HBO Boxing After Dark Live – James Kirkland Vs. Joel Julio
I am on my way to the HP Pavilion to see James Kirkland vs. Joel Julio in the main event. Victor Ortiz is second from the top against Mike Arnaoutis, and Gilroy’s own Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero takes on Daud Yordan. It’s a Golden Boy Promotions fight and you know Oscar De La Hoya will be in the building.
I’m going to try updating all of the fights round by round from my phone. If that happens, you’ll see it all happen here in about 2 hours. If not, I’ll update it while watching on HBO.
In the first fight, Luis Ramos beat Martinez (I didn’t hear his first name) in a 4 round decision. He was just way too fast with his hands and on his feet. He had him going at the end of the 3rd round.
Gabe Garcia vs. Eloy Perez
R1
Garcia is a lefty and he is lunging and seems to have terrible footwork. Perez caught him a few times with hard shots, knocking Garcia off balanced. Perez should catch him soon.
R2
I thought Perez had him out but Garcia survived the round. His punches have zero effect on Perez.
R3
Garcia lost his mouth piece three times and if not for it coming out and the ref stopping it to put the mouth piece back in, I think it would’ve been stopped. Garcia is taking a pounding.
R4
Garcia took a major beating near the end of the 4th and the referee stopped it. The referee was terrible. He didn’t know if he wanted to give Garcia a standing 8 count or not and just decided to stop it.
Winner: Eloy Martinez by way of 4th round TKO
Sergio Orantes vs. Carl Dargen
R1
Dargen dropped him with short right in a round in which nothing else happened. Orantes didn’t seem hurt.
R2
Dargen stunned him and Orantes looked woozy before the ref stopped it.
Winner: Carl Dargen by way of 2nd round TKO
Mario Lozano vs. Karim Mayfield
R1
Pretty sloppy first round and nothing really happened. Mayfield is quick, but hasn’t shown anything yet.
R2
Lozano caught him with a short right and Mayfield went to a knee. Mayfield lasted the round.
R3
Lozano hit the harder punches, but there wasn’t much going on.
R4
Mayfield’s best round thus far. He knocked Lozano to a knee but then hit him while he was on his knee and was docked a point. The last minute saw them trading shots.
R5
The round was fairly even except Mayfield hit the two stiffest shots.
R6
Mayfield put him down with an overhand right. Lozano came back and hit some great counter hooks late.
Winner: Karim Mayfield by way of unanimous decision
Andres Ledesma vs. Charles Huerta
R1
Huerta is the slicker of the two fighters and landed the better shots.
R2
Pretty uneventful 2nd round. Ledesma looked better, but Huerta seems to be a step ahead of him.
R3
Ledesma is content throwing some jabs and bouncing away. Huerta wasn’t too active but threw the best shots.
R4
This one is a snoozer thanks to Ledesma’s style. Nothing round.
R5
Ledesma must be thinking that the judges like his jab and back peddle style because he hasn’t changed at all. Huerta hit him with one good shot. Another terrible round.
R6
Ledesma looked better in the final round. He had more snap on his punches.
Winner: Charles Huerta by way of split decision
Pedro Fernandez, who is also the ring announcer for these opening bouts, screwed up the announcement of the winner leading each guy to believe that he was the winner.
While I was getting something to drink, heavyweight Seth Mitchell knocked out someone named Rabotte in the first round.
Willie Perryman vs. Ashanti Jordan
R1
Jordan hit some good body shots. Perryman would take the shot and then bounce off the ropes.
R2
Perryman went down in what looked like a slip, but it was a knockdown. Very similar to the first round.
R3
Jordan hit him with a straight right and straight left and Perryman was out cold.
Winner: Ashanti Jordan by way of 2nd round KO
Daud Yordan vs. Robert Guerreo
R1
Yordan is quick and surprised Guerrero a few times.
R2
Guerrero has a cut over his right eye from what looks like a head butt. The doctor at ringside stopped the fight. The crowd is livid. The cut is pretty nasty.
Winner: No decision
Mike Arnaoutis vs. Victor Ortiz
R1
It was a feeling out round but it’s easy to see that Ortiz is the stronger fighter.
R2
Ortiz hit him with a solid left hand and buckled Arnaoutis and sent him back into the corner. A flurry of punches caused the ref to stop it though it looked like only one caught him flush.
Winner: Victor Ortiz by way of 2nd round TKO
Joel Julio vs. James Kirkland
R1
Kirkland started out quickly and looked good stalking Julio. Julio started to hit him with his right hand later in the round.
R2
Kirkland had a good round. He was making Julio miss and tagged him pretty good. He was in and out and fighting his fight.
R3
Amazing round. They had two back and forths that got this crowd going. Kirkland got the best of the first and Julio the second.
R4
Kirkland hit Julio behind the head and then early when the ref was making them touch gloves. He was the agressor but I’m not sure he landed the best punches.
R5
Julio started the round well, but Kirkland finished strong. He really picked up the pace to win that round. Julio has a cut on his right eye lid.
R6
It was Kirkland’s best round. Near the end, he rocked him and Julio grabbed onto him in order to finish the round.
The ref waived off the fight and stopped it with Julio sitting on his stool.
Winner: James Kirkland by way of 6th round TKO
It looked like a good crowd there. What was the atmosphere like?
The crowd definitely filled up by the time Guerrero was fighting, but most of the second level was tarped off.
It was a very heavy Mexican crowd and definitely a Gilroy crowd because of Guerrero. The crowd was not into De La Hoya at all.
I’ve been to MMA shows there and the crowd was hotter for Frank Shamrock than they were for James Kirkland. But you put a huge boxing star in there and they would’ve acted accordingly. San Jose is a fairly knowledgeable crowd for boxing.
I was surprised that most of the fans were in the 30 and up range, though there were some old school fight fans. It was like an MMA crowd, except Mexican heavy.