| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay 
Cesar "El Mego" Palomera Wins IKF World Championship
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
May 03, 2010
| | Cesar "El Mego" Palomera has his hand raised in victory in the main event. Palomera of Puerto Vallarta won the IKF world championship as still dazed loser Marck Deluca from the U.S. could only look on. | |
In the main event at the "Fight of the Bicentennial" Friday night at Plaza De Toros La Paloma, Puerto Vallarta's own Cesar "El Mego" Palomera destroyed Marck "Jaipetch" Deluca of Pittsburgh, PA. with a third brutal knockdown and TKO stopped by referee Dan Steele 38 seconds into the 2nd round to win the undisputed IKF super lightweight World Championship belt. With IKF President Steve Fossum at ringside, the team of the IKF and Felix Perez of Sierra Madre Productions helped make the long night that ended at 1:30 AM a big night for Palomera and almost every Puerto Vallarta fighter.
| | On the left, Felix Perez, the promotor of the event with the victorious Palomera.
| 
| | Proud Dad and son celebrate in the ring after Palomera's stunning performance. | 
| | Prior to the main event, both the U.S. and Mexican flags were present in the ring for the international fight and both national Anthems were sung. | 
| | Traditional pre-fight dance of respect is portrayed by Deluca. | 
| | Referee Dan Steele raises Gregorio "Dragoncito" Gabriel's hand after his split decision victory for the IKF Mexican championship title in the lightweight division. | 
| | Carlos "El Escorpion" Navarro of Guadalajara celebrates after narrowly winning the IKF North Mexico title belt in the lightweight division. | |
After a minute of feeling each other out in the scheduled five round bout, Palomera assaulted Deluca with brutal kicks and punches that landed him flat on his back as the popular "El Mego" prematurely went to a neutral corner and jumped victoriously. Deluca however was able to continue and shook the cobwebs just a bit, but just before seconds before the end of the opening round Palomera put him back on the canvas with another vicious knockdown.
At the end of the round the ring doctor wanted to call the fight, but experienced referee Dan Steele spoke to Deluca in the corner and he seemed aware although hurt. Steele told him if he went down again he would end the fight and the bell sounded for the second round. Palomera didn't want to wait for his opponent to regain his complete senses and at 38 seconds "El Mego" again launched an assault that put the American on the canvas for the third time and there was not a thought of allowing the fight to continue.
Steele called for the bell as frenzied fans, friends and family went wild as a world championship belt came to Puerto Vallarta. Strangely enough, as Palomera ended the fight he caught an elbow above his eye and bled profusely during the belt presentation and festivities that followed. That made one wonder that if Deluca wasn't so badly hurt early, if the fight would have been a different one. Talks of a rematch were already being uttered.
There were also two championship professional undercards. The bout before the main event pitted Puerto Vallarta's Gregorio "Dragoncito" Gabriel, holder of two Mexican National belts, one an IKF belt, take on Luis "La Cobra" Perez of Mexico City, an IKF Mexican championship belt holder. This was in the lightweight division and for the IKF Mexican national championship in a five round fight. "Dragoncito" is a shorter powerfully built fighter and Perez was taller and had more range and agility which made for an anything can happen fight.
Perez appeared to control the pace of the fight but Gabriel always bounced back and responded when the fighter from Mexico City got off first. The two fighters were obviously well trained and at times it was difficult for Gregorio to get inside. The fight was even after two rounds to the human eye, but the 3rd round was a wild one. "Dragoncito" knocked Perez down in the opening minute of the round for a standing eight count, which meant that if Gregorio held control, he would win the round 10-8, a huge advantage in a five round fight. Perez bounced back and fought effectively but later in the round Gregorio knocked him down again for another eight count. With the round clearly in his favor he made the horrible mistake of landing a low blow in the waning seconds of the round and with that came a one point deduction.
The fourth round had good, quick and powerful exchanges but after the insane 3rd round, this was very tame but very close to call. The 5th and final round bell rang and both fighters battled as if they needed to win the round to win the fight. That is how close the fight was. Late in the round Perez connected with a solid kick that sent Gabriel to the canvas for a knockdown and a point lost and all the fans felt that sealed the fate of the Puerto Vallarta fighter. The bout ended with Gabriel unable to do any damage and they went to the scorecards for the decision.
The math for adding the score for this bout was quite a job and I was asked to double check the results. The 3rd round had so many deductions due to the knockdowns and the warning point taken and the final round was a 10-8 round. The fighters entered the ring for the announcement of the decision. Perez from Mexico City appeared confident and Gabriel was in all honesty hoping for the best. The ring announcer first stated that it was a split decision and the first two scores were 47-46 and 46-47. A draw? The last judge scored the fight 47-45 in favor of "Puerto Vallarta's "Dragoncito" and he was given the IKF Mexican championship belt amid the celebration.
The first championship bout was for the Mexican lightweight North Coast belt between Puerto Vallarta's Hector "El Hierro" Uribe and Carlos "El Escorpion" Navarro of Guadalajara. This was a revenge match for Uribe as he was once beaten by Navarro. Uribe started strong and cut open Navarros' eye in the 1st round and took the round 10-8. That was an important start as a two point lead in a five round fight means that only one more round is needed to win if all go 10-9. The cut was fortunately below his eye so it didn't impede with his performance. In fact he became the aggressor the remaining four close rounds as he got off first with his kicks and punches.
Round after round the Guadalajara fighter appeared to pile up points and as the bell rang for the 5th and final round, it was Uribe who was desperately looking to mount some offense. The final round was a close one and there were no knockdowns and the judges went to the scorecards for the official decision. Again, it was announced as a split decision, 48-46 for Navarro, 48-47 for Uribe and the final score was 48-46 for Navarro who captured the IKF Northern Mexican title and defeated Uribe for the second consecutive time in a well fought fight.
Just prior to the three professional fights there was a boxing exhibition between two youngsters, both from Power Punch Gym in Puerto Vallarta. Picachu and hector "El Tapatio" Vargas, either around 9 or 10 years old, went two rounds and displayed great ring savvy. The two have been crowd favorites for a few years and were well received.
To start the evening there were nine amateur Muay Thai bouts and most had local Puerto Vallarta fighters from different gyms fighting against a group that traveled from Mexico City. There were some bouts that had Vallarta fighters from different gyms facing each other.
Below are the results of the amateur fights:
• Alejandro Buenrostro of Mexico City defeated Arturo Mota of Mota Gym in Puerto Vallarta in the 57 kilo division with a 3rd round TKO.
• Julio Cesar, Jr. of Sityodtong Gym in Puerto Vallarta defeated Rigoberto Alarcon of Tanai Luark Gym in Puerto Vallarta with stronger kicks throughout in a unanimous decision in the 75 kilo division.
• Cristian "El Nene" Nunez of Round Dragon Gym in Puerto Vallarta totally dominated Hugo Flores of Tae Muay Gym in Puerto Vallarta in a unanimous decision in the 70 kilo division.
• Eduardo Quintero of Tanai Luark Gym in Puerto Vallarta won a unanimous decision over Leonardo Espinoza of Mexico City in the 64 kilo division.
• Noe Mota Zepeda of Mota Gym in Puerto Vallarta completely dominated Daniel Cedano of Mexico City with a 2nd round TKO due to injury in the 65 kilo division.
• Gildardo Martinez of Tae Muay Gym in Puerto Vallarta and Sergio Reyes Guisada of Mexico City fought to a draw in the 66 kilo division.
In the final amateur bout of the evening, prior to the professional title fights, Marcos Mota Ayon of Mota Gym in Puerto Vallarta won a dominating unanimous decision over Jesus Flores of Mexico City in the 53 kilo division.
After a tally of all the fights, Puerto Vallarta fighters fared very well. They won two of the three title fights, including the IKF super lightweight World Championship. In amateur fights they won three fights against the Mexico City fighters, losing just one with one a draw.
As the long night came to a close at about 1:30 AM, everyone in attendance in a crowd of about 1,000 left pleased with the superb event held by Sierra Madre Productions in accordance with President Steve Fossum of the IKF. The collaboration of the two bodies went well and we hope to see the IKF again in the near future in another big Muay Thai fight card.
|
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us