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[Previous entry: "„Universum Champions Night“ am 24. November 2007"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Klitschko & Ibragimov to Fight to Unify Hwt. Titles on February 23rd!"]

11/20/2007 Archived Entry: "Rita Figueroa Edges Danielle Christensen, Fonfara Romps & More in Cicero!"

Rita Figueroa Edges Danielle Christensen, Fonfara Romps & More in Cicero!
Undercard of Lopez-Toribio provides sizzling entertainment

By Juan C. Ayllon at ringside
Photos by Thomas Mathis

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Rita Figueroa (left) covers as Danielle Christensen attacks


CICERO, Ill. - In perhaps the fight of the night—and her first fight in a year due to rotator cuff surgery in May—Chicago’s Rita “La Guera” Figueroa (142 lbs., 9-0, 3 KO’s) won a close decision over Fresno, California’s rugged Danielle Christensen (2-5, 2 KO’s) in six rounds.

This is Rita’s house, and the crowd lets her know it when she enters the ring to a loud chorus of cheers.

One. Across the ring, her opponent, Danielle Christensen, glowers. She is chiseled, angular and bigger than Rita. The bell rings. The veins on her forearms bulging, Christensen charges.

Jarring lefts and rights slam into Rita’s head like foam-covered sledgehammers. She is driven to the ropes where she covers up with her arms and gloves. Still, some punches smash through her guard. Christensen is throwing the weight of her body behind each blow.

Her back to the ropes, Rita gathers herself up and unleashes straight rights, lefts, and hooks. She escapes from the ropes. Bleeding from a cut on the bridge of her nose, Rita bounces on her toes and fires quick a quick left-right-left combination to her tormentor’s head. She catches clubbing lefts and rights over the top.

Two. Christensen charges out and—once again—drives Figueroa back to the ropes with a fusillade of punches. And again, Figueroa backs her off, this time with a hard straight right to the head. Gaining some needed space, Figueroa snaps Christensen’s head back with a powerful right. Clear of the ropes, Rita is boxing better now. She knocks Christensen to the side with a sweeping left hook. She slams left and right hooks into Christensen’s ribs and lands a right to her head.

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Figueroa pastes Christensen with a right to the face

Now it’s Rita backing Christensen to the ropes, landing four hard punches. Back at rings center Christensen lands a hard left and a clubbing right to Rita’s head. However, Rita’s in control now, countering with a crisp right. The bell rings. They tap gloves. Rita looks confident, while a scowling Christensen is clearly upset as she walks back to her corner.

Three. Christensen is swarming again, but Rita backs her up with a looping right to the head. Rita backs her into a corner and bangs lefts and rights to Christensen’s torso and then she rocks her with a left and right to the head. She digs lefts and rights to the ribs, a left hook to the head, and a right uppercut. Figueroa covers up and blocks return lefts and rights. She fires furious lefts and rights. Her head snaps back from a hard right counter, but she lands a hard right hook to Christensen’s head. The crowd roars. Another right hook to the head by Rita and the crowd’s roars become almost deafening. Christensen grabs hold of Rita with her right and hits her with her left. Rita covers. The bell rings, ending the round.

Four. Figueroa snaps her head back with three left jabs and then covers as Christensen roars back with both fists blazing. Most of her punches are blocked. Figueroa slams lefts and rights into Christensen’s ribs and abdomen. She knocks Christensen back with a hard right to the head and dumps her into the ropes with another right. She stuns Christensen with a sharp left-right combination to the head. A right bounces off the top of Rita’s head and a left hook thumps her ribs. Rita digs hooks to the body and fires off a right off the top of Christensen’s head at the bell. Rita looks mildly pleased as she walks back to her corner.

Clearly pleased, matchmaker Jerry Alfano smiles and says, “It’s a pretty even fight! It’s a good fight!”

Five. Christensen drives Rita back to the ropes with a flurry of blows. Covering well, Rita blocks most, but catches some to the head and midriff. The blows come in bunches. Slowing down, Christensen is getting tagged with single jabs and rights to the head. A sharp right-left-right combination snap Christensen’s head back. However, Christensen backs Rita back to the ropes with a barrage of clubbing lefts and rights.

Six. They shake hands before the action begins. As is her pattern, Christensen swarms at the beginning of the round, battering Figueroa back with hard jabs and rights down the middle. Rita covers up and then fights back. The storm that is Christensen slows down, as a stream of spittle falls from Christensen’s mouth.

It’s Rita’s turn.

Figueroa tags her with a pair of hard rights over the top. A left hook again turns Christensen. She lands an uppercut and a right hook. Christensen pops her in the face with jabs. Rita drives her back with a hard right, snaps her head back with a left-right combination. Swapping furious blows at the bell, the two touch gloves out of respect.

It’s a close one.

Christensen raises her arms up to the cheers of some new fans she’s gained. There’s a long wait.

The strikingly suave ring announcer, Lupe Contrerras reads the scores: one judge scores it 57-57—or a draw—and the two other judges score it identically at 59-55 twice for Rita Figueroa. The crowd erupts in cheers.

Walking into the crowd, she is hugged by several friends. She jumps into the air, hip checks and high-fives another friend. Someone hands her two toddlers to hold for a photo. One observer says, “Holding babies and posing for pictures—is she running for President?”

Afterwards, Figueroa says, “It was a tough fight. She was a tough girl. I don’t take anyone lightly. I trained hard. I don’t make any excuses—she was a tough girl. But, I’m back!”

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Ivan "Rey" Popoca

Swinging for the fences, Chicago’s Ivan “Rey” Popoca (147 lbs., 2-0-1, 2 KO’s) chased St. Paul, Minnesota’s Patrick Cape (145 lbs., 2-0, 1 KO’s) about the ring. Up on his toes, Cape countered with crisp jabs and rights down the middle. Suddenly, Popoca landed a hard right to Cape’s side and went down! It appeared that he slipped, but referee Celestino Ruiz gave him a standing eight count.

Popoca resumed his search and destroy mission. Finally finding his range, a clubbing Popoca right nearly dropped Cape. Others followed. Connecting with winging lefts and rights, Popoca staggered and stunned Cape repeatedly. Bleeding from the nose and overwhelmed, Cape was rescued by referee Ruiz at 2:42 into round one.

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Fonfara (left) attacks with a fury

Chicago’s Andrzej Fonfara (155 lbs., 7-1, 2 KO’s) flattened Cincinnati, Ohio’s David Saunders (155 lbs., 9-3, 6 KO’s) in the first round.

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Andrzej Fonfara (right) destroys David Saunders

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Moments later, it was lights out for Saunders!

Fonfara pounced on Saunders immediately with both fists. A left to the head rocked Saunders. Ripping lefts and rights to head and body, Fonfara dropped Saunders hard on his side with a looping right to the jaw. Referee Celestino Ruiz counted him out at 28 seconds into the first round.

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Coyle (right) lands the uppercut in close

Chicago’s Henry Coyle (155.5 lbs., 3-1, 3 KO’s) wasted little time in stopping Battle Creek, Michigan’s Guy Packer (2-14-2) in one round.

Swapping some hard blows, it wasn’t long before Coyle asserted himself. A single, looping left hook dropped Packer hard. Rising, Packer took an eight count. However, it was only a momentary reprieve.

A furious volley of lefts and rights to head and body on the ropes dropped Packer in a heap. Referee Genaro Hernandez waved off the bout at 1:46 into round one.

And with that final touch, Coyle joined Rita Figueroa, Ivan Popoca, and Andrzej Fonfara in serving notice, once again, that Chicago fighters are rugged, willing and able to rock a show. Just bring it on!

* * *

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Referee Genaro Rodriguez raises Rita "La Guera" Figueroa's hand up in victory

To contact the photographer, Thomas Mathis, email him at:


tommat_mathis@yahoo.com


To see a report of the main and co-main fights, click on the link below:


http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/news/archives/00003753.htm


The evening's festivities, dubbed "Latin Fury," were promoted by Dominic Pesoli's 8 Count Productions and Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Several of the fights were telecast on Telefutura's Solo Boxeo show.

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