| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay | December 2008 
Valverde and Villanueva Win Main Events At Friday Night Boxing
 PVNN
| | Puerto Vallarta's Christian Valverde has his hand raised after his 8th round knockout in Friday's main event over Nicolas Lucio of Guanajuato. | 
| | Valverde positioning for a left right combination that was effective in his victory. | 
| | Paco Villenueva of Puerto Vallarta has his hand raised after his 5th round knockout of Jorge Martinez of Guanajuato in the co-main event. | 
| | Paco Villanueva poses after his 5th round KO victory. | 
| | Villanueva slips a left and positions himself for one of his many counter punches. | 
| | Puerto Vallarta's 18 year old Salvador Rudi Arias is victorious to move to 4-0 in his young professional career. | 
| | Nine year old Jose Picachu of Puerto Vallarta is always a crowd favorite with his ring savvy. | |
For the second time in one month Paco Villanueva's Power Punch Gym and Promotions presented a full card of professional and amateur boxing matches. The fights were again held at the Collage Club at the Marina area, a regular venue for boxing events.
In the main event, Christian Valverde, a local favorite from Puerto Vallarta faced Nicolas Lucio of Celaya, Guanajuato in a 10 round fight in the welterweight division. Valverde won a tough decision with a strong final round in November against a strong hard swinging opponent and when the fighters were introduced it appeared as if his opponent was cut from the same mold.
In his last bout, Christian fought a bit tentatively against his hard swinging opponent, careful not to get caught with a big punch, but on Friday night he came out as the aggressor from the opening bell. He was hitting hard and with accuracy with all his punches and was moving extremely well in the ring. A strong jab stung Lucio consistently and a very strong right cross was a very consistent punch in Friday's arsenal. Controlling the action early, the two fighters had a vicious exchange at the end of the 2nd round, which saw a point deducted from Lucia for a low blow at the round end.
The 3rd and 4th rounds saw Valverde do enough to win the rounds on points, but he exploded with big 5th and 6th rounds that saw every punch in his arsenal score effectively and with aggressiveness. He controlled his opponent and dictated the pace of the fight.
Occasionally Lucia would unload some big shots, but Valverde either ducked the shots or picked them off with his gloves or forearms. The 7th round saw his opponent not even fighting back and when the bell rang for the 8th round Lucia didn't get off the stool, giving Valverde a TKO in a dominating performance. Valverde improved his record to 21-4 with 16 KOs as Lucia dropped to 18-7.
In the semi main event Paco Villanueva owner of Power Punch Gym fought Jorge Martinez, also of Celaya, Guanajuato in a 10 round welterweight bout. Martinez was more aggressive earlier, getting the first punch off in most exchanges but the cerebral Villanueva did just enough in each round to keep the scorecards relatively close. Paco was clearly the harder hitter early, but his punches were shorter in the 3rd and 4th rounds, as he appeared to tire a bit.
Villanueva is a warrior and an experienced boxer that is as student of the fight game, thus the reason he grooms and trains Puerto Vallarta's best boxers. In the 5th round, Paco saw that an opening and a hard body punch knocked down Martinez, who was more shocked than hurt it appeared. That gave the Vallarta veteran a second wind as he dominated the rest of the 5th and the 6th round until he knocked the mouth piece of his opponent out. At that point the commissioner of Puerto Vallarta boxing, dictating that the fight be stopped as Villanueva won by TKO in the 6th. The explanation was that Martinez quit fighting and wasn't defending himself.
In the super bantamweight division in a 4 round professional fight, Daniel Choco Mendez of Puerto Vallarta lost a close decision to a late substitute, Victor Morales of Guadalajara, who came on late in the fight with just enough to sway the decision of the three ring judges in a unanimous decision. Mendez was the smoother fighter and initiated contact but didn't provide enough offense to win.
In the first professional fight of the evening, 18 year old Salvador Rudi Arias, who impressed fans a month ago with a strong performance, fought Julio Olivares of Celaya, Guanajuato in a 4 round flyweight bout. Both fighters are new to the pro ranks and both came in undefeated. Arias didn't dominate the fight as last time and split the first two rounds, but in the final two rounds he began to unleash an offensive attack. His best punch was a regular uppercut and his good footwork and fast hands allowed him to dominate the final rounds for a unanimous decision as he moved his pro record to 4-0.
Nine amateur fights preceded the professional bouts in yet another successful night of boxing at the Collage. Paco Villanueva put together a good card and competitive, entertaining boxing. I feel it appropriate to note that Paco fought before Valverde so he could be in Christian's corner for his fight. Villanueva won his fight, showered, changed clothes and was in Valverde's corner within five minutes. This is great testament to his dedication to the fighters he trains. |
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