Maurice Hooker draws with Darleys Perez in unsatisfying Ward-Kovalev co-feature

Maurice Hooker draws with Darleys Perez in unsatisfying Ward-Kovalev co-feature
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
November 19, 2016


LAS VEGAS — Fringe contender Maurice Hooker fought former beltholder Darleys Perez in the pay-per-view co-feature of the most important boxing match of the year.

That fact serves as a perfect indictment of what boxing has become in 2016. The result of the fight was as poetically unsatisfying as the undercard that it topped.

It’s not that Hooker (21-0-3, 16 knockouts) isn’t a solid if not unspectacular fighter or Perez (33-2-2, 21 KOs) a solid step up for him. But this fight is more in line with a ShoBox main event than the main appetizer for such an important event.

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Olympic bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk passes test against Issac Chilemba

Olympic bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk passes test against Issac Chilemba
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
November 19, 2016

LAS VEGAS — Olympic bronze medalist Oleksandr Gvozdyk passed his stiffest test to date.

The light heavyweight prospect took a big step up with the Isaac Chilemba assignment, a well-traveled veteran gatekeeper. Chilemba’s trainer, legendary trainer Roy Jones Jr., halted the bout after eight rounds when Chilemba suffered an injury to his right arm.

Chilemba is known for giving guys fits, almost as much as he’s known for participating in uninteresting fights. Though Gvozdyk’s decision victory followed a similar script to most Chilemba fights, he won in convincing fashion.

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Curtis Stevens sleepwalks to decision victory over James De La Rosa after hand injury

Curtis Stevens sleepwalks to decision victory over James De La Rosa after hand injury
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
November 19, 2016

LAS VEGAS — A hand injury for Curtis Stevens may have robbed us of what was shaping up to be an excellent fight between two gatekeepers.

Stevens, squaring off with James De La Rosa in the opening fight of the pay-per-view portion of the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward mega fight, hurt his left hand in the third round. It brought what was a solid action fight to a slowed pace as Stevens’ activity level dropped.

That didn’t keep Stevens (29-5, 21 KOs) from winning a lopsided decision, though the activity through the second half of the fight would have led you to believe it to be closer than the cards indicated. Stevens prevailed by scores of 98-90 and a more realistic 96-92 twice.

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Andre Berto earns redemption, knocks out Victor Ortiz in rematch

Andre Berto earns redemption, knocks out Victor Ortiz in rematch
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
April 30, 2016

CARSON, Calif. — It may have come many years later than he hoped, but Andre Berto finally got sweet redemption against Victor Ortiz.

Climbing off the canvas in the second round, Berto fought his way back and stopped Ortiz in the fourth round of their PBC on FOX main event at the StubHub Center in front of 7,760 fans. He avenged the first defeat of his professional career, a decision loss to Ortiz back in April of 2011 that was many people’s Fight of the Year.

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Thomas Williams Jr. passes audition with second-round KO of Edwin Rodriguez; is Adonis Stevenson next?

Thomas Williams Jr. passes audition with second-round KO of Edwin Rodriguez; is Adonis Stevenson next?
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
April 30, 2016

CARSON, Calif. – Two fights ago, Thomas Williams Jr. had his top prospect status revoked when he was stopped by former champion Gabriel Campillo. Williams has now emerged as a legitimate contender at 175 pounds after stopping Edwin Rodriguez in the second round of their slugfest.

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Leo Santa Cruz stops Kiko Martinez in 5th round in early fight of year candidate

Leo Santa Cruz stops Kiko Martinez in 5th round in early fight of year candidate
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
February 27, 2016

ANAHEIM, Calif. — There were many in the boxing community expecting a Fight of the Year candidate to come out of Saturday night. Most didn’t expect it to come from the Showtime main event between Leo Santa Cruz and Kiko Martinez, but Santa Cruz’s fifth-round TKO victory against Martinez is an early sleeper pick two months into 2016.

Santa Cruz was expected to handle veteran Martinez with relative ease, and through the first few rounds, it looked to follow the script. Santa Cruz put Martinez down twice in the first as he bludgeoned Martinez from the outset. Martinez launched a miniature comeback that was brought to an end in the fifth round when referee Raul Caiz Sr. stopped the bout at the 2:09 mark after Martinez was battered in the corner. Santa Cruz retained the WBA featherweight belt he earned against Abner Mares last August.

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Hugo Ruiz stops Julio Ceja in first round to take 122-pound title; Ceja injures ankle

Hugo Ruiz stops Julio Ceja in first round to take 122-pound title; Ceja injures ankle
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
February 27, 2016

ANAHEIM, Calif. — If Hugo Ruiz was hoping to redeem himself from last August’s fifth-round TKO loss at the hands of Julio Ceja, he did so in emphatic fashion.

Ruiz dropped Ceja with pretty much the first right hand he landed in the fight’s opening seconds. Ceja got back up but was clearly in trouble, and appeared to injure his ankle. This allowed Ruiz to finish him with a volley of punches on the ropes. Referee Tom Taylor halted the bout 51 seconds into the first round, setting up a potential rubber match between the two.

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Abner Mares: Leo Santa Cruz 'never really wanted to face me'

Abner Mares: Leo Santa Cruz 'never really wanted to face me'
Mark E. Ortega
USA TODAY
July 15, 2015

LYNWOOD, Calif. — Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares have been on a collision course for several years. With the two finally due to square off, Mares says there’s only one person to blame that it hasn’t happened sooner.

“I pushed for this fight, he never really wanted to face me,” Mares said. “I’ve wanted to fight him for a while. We fought on the same card at Staples Center and I’ve wanted to fight him since then.”

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A goodbye to a friend I never met, but really knew

A goodbye to a friend I never met, but really knew
August 18, 2014

This afternoon, while at work (a job which, among many other things, encompasses monitoring Twitter), I came across the heart-stopping news that Glyn Leach, the longtime editor of well-regarded print publication Boxing Monthly, passed away.

Photo courtesy of @ZombieSquasher.@ZombieSquasher

The loss was met by unrelenting sorrow by those in the boxing community. A vast majority of these people never were lucky enough to interact with Glyn but were still fortunate enough to enjoy his blood, sweat, and tears, as the magazine arrived in their hands a number of ways. For me, I lost someone who could only be referred to as a mentor of sorts.

It is unbelievably tough in the dog-eat-dog world of trying to make a living on the written word. While working full-time on the graveyard shift at a retail job, stocking shelves and trying not to fall asleep, Glyn Leach gave me my first opportunity to showcase my work someplace I considered well out of reach at the time. Boxing writing was something that was still far off from paying my bills, but Glyn got in touch with me about ideas for the magazine after coming across my work on Twitter. Despite being half the world away and having never met, Glyn saw something in my writing (which was extremely rough at the time) to give me a shout. This even though I was writing for a small, lightly regarded blog at the time.

Timothy Bradley gives thoughts on Cold War, Richard Schaefer leaving Golden Boy

Timothy Bradley gives thoughts on Cold War, Richard Schaefer leaving Golden Boy
Mark E. Ortega
BehindTheGloves.com
June 2, 2014


When Timothy Bradley accepted his Fight of the Year Award at the BWAA Awards in Las Vegas for his March 2013 bout against Ruslan Provodnikov, he also gave a message to the assembled attendants. It is time for the Cold War to end and for the best fights available to be made.

With members from HBO, Showtime, Golden Boy Promotions, and Top Rank all under one roof for the dinner that took place a few days before Floyd Mayweather would face Marcos Maidana, it was as good a time as any for a top fighter to be vocal about boxing’s Cold War.

Monday afternoon, it was announced that Richard Schaefer has left Golden Boy, the company he was the CEO to and an integral part of the southern California company’s success in recent years. Behind The Gloves reached out to Bradley and spoke with him briefly on his thoughts about the development and whether or not he thinks it will be a building block to making fights with his promoter Top Rank in the future.

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Larry Merchant’s quick reaction to Richard Schaefer leaving Golden Boy

Larry Merchant’s quick reaction to Richard Schaefer leaving Golden Boy
Mark E. Ortega
BehindTheGloves.com
June 2, 2014


Moments after the news broke that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer would be leaving the company, I spoke with Hall of Fame boxing analyst Larry Merchant briefly about his thoughts on the development and what impact it will have on the sport moving forward. Here are Larry’s thoughts:

“Schaefer did a good job in helping to build Golden Boy virtually from scratch into one of the two major promotion companies,” Merchant said in a phone interview.

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Marquez and Alvarado looking to earn Pacquiao fight on Saturday

Marquez and Alvarado looking to earn Pacquiao fight on Saturday

Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
May 15, 2014


Saturday night, boxing returns to The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., as future first ballot Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez squares off with Mike Alvarado in a welterweight bout that could very well determine the next opponent to Manny Pacquiao later this year.

Marquez got his start in the States at the old Forum, racking up victories as an obscure but talented technically sound Mexican fighter. It wasn’t until his controversial draw with Pacquiao a decade ago that Marquez began earning the respect of casual observers.

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Karim Mayfield suffers first pro loss

Karim Mayfield suffers first pro loss
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
April 1, 2014


Saturday night, San Francisco junior welterweight Karim Mayfield suffered the first defeat of his professional boxing career. Mayfield dropped a unanimous decision to Thomas Dulorme in Atlantic City; the bout was televised by HBO.

It was a bizarre week for Mayfield, as Thursday evening saw news break that his de facto manager Marlon Sullivan was caught up in serious allegations as they related to Senator Leland Yee.

Yee, a one-time candidate for mayor of San Francisco in 2011, found himself right in the thick of charges such as accepting campaign contributions in order to carry out orders solicited from undercover agents. Such orders included gun running.

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Juan Carlos Martinez spoils Alejandro Perez’s plans in UniMas main event

Juan Carlos Martinez spoils Alejandro Perez’s plans in UniMas main event
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
March 30, 2013

LAS VEGAS — With a shot at top-10 featherweight contender Nicholas Walters looming on May 31, Alejandro Perez just had to fight a safe gameplan and stay out of harm's way in his main event Saturday night against Juan Carlos Martinez at Texas Station Hotel & Casino. Martinez, a compet journeyman used to taking fights on short notice, had other plans as he shocked Perez by winning a 10-round split decision over Perez.

Despite his bad looking record, Martinez (20-14-1, 7 KOs) came to fight, forcing Perez (19-4-1, 13 KOs) to brawl in an entertaining scrap that probably had his team uneasy with every exchange. Martinez came in off training with renowned trainer Joel Diaz while helping Timothy Bradley prepare for Manny Pacquiao. You don't get sparring much better than that.

"When you're used to fighting on a few weeks notice and you get a full training camp, it makes a world of difference," Joel Diaz told RingTV.com after the win.

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Bits & Pieces: Alejandro Perez stays busy, Chris Arreola trains in San Diego

Bits & Pieces: Alejandro Perez stays busy, Chris Arreola trains in San Diego
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
March 25, 2014

Featherweight veteran Alejandro Perez has earned his spot the hard way.

Lightly regarded through the early stages of his career, it wasn’t until the Salinas, Calif. native endured a few defeats before he began to find himself as a fighter.

A mesmerizing one-round knockout of former touted prospect Antonio Escalante in March of 2011 had him hopeful momentum was swinging his way. Instead, it forced a label of being a dangerous, high-risk, low-reward type fighter. That led to only getting offers to fight at 130 pounds despite Perez being at his best at 126 pounds.

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Boxing news around the Bay Area

Boxing news around the Bay Area - Mar. 25
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
March 25, 2014

Former Oakland boxer James Buggs shockingly passed away last Tuesday at the early age of 43 from an apparent heart attack.

Over the course of a 10-year professional career that ended in 2009, Buggs was a win some, lose some type of fighter. He compiled a record that consisted of eight wins, ten losses, and three draws, often taking fights on short notice and under unfavorable circumstances against a number of up and comers.

It is within the confines of Oakland’s famed King’s Gym that Buggs’ absence will be felt the most in the boxing community. It is there that Buggs worked with the city’s youth, teaching them the basics of the sweet science while also becoming a reliable figure in the gym for anyone to bounce their problems off.

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Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez, it’s about respect

Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez, it’s about respect
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
March 13, 2014

LOS ANGELES – Both Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto seemed ready to the press tour behind them and begin training at Wednesday’s final press conference to promote their June 7 middleweight championship.

The theme of the bout, which takes place at Madison Square Garden and will be televised by HBO pay-per-view, appears to be about respect.

Martinez feels disrespected that he’s being billed second and had to make a number of concessions at the negotiation table when he’s the middleweight champion (the lineal champ recognized by THE RING magazine, not just a beltholder). Cotto feels as though he earned that position at the table having taken his lumps as the B-side to both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

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Boxing Around the Bay

Boxing Around the Bay
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
March 9, 2014


Sacramento’s Robb signs with manager, fights Apr. 5

Sacramento featherweight Guy Robb has proven himself to be one of the most consistently exciting fighters in northern California since his professional debut in 2010. Due to the lack of pro shows in the region, Robb only fought twice in 2013. The inactivity will hopefully come to an end as Robb signed with local manager Herb Stone on Tuesday, the fighter told the Gazette. The 25-year old Robb (12-1, 5 KOs) put on a gutsy display for a nationally televised audience in his lone defeat, a January 2012 loss to fellow unbeaten Joel Diaz Jr.

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Friday night fights in Redwood City

Friday night fights in Redwood City
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
March 4, 2014

Friday night at the Fox Theater, local favorite Bruno Escalante scored an easy one round knockout of Mexican veteran Lorenzo Trejo in the ten-round main event.

Trejo is a 36-year old Mexican journeyman who had been stopped in the first round his previous two fights. He unsurprisingly met the same demise at the hands of his much younger foe. Trejo took one good left hand well and then it was all downhill from there. The end came when Escalante landed a crushing body shot followed by a right hook. Trejo was down in the corner and showed no interest to continue.

Escalante (12-1-1, 6 knockouts) is coming off an impressive 2013 where he gained valuable experience, going ten rounds for the first time in his career against a capable opponent. Trejo represented a major step back in terms of the level of opponent. If the fans were interested to see their guy get an easy knockout, the promoter ensured they’d get it.

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No better way to experience Mark Kozelek than in SF

No better way to experience Mark Kozelek than in SF

Mark E. Ortega

March 3, 2014

Saturday night, I ventured out to Great American Music Hall in San Francisco to see Mark Kozelek play a show ten blocks from where the former Red House Painters singer lives, according to some of his between song banter that evening.

I had interviewed Kozelek back in 2011 for Queensberry-Rules.com, not so much about music, but about boxing. Kozelek’s spin off from Red House Painters is named Sun Kil Moon, named for the South Korean boxer. On Sun Kil Moon’s first album Ghosts of a Great Highway exists a song “Salvador Sanchez”, named for the legendary Mexican fighter who died tragically at 23 years of age.