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GOLDEN BOY SHOW DELIVERS MAIN EVENT SLUGFEST
By ROY HESS
The Brownsville Herald
Fidel Maldonado Jr. (12-0, 10 knockouts) of Albuquerque, N.M., prevailed over Puerto Rican Eric “La Maquina” Cruz (13-8-3, 13 KOs) on an eight-round unanimous decision in the entertaining main event of Friday’s Golden Boy/Cavazos Boxing show at Pharr Events Center.
With the victory, televised on Telefutura’s “Solo Boxeo Tecate,” Maldonado, a Golden Boy fighter, claimed Cruz’s WBC Youth World lightweight title. It was Cruz’s first title defense since capturing the belt in July by defeating Guillermo Sanchez in Puerto Rico.
“It was a war,” local promoter Anthony Cavazos said of the main event. “Maldonado dropped Cruz with his first punch, a left, in the opening round, and from there, the two of them just went at it for eight rounds. They’re both warriors.
“We had a great turnout — more than 2,000 fans,” Cavazos added. “I’d just like to thank everyone for their support on behalf of Golden Boy and Cavazos Boxing.”
Welterweight Jorge Suarez (5-0, three KOs) of San Antonio defeated Larry Smith (10-7, seven KOs) of Dallas on a six-round unanimous decision in the co-main event.
Other winners on the card were welterweight Raul Tovar (9-5-1, three KOs) of Mission with a second-round technical knockout of Miguel Pizarro (2-5, one KO) of San Antonio, junior welterweight Juan Reyna (3-0, two KOs) of Brownsville with a fourth-round TKO of Juan Ovalle (4-6-1, three KOs) of Mercedes and featherweight Gilbert Cancino (1-0) of Brownsville with a four-round majority decision against Hector Gutierrez (0-2) of Mission.
In another undercard bout, bantamweight Joey “Rocket” Garcia (0-0-1) of Weslaco battled Javier Rodriguez (0-0-1) of San Antonio to a four-round draw.
Roy Hess writes for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him via e-mail at rhess@brownsvilleherald.com
