Espinoza Stops Khegai to Retain Title; Vargas Goes Distance in Victory; Delgado Defeats Gollaz in a Battle

Photos - Zanfer

Mexican WBO featherweight King Rafael “El Divino” Espinoza battered, bloodied and butchered #9. Ranked Ukrainian Arnold Khegai over 10. Mostly one-sided rounds before Khegai’s corner pulled their man out.

Espinoza started right from the get-go with a piston-like jab, keeping Khegai from getting anything going for the first two rounds. Khegai had a decent third round, getting Espinoza on the ropes and throwing caution to the wind along with an avalanche of punches to Espinoza’s head and body.

Those opportunities for Khegai wouldn’t come too many more times in the fight though as Espinoza utilized his long range, ripping uppercuts and hooks to the head of Khegai. Soon thereafter, the damage started showing: first a bloody nose then a bleeding left eye. Soon that became a swollen, bleeding left eye.

Once in a blue moon, Khegai would land something significant, but it didn’t hurt Espinoza and only emboldened him to turn up the volume and punish Khegai more severely. Moments after he landed his last significant blow- and overhand right to Espinoza’s head, Khegai’s corner had seen enough and wouldn’t let him come out for the 11th. Espinoza retained his title for the fourth time, raising his record to 28-0, 24 KOs. The gutsy Khegai drops 23-3-1, 14 KOs.

Vargas Victorious

In the co-main event of the evening, rising super lightweight Emiliano “El General” Vargas had too much of everything for the normally durable Jonathan Montrel.

Vargas forced Montrel to take a knee late in the first round to escape a relentless head and body attack. Montrel managed to get through the second round without a knockdown, but did take more damage. Montrel decided he was actually going to make an effort in the third, throwing and landing some good shots, but he paid the price for it as Vargas returned the favor. Landing some crippling shots to the body. Somehow, Montrel lasted the round again. Round after round, Montrel proved tough as nails, taking everything to the body and head that Vargas landed, without folding. In the end, Vargas was taking the 10 round distance for the first time in his young career, learning that not everyone is going to fold under his power. Power. The scoring was academic: 100-89, 99-90 x 2, all for El General, Vargas, who moves to 16-0, 12 KOs, retaining his NABF Super lightweight JUNIOR title and the WBO Latino title.

In an IBF super lightweight eliminator, Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela fought the fight of his life against Lindolfo Delgado. Gollaz controlled the early rounds with a beautiful jab against Delgado’s unmoving head. Delgado made a gritty effort in the middle rounds, staging a comeback with his own volume of work to the head and body. Moments into the 12th and final round, Gollaz fired a beautiful left hook to the chin of Delgado, dropping him to the seat of his pants and possibly cementing an upset win and a mandatory shot against IBF champ. Richardson Hitchens. It was not to be a Cinderella Man ending as the judges saw it split by the thinnest of margins: 114-113 for Gollaz, countered by The same scores of 114-113 twice for Delgado. The arena was filled with a cascade of boos as it appeared Gollaz won with room to spare. Delgado remains undefeated at 24-0, 16 KOs. The hard luck Gollaz falls to 31-5-1, 17 KOs.

In a bonus action swing bout, super featherweight 17-year-old Julian Montalvo blew out Mexico’s Nicolas Patron with two knockdowns in the first round. The first was courtesy of a left to the head, The second was the showstopper left to the body for the full count at 2:02 of the opening session. Montalvo moves to 5-0, 4 KOs. Patron evens up at 3-3, 1 KO.

U.S. Olympian Richard Torrez, Jr. made short work of Thomas Salek in defense of his NABF/NABO heavyweight titles. A vicious right hook followed by an uppercut broke the nose of Salek, causing profuse bleeding and a doctor recommended stoppage at 2:45 of the opening session. Torrez remains undefeated at 14-0, 12 KOs. Salek falls to 23-8, 14 KOs.

In the opening bout of the Top Rank Classics telecast of the Rafael Espinoza-Arnold Khegai WBO Featherweight title fight from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, local boy Jorge “El.Russo” Ascanio took home the vacant NABO super Featherweight title with a hard fought split decision over Jose Amaro. It was a nip and tuck affair that could have gone either way. The final scores were: 95-94 for Amaro and 96-93 and 95-94 for Ascanio, who was the only fighter between the two that was eligible to win a belt, since Amaro came in over the weight.