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By Sean Crose
Golden Boy Live broadcast one of its last shows on Fox Sports 1 on Friday (Golden Boy is parting ways with Fox and – you guessed it – Al Haymon’s PBC is coming in). The card, which was shown live from Salinas California (John Steinbeck country) featured middleweight Alan Sanchez (15-3-1) and Carlos Lozano (7-4).
Sanchez was supposed to battle Steve Claggett, but a matter over a visa kept the Canadian away. To his credit, Lozano made the way up from Mexico on pretty much a few hours’ notice. He also put a fight.
Sanchez may not have looked magnificent – his guard was a bit low, he didn’t possess a great deal of speed and his power didn’t come across as all that impressive – but he was able to control the tempo of the fight through range and movement.
Both men landed some great shots, but it was Sanchez’ night, and the judges responded accordingly, granting Sanchez a unanimous decision victory.
The second bout of the evening featured San Jose’s Andy Vences (11-0) and LA’s Santiago Guevara (8-1) in an 8 round super featherweight affair. Vences started off flicking an impressive jab in the first. He also quickly took to working the body.
Continuing to pepper his man in the second, it looked like Vences might finish his man off before the final bell. As the bout wore on, though, it was clear that Guevera was indeed there to fight. He showed aggression when he could, as well as some solid movement.
Vences was serious and disciplined, however, and simply would not let his opponent take control. In fact, his laser like focus made it appear as if Vences was bent on nothing more than the destruction of his opponent.
And a stinging, missile-like shot in the fourth completed the task, sending Guevara down and out with a right hand.
The main event featured Mexico’s David Lopez (41-15-1) against local fighter Paul Mendez (17-2-2) in a ten round super middleweight scrap. Looking a bit like a smaller version of Adonis Stevenson, Mendez tried to control the distance early on as the forty something Lopez impressively moved forward. It was a close first round to call.
Mendez may well have been the favorite, but Lopez was clearly in the fight during the first quarter of the bout. Indeed, the Mexican may have actually won the third round. As the match worked its way into the middle rounds, it was worth wondering how effective a Lopez in his prime might have been. For Mendez was making a point of steering clear of the man without appearing overly effective himself.
Yet, by the sixth, Mendez started coming on strong. In fact, it looked like he might have his man in trouble towards the center of the round. Lopez held firm, but the tide had definitely turned. As he started getting rocked with thunderous shots, it was worth wondering how long the veteran, his face bloodied from Mendez’ fists, would last.
Lopez remained, though. This was a true warrior. He simply wasn’t going to give. And Mendez, well, he looked decent as the bout rolled into the final rounds, but a shot he took in the eighth was ferocious. What’s more, the guy looked gassed in his corner.
The tenth pretty much looked like the rest of the fight, with Lopez showing a lot of heart and Mendez showing a bit more skill. The judges seemed to have seen it that way to, for after the final bell, they awarded Mendez a split decision victory.
In other news, Vences, appeared with Jessica Rosales in between rounds during the main event, to talk about the fact that he had just proposed to his girlfriend in the arena after his victory. He still had his shirt off.
