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12/15/2007 Archived Entry: "Frigid Blows & Cold Knockouts: Salido & Huerta Ice Opponents in Cicero!"
Frigid Blows & Cold Knockouts: Salido & Huerta Ice Opponents in Cicero!
By Rey Cave at ringside
Photos by Edna Escobedo
Salido (right) attacks Avila
CICERO, Ill., December 14—It was there for the whole world to see on Solo Boxeo: Orlando Salido was back on track to regain his championship with a 6th round TKO of Julio Avila, while Miguel "El Anestesista" Huerta stopped Daniel Alicea in the second round. What they didn’t show you was that in nine bouts, five of them ended inside the distance.
Chicago’s Victor Polyakov (163.5 lbs.) continued to thrill the locals, this time with a first round knockout of Brad Hill (161 lbs.) of Russellville, Arkansas in the first round of a scheduled six. The end came at 1:56 into the first.
Next, in co-main even—an International Boxing Federation lightweight world title eliminator, Mexico City’s Miguel “El Anestesita” Huerta, 29, (136 lbs., 25-8-1 (17KO’s) advanced his cause as he stopped Camden, New Jersey’s Daniel Alicea, 35, (136 lbs., 30-6-2, 22KO’s) in three rounds.
Huerta raises his hand in victory above and, below, gives Edna Escobedo a "thumbs up"
Huerta found the left hook in the first round and showed why he is ranked number eight in the World Boxing Council’s world ratings: He simply dominated the round with vicious blows to the body and head of Daniel Alicea.
Huerta dished out hard punches to the body that had Alicea backing up and covering in the second. It was only the second round and Alicea was already showing signs of being brutally beaten by Huerta.
Then, in the fateful third, Huerta was warned for a low blow. It didn’t matter. He continued where he left off with a barrage of punishing blows. Daniel Alicea was not able to take the punishment.
Referee Gino Rodriguez stopped the punishment and declared Huerta as the victor at 2:05 into the third round. Huerta had won by technical knockout.
The judges were Robert Echo, John McCarthy and Gary Cruz.
Avila (left) clutches Salido in a headlock as the two clinch
Next up was the main event, a 12-round I.B.F. Featherweight World Title Eliminator pitting, Ciudad Obregon, Mexico’s Orlando “Siri” Salido, 28, (126 lbs., 28-9-2, 18KO’s)—who’s currently ranked #3 by the IBF—versus the Dominican Republic’s Hector Julio Avila, 31, (126 lbs., 40-3-0, 37 KO’s).
It was youthful vigor against age and experience, as Salido—who wore black and gold trimmed trunks—faced the solid black trunks wearing Avila who, coincidentally was the former world IBF champion.
Both fighters came out cautious in the first round, with only a few blows thrown in the first minute of the fight. Salido delivered several great rights as Orlando tried getting referee Pete Podgorski to stop the bout momentarily for low blows. Podgorski would have none of that, telling them to keep fighting.
In the second, Julio came out with several fast rights that grabbed Salido’s attention at mid round. They both exchanged huge punches.
Julio rocked Salido in the third, putting him against the ropes. Almost collapsing to his knees, Salido fought his way out of trouble. The round ended with both looking as if they have already fought ten rounds.
A weary and battered Avila is tended to in his corner
The third saw Salido jar Julio head back with a huge left uppercut, only to have Julio comes right back with a big right of his own. Podgorski warned Salido for low blows. After action resumed, a punishing right blow by Salido drove Julio to the canvas. However, he quickly recovered, as the bell rang, ending the round.
Julio came out in the fifth with a nasty looking wound over his left eye, possibly from an accidental clash of heads. Podgorski called time to have the eye looked at by the doctor. Once cleared, heated action resumed. Blood covered Julio’s face.
Referee Pete Podgorski waves off it off, as Avila is stopped
Salido ushered in the sixth round with a display of solid boxing skills, ducking and moving out of the way of Julio’s punches. Then, he showed why he was once Champion of the World: He unleashed a vicious left upper cut, followed by solid right and left combination punches. Overcome by Salido’s power, Julio found himself on the canvas. Referee Pete Podgorski stopped the fight at 1:57 into the sixth, giving Salido a technical knockout win.
Salido is declared the winner by TKO
Bill Lerch, Jerry Jukubco and Emily Cain served as judges for this bout.
In his pro debut, Chicago’s Erik Estrada (122 lbs., 2-0-0) stopped fellow Chicagoan Nick Arellano (122 lbs., 0-1) inside four rounds.
The first proved to be an exciting round of non-stop action. Wearing grey trunks, Arellano hit and stunned Estrada with a solid right hand. Estrada dropped to the canvas following a follow-up left, but referee Gerald Scott ruled it a slip. Rising looking hurt, Estrada nevertheless reengaged and the sparks flew once again.
In the second, Arellano drove Estrada to the ropes, rocking his head back with a huge right to the face. However, Estrada fired back with a few heavy rights of his own and had Arellano backing up.
The fight was close as was evidenced by both fighters trying desperately to gain the upper hand in the third. Slugging hard back and forth, both showed they could take—as well as dish out—punishment. However, near rounds end, Estrada appeared to want it more, as he pressured Arellano with non-stop punches. Egging him on was World Boxing Council Lightweight champion David Diaz, who shouted instructions, such as, “Erik, step to the right!”
Referee Gerald Scott pulls Estrada (right) off of Arellano
Estrada (above) looks on as Scott begins a count (below)
Round four appeared to be a continuation of the third, with both boxers slugging it out. Suddenly, it appeared that Arellano was wearing out but fast. Taking a pounding, he took a knee. That was it. Referee Gerald Scott waved off the fight! Scott could be heard saying to Arellano, “That’s enough,” as he terminated the bout at 2:13 into the fourth round. Estrada, who just won by technical knockout, saw his record improvef to 3-0 with one knockout.
A frustrated Tafoya (left) ties up with De La Cruz in a clinch
In another cross-town fight, former amateur standout Francisco (Frankie) Tafoya 130.5 lbs., 5-0-0) lost to Oscar De La Cruz (132 lbs., 4-4-0) in a lightweight match over four rounds.
Wearing black trunks, De La Cruz kicked off the first round firing hard lefts. Referee Celestino Ruiz warned him for a low blow to Tafoya’s red and white trunks. A firefight was on. Pitched slugging back and forth followed. Toward rounds end, De La Cruz stunned Tafoya with a left jab.
Tafoya fired up the second round with straight left jabs. Not to be outdone, De la Cruz walked through Tafoya’s jabs and banged away. The crowd roared, “Frankie! Frankie!” De La Cruz landed several jarring left uppercuts to the head.
The third round saw heated punching both ways. Clearly the crowd favorite, Tafoya responded to the crowd with several jarring lefts to De La Cruz’s head. The action was non-stop as the crowd continued chanting, “Frankie! Frankie!”
De La Cruz charged out in round four, driving Tafoya to the ropes. For his part, Tafoya used his skills to escape and hit back with sharp jabs and right crosses. His right eye swelling, Tafoya’s left took on a nasty mouse under his left from what appeared to be a clash of heads. To make matters worse, he caught a huge right to the head. Fighting back fiercely, nevertheless, it was Tafoya who looked worse for the wear: Both eyes were swollen and he had heavy swelling on his left cheekbone. By contrast, De La Cruz came out of this fight looking untouched.
De La Cruz (above) has his hand wraps removed following his win
After the final bell, it was De La Cruz who was awarded scores of 40-36 by all three judges. He’d won by unanimous decision. With the win, he improved to 5-4-0, while Francisco “Frankie” Tafoya took his first professional loss.
Da Luz (left) fires a hard jab above and Rodriguez (below right) returns the favor below
Chicago’s bantamweight Francisco “El Nino Azteca” Rodriguez (117.5 lbs., 10-1-0) won a unanimous decision in eight rounds over Jacksonville, Florida’s Roberto Da Luz (118 lbs., 10-9-2).
The crowd roared when Rodriguez’ name was announced. Wearing blue trunks, he—and his opponent, for that matter—did not disappoint. They wasted no time trying to feel each other out. It was pure, non-stop slugging with no let-up in rounds one and two.
In the third, Rodriguez appeared to have found a way to take control of the fight: Pinning Da Luz on the ropes, he banged the body but hard! Delighted, the crowd roared and chanted, “Nino, Nino, Nino!”
Cloud (right) pounds Rodriguez into the canvas
Rodriguez continued driving Da Luz to the ropes, leading with a straight left and following up with a straight right. He continued punishing Da Luz with withering blows to the body. Rodriguez finished the round as he started it, trapping and hitting Da Luz on the ropes.
Unable to find a way to turn this fight around, Da Luz landed a blatant low blow. Referee Gerald Scott called time and gave Rodriguez time to recover. Resuming, Rodriguez tore into Da Luz’s body with hurtful body blows. Especially damaging were shots to Da Luz’s right ribs.
Rounds six and seven were dominated by Rodriguez—who kept looking for a way to end it, while Da Luz tried in vain to land a “Hail Mary” bomb to turn the bout around.
In the eighth and final round, Rodriguez drove Da Luz to the ropes. The crowd roared. There was a sense that they were about to witness what had eluded them in previous rounds: a clean knockout by their hero.
However, that was not to be. Da Luz deftly dodged, ducked and slipped punches as the blows rained down. In the frenzy of it all, he even slipped in a low blow. This did not go unnoticed by referee Gerald Scott, who took a point away for the infraction.
Although they did not get the knockout they were looking for, the crowd could take solace in the fact that Rodriguez won by clear unanimous decision. Judges scored the bout 80-71,80-71, and 78-73 in his favor.
In perhaps the walkout of the night, world-ranked light heavyweight prospect Tavoris Cloud (177 lbs., 16-0-0, 15KO’s), dismantled Philadelphia’s Jake “The Snake” Rodriguez (176 lbs., 9-19-0) in two rounds of a scheduled eight-rounder.
With referee Gino Rodriguez presiding, the chiseled Cloud battered Rodriguez with punishing blows. For his part, Rodriguez wasn’t holding up too well to this one-sided beating. Rodriguez initiated round two by tying up and walking Cloud back to the ropes. He drove several punches to Cloud’s midsection, but took a heavy two-fisted pounding in return. In trouble, Rodriguez dropped down to one knee.
Referee Rodriguez initiated a count. However, the bell interrupted his count, saving Rodriguez for the moment.
Referee Geno Rodriguez raises Tavoris Cloud's gloved fist in victory
However, the reprieve was short-lived, as Rodriguez’ corner informed Scott that he would not be coming out for the third round. Cloud rose to 17-0-0 with 16 knockouts, while Rodriguez slipped to 9-20-0. Time of the stoppage was one second into the third round.
Poland's Dziubek (left) attacks Howell on the ropes
In the last bout of the evening, Greg Dziubek, who hailed from Poland by way of Chicago (126 lbs., 1-3-0), lost to Cincinnati’s Ronnie Howell (127 lbs., 0-1-0) by majority decision over four rounds.
Howell (left) rips a speedy right to Dziubek's side
Wearing silver trunks, for all intensive purposes, Howell looked like a speeding bullet. His fists were perhaps the quickest that I’d seen this evening—his punches were blurs—and by the end of the first round, Dziubek’s body and face were taking on a distinctive reddish hue. The round zipped by as quickly as Ronnie’s fists. Dziubek had survived.
Round two was more of the same. However, Dziubek’s fans shouted “Bravo” to give him a jump start.
The third saw a shift in momentum, as Dziubek bulled his way in and drove Howell into the ropes, where he had nowhere to escape. Hemming him in, he started to land some of his own blows.
In the fourth, Dziubek continued pressuring and bulling Howell to the ropes. He walked through Howell’s punches that, although quick, didn’t have the power to untrack him. Dziubek landed a huge overhand left to Howell’s head. Relentless, Dziubek unleashed more overhand lefts.
A victorious Howell strikes a fighting pose
However, it was too little, too late. Judges scored the bout 38-38 and 39-37 for Howell and 39-37 for Dziubek. Howell had won by majority decision.
And they said it was winter? On a cold December night, things were hot inside Cicero Stadium with non-stop action. As a boxing fan for over 25 years, this was truly a night to remember.
* * *
This event was promoted by Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions. Their next boxing event will take place on January 25th at the Cicero Stadium.
Rey Cave (right) with WBC Lightweight Champion David Diaz
David Diaz with photographer, Edna Escobedo
