A cautionary bout or a championship-type performance, depending on how you look at it, for Raymond Muratalla (17-0, 12 KOs), who is best known by his nickname, “Danger”. Muratalla was floored in the first round by Humberto Galindo (14-3-1, 11 KOs), but ended up winning via a ninth-round knockout. Muratalla found himself on the ropes in the first round as a right hand from Galindo dropped, but didn’t seem to hurt Muratalla. The pattern of staying on the ropes for too long would continue in round two, but by the third round, Muratalla began to get into a rhythm pushing Galindo back. Muratalla would use deceptive angles to fire off his power punches. As Muratalla showed one of the traits tonight of a world champion, the ability to fight back from adversity. Muratalla dropped Galindo with a body shot in the fourth round when Galindo was spun back onto the ropes by Muratalla, who landed a brilliantly timed body shot that sent Galindo down.
After Muratalla dropped Galindo, Muratalla was able to remain in control, as Galindo would land flurries in spurts, but not nearly as often as in the first two rounds. Muratalla really began to pick up the pace late in the fight with the eighth round seeming to be a turning point and beginning to separate late. The ninth round saw another left hook to the body halt the bout, as Muratalla knocked out the game-veteran fighter, with a body shot that Galindo couldn't get up from that was thrown in combination with a sequence of punches.
The time of stoppage was at 2:40 of the ninth round. Muratalla is managed by Robert Garcia.
Charlie Sheehy (6-0, 4 KOs) is a heavily touted lightweight stand-out with brilliant amateur pedigree, who trains with the all-star team of Miguel Rios, Mike Bazzel, and Bruno Escalante, and hails from a local suburb of San Francisco, California (Brisbane) earned a hard-fought victory over a very game Angel Rebollar (6-2, 3 KOs) in Sheehy’s first six-round professional fight of his career. The difference in the fight was Sheehy’s well-educated jab that Rebollar struggled to solve, though Rebollar offered plenty of resistance with a tricky and unpredictable lead left hook. Emotion ran high as Rebollar, the pressure fighter, began to fight with emotion in the sixth and final round seemingly knowing he needed a knockout to win, that aggression lead to a cut opening on Sheehy in the sixth round, called from what I believe was a headbutt. Time was called for the cut, but it was Rebollar who brought tremendous pressure, but it was the volume of Sheehy’s jab that lead him to victory.
The judges scored the fight 58-56, 60-54, and 60-54.
Both fighters brought a good-sized fanbase to the event, who cheered for their respective fighters. The fans took turns cheering for the fighter they came to see, as the evenly matched bout created an eclectic atmosphere. Both fighters should’ve earned every fight fan’s respect after this type of performance.
Gilroy’s own, Jessie James Guerrero (3-0-2, 3 KOs), a light flyweight, from the fighting Guerrero family, which most notably produced world champion, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, who is Jessie James Guerrero's uncle and sat ringside for the fight, fought Eduardo Alvarez (0-2-1), to a majority-decision draw in one of the most enjoyable fights of the prelims.
In the first round, the two traded wild exchanges that set the tone for the frantic pace of the fight, as the two went to war exchanging punches in bunches from close range as they both looked to see which fighter would fold first. The answer for those interested was neither. Despite having an unattractive record, Alvarez came to win and didn’t back down, as when Guerrero would land a big shot, Alvarez often would answer with one of his own. By the second round, the aggressive nature of the fight saw a cut opened up over Guerrero’s right eye, probably caused by a head butt, but I didn’t get a confirmation at ringside, one that veteran cutman Mike Bazzel did a masterful job stopping and allowing Guerrero to continue for the full duration of the fight. The two would beat each other in a fight that showed as much about their wills as fighters as it did their skill, as the two fighters got the crowd excited early in the evening.
In the end, the judges saw the fight 40-36, 38-38, and 38-38. With rumors of a Northern California Top Rank show in the future, it might be nice to see these two fight again if Top Rank does in fact return to California soon.
Notable about the fight was three generations of Guerreros were in the ring at one time, as Ruben Guerrero Sr., and Ruben Guerrero Jr., cornered Jessie James Guerrero. Ruben Guerrero Jr. is Jessie James Guerrero’s father. Guerrero also sold twenty thousand dollars in tickets in the build-up to this fight.
Junior welterweight Ricardo Ruvalcaba (8-0-1, 7 KOs), of Ventura, California stopped veteran Marco Antonio Cardenas (9-8-1, 4 KOs) of Salem, Oregon in the first round with a left hook to the body that halted the contest at 2:59. Ruvalcaba landed two left hooks to the body of Cardenas, the first seemingly hurt Cardenas on the right side just under the ribs, and the second left hook to the body stopped Cardenas, who was unable to get to his feet. A solid fanbase drove out for the fighter from the 805 to support him early on the card. Ruvalcaba works with veteran boxing manager, Frank Espinoza.
Opening the card at 4 PM pacific standard time, Japanese amateur stand-out, Subaru Murata (4-0, 4 KOs), fighting in the super bantamweight division, knocked out local favorite, Jose Negrete (2-2, 2 KOs), of the neighboring city of Hanford, California, in the first round of a bout scheduled for four rounds. The Augie Sanchez trained fighter, Murata boxed well in the first round landing a slew of jabs systematically targeting the body to open his biggest punch, his straight left hand from the southpaw stance. All it took was one straight left for the fight to be over as Negrete beat the count, but Negrete was unable to show referee Michael Margado he was able to continue and the fight was halted. It might have been the only power shot Murata threw during the whole fight.
The time of the stoppage was 1:47 of round one.