Los Reyes Del Ring January 23 2004

Los Reyes Del Ring January 23 2004

Event was held at the KCI Expo Center in Kansas City

Review by Mark Graves

It was a fantastic night of boxing provided by Fight Night Promotions and Top Rank. The entire fight card had talent. The best night of boxing in Kansas City in recent history.

The night began with a fight involving Rico Lane. Rico controlled most of the fight as proved by the unanimous decision. Rico showed some powerful punches but not enough to get the KO.

The second fight of the night was a quick one. Marcos Ramirez connected with a thunderous straight right hand that sent his opponent down in a heap. A very impressive punch for sure.

The next fight also was a first round KO. Donovan Castaneda took a little bit longer than Marcos before he floored his opponent. It took longer only because his opponent had a little better defense.

Next was the fight of the night. A rematch between local favorite Mary Ortega and Jerri Sitzes. Mary won via a split decision in their first match-up. Just like the first fight, there was action every minute of the fight. Both fighters have all the punches and the skill to use them. Not only do they have the punches, they have the heart and determination to fight through any punches landed against them. Every round was close until Jerri caught Mary with an upper-cut as Mary was stepping in. It was a great punch that obviously stunned Mary. Not that it stopped her or anything. Mary continued to throw punches; however, Jerri was able to block many of them and then counter with more upper-cuts. After repeated clean shots, Mary's corner threw in the towel giving Jerri the TKO victory at 1:44 of the 5th round. Both Jerri and Mary were surprised by the stoppage. The crowd too was shocked. It was a great fight. While still in the ring, Mary showed nice sportsmanship by congratulating Jerri on her victory.

Now we are at the main event between number 2 ranked WBA Super Flyweight contender Rogelio Galicia and number 9 ranked Martin Castillo. This was a one sided bout. Surprising to many probably was that Martin was the dominator. He was so illusive that Galicia rarely seemed to make contact. He did at one point midway through the fight causing a cut on the bridge of the nose of Martin. The corner never did really get the cut stopped but fortunately for Castillo it was not in a threatening location. It was obvious that the cut was on the mind of Castillo; however, not enough that his dodging skills were affected. Oh, Martin did not just dodge. He landed shot after shot. I don't know if Rogelio was ever really hurt though. I do know that Martin controlled the entire fight and the score cards supported that by Castillo winning by a wide margin.

There were three fights after the main event. The first of which was the pro debut of Josh Sosa. It may have been his first pro fight but obviously not his first fight. The turn on his hooks to the body was tremendous. He won by stoppage. It was very impressive. The next to the last fight showcased Kelly Pavlik. Kelly was very active for the entire 8 rounds and won by a wide margin. The final fight of the night was between Jeff Robinson and Jose Sosa. It was a one sided fight that caused Jeff's corner to threw in towel. Jose was very impressive throwing many heavy punches. I mention Jeff because I know him as a kick boxer. It was obvious that he was out matched by his opponent. To me, it was unfair to Jeff because he could only use half of his arsenal. He is a very good kick boxer and his knees and kicks are what makes him good. It would be like asking a boxer to only fight with one hand. It just was not fair. That being said, Jose has a lot of talent and I look forward to seeing more of his fights.