Ken Thompson with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the sport of boxing. Espinoza manages junior featherweight champion Israel Vasquez and WBA junior
bantamweight champion Martin Castillo, as well as the aformentioned Manuel Roman.
After the show, Thompson Boxing matchmaker Alex Camponovo informed boxingtalk that featherweight prospect Josesito Lopez will headline the next "Path to Glory" card at the Doubletree on June 23rd. The 16-2 Lopez is coming off an unpopular split decison loss to Wes Ferguson on the Judah-Mayweather undercard. In other Thompson Boxing news, unbeaten jr. welterweight Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley will headline a card in= Lancaster, California on May 13th.
