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 News from Around Banderas Bay | February 2008 
Ernesto "Finito" Valdez Captures Title at Muay Thai Bouts at Collage
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
| | Youngsters opened the fight card with an amateur bout. | 
| | Ernesto "Finito" Valdez celebrates with his championship belt after his 1st round TKO in the main event. | 
| | A traditional pre fight ritual is performed by a number of the competitors. | 
| | Pre-fight instructions are given to professional fighters by Referee Armando Tapia. | | |
Puerto Vallarta - In the main event on Friday, February 10, 2008, Ernesto "Finito" Valdez of Lanna Gym battered his opponent, Alberto Langle of Huamantla as referee Aramnado Tapia stopped the fight nearing the end of the 1st round. The TKO gave Valdez the FIDAM title in the welterweight division and a bit of a celebration followed the fight that ended after 4 ½ hours of Muay Thai action.
Lanna Gym owner and Professor Carlos Solorio put a card together that included nine amateur fights and three professional fights. The Collage Club was sold out. There were three local gyms and a gym from Mexico City that competed against Solorio's fighters. Locally, Mota Gym (Manager Professor Odi Mota), Speedy Gym (Manager Professor Carlos Speedy) and Tanay Luark (Manager Professor Jose Uribe) sent fighters to the event. The gym from Mexico City was Vega Muay Thai DF (Manager Professor Ubillado.)
There is a huge difference in amateur and professional Muay Thai fights. The amateurs wear protective head gear and padding in areas of their body that frequently get hit or kicked. The fights are three rounds are two minutes per round. The professionals wear no head gear, much less protection, most importantly no shin guards and utilize only boxing gloves. The pro fights are five rounds and three grueling minutes each.
Lanna Gym made a clean sweep of all 9 amateur fights. Winners were:
Samuel Saavedra by decision in the 63.5 - 67 kilo division
Ruben Palomera by decision in the 54 - 57 kilo division
Edgar Montiel with a 1st round KO in the 67 - 71 kilo division
Ulises Cruz with a 1st round TKO in the 71-75 kilo division
Sergio Ruelas with a 1st round KO in the 63.5 - 67 kilo division
Jonathon Cervantes by decision in the 54 - 57 kilo division
Carlos Palomera with a 2nd round TKO in the 63.5 - 67 kilo division
Pedro Lopez Joya with a 3rd round TKO in the 71 -75 kilo division
Alejandro "Jando" Lopez by decision in the 60 - 63.5 kilo division
To translate the kilos into pounds, for those that do not utilize the metric system, a kilo = 2.2 pounds. The smallest fighters at 54 kilos weighs 119 pounds. The biggest fighters at 75 kilos weighs 165 pounds.
The professional fights were battles between opponents and ring doctors made numerous visits to check cut and bloody eyes, bloody noses and mouths and other potential injuries that could badly injure a fighter. Fights were stopped when the ring doctors deemed the injury as too dangerous to keep fighting or the referee deemed that the boxers weren't able to physically defend themselves while in the ring. A tremendous job was done by the medical doctors and the referee.
Hugo Solorio, younger brother of Carlos made his professional debut in the "Pluma" or 54 kilo weight class against Osvaldo Rangel from Mexico City. Rangel was the dominant fighter and was able to weather the explosions that Hugo is known for. Rangel began to wear Solorio down and the fight was called in the 5th and final round; a win for the Mexico City fighter.
Jorge Estrada and Alfredo Diaz of Mexico City fought a battle that had the crowd on their feet and screaming for the home favorite. Both fighters were bloodied and Estrada was the first to be examined with a cut eye suffered in the 1st round. The cut was below the eye and deemed not dangerous.
Often when a fighter knows they are bleeding, a natural burst of adrenaline spurs them on and increases their aggressiveness. Estrada did just that and dominated the 2nd round and opened cuts on the nose and mouth of Diaz. The Lanna Gym fighter won the thriller with a TKO in the 3rd round.
The crowd emptied after the Valdez championship final fight and another Lanna Gym and Carlos Solorio production was a success. Look for Solorio to bring another fight card to Puerto Vallarta in the coming month. |
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