If a fight card can be likened to a dinner, then Friday night's card at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California, would be considered a pugilistic potluck. The All Star Boxing promoted show had a little of everything, with a former world title challenger (Heather Percival), onetime prospect (Freddie Barrera), and MMA standout (Nam Phan) all seeing action. If that wasn't enough, a local fight writer stepped between the ropes for his pro debut.
Percival used her boxing skills to offset the mauling Rita Valenti and capture a unanimous six round decision in their female bantamweight bout. After eating some solid rights in the first round, a bloodied Valenti battled back in the second, doing some good bodywork at the end of the round with Percival against the ropes.
 Percival resumed control, circling to her right before unloading with sharp three punch combos on the aggressive Valenti. Official scores were 59-55 twice and 58-56 for the winner. Percival improves to 10-4 with 1 KO. Valenti, who fights out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym, slips to 6-5 with 3 KOs.
Barrera had his hands full with upstart Francisco Zepeda before their junior welterweight clash was ruled a third round technical draw. Zepeda rocked Barrera early and tagged the Colton, California fighter with a series of left hooks off the ropes in the second round.
An accidental butt had cut Barrera over the right eye in the first, and referee Ray Corona waved off the bout in the third after consulting with the ringside physician. Barrera is now 10-2-1 with 1 KO while ZepedaÂ’s ledger now stands at 4-5-3 with 2 KOs.
Phan was too much for the debuting Andrew Stafford, wearing down the Inglewood fighter with a consistent body attack en route to a four round unanimous decision victory. Scores for the junior middleweight bout were 40-34 and 39-35 twice. Phan, who is listed as 12-3 in MMA and contended for a King of the Cage title, improves to 2-0 with 1 KO.
“Little” Cesar Garcia discovered the glove is mightier than the pen as Mario Serrano halted the boxing/MMA scribe in the first round of their junior welterweight bout. A right hand dropped Garcia early in the bout, but he arose to land a couple of rights of his own before Serrano had him in trouble again. Referee Ray Corona intervened at the 1:35 mark. Serrano ups his record to 3-0 with 2 KOs.
In other bouts, Brian Ramirez stopped Ron Scoesdang in the first round of their lightweight four rounder. Kris Magallon won a four round unanimous decision over Tonik Utudzhyan in a bantamweight match up, and Frank Gutierrez made a memorable pro debut, rising from two first round knockdowns to stop Greg Dzuibek in the third round of their junior featherweight bout.
Among those in attendance were WBO Welterweight champion Antonio Margarito and unbeaten heavyweight Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola. Jim Fitzgerald was the ring announcer.
All Star Boxing will return to the Quiet Cannon in Montebello on Friday June 22 with welterweight prospect Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis slated to see action.
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