 |
| Mucho Machismo at the Arrowhead Pond |
By Randy De La O
I was there that night, at the Arrowhead Pond on March 31, 1995, along with my son Andrew, Ed Hernandez Sr and Ed Jr. It was actually a pretty good fight card and one that we were really looking forward to, with L.A.'s own Genaro "Chicanito" Hernandez stopping the always game "Clown Prince of Boxing" Jorge Paez of Mexico, in eight rounds (on cuts) out of a scheduled ten rounds, and Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez, also from Mexico, knocking out Colombian Jesus Zuniga in five rounds, defending both the WBC and IBF Light Flyweight titles. This would be "Chiquita's second to last fight..
Louie Espinoza lost his fight for the WBC Featherweight Championship against Alejandro Gonzalez, going the distance but losing a unanimous decision. A young legend in the making, Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico, took the WBO Super Bantamweight Title from Daniel Jimenez of Puerto Rico.
I remember this as an exciting night of boxing and it's a reminder that there was still a lot of good boxing going on in the 1990's but I also remember that the fights inside the ring on this night actually had to compete with the fights in the stands. The fight that stole the show that night took place in the balcony directly above us with one man trying his damnedest to throw his guy over the balcony while punching him relentlessly. Luckily security got to them before the guy went over. The saddest thing about it though was that neither guy got paid for their troubles. Of course all this pales by comparison to the mini riots at the Olympic Auditorium and the Forum during the 1960's.
No comments:
Post a Comment