Hollywood Fight Night by Tom Loeffler of 360 Boxing Promotions on a perfect Friday night was exactly how I wanted to spend my night. I, unfortunately, arrived when doors open at 5:30 pm to be told the card—which was streamed on UFC Fight Pass—was at 8 pm. But I wanted to arrive in time to see the first fight of the night. Luckily the wonderful staff of the Commerce Casino Food and Drink are available readily along the edges of the sea of chairs, with a sold-out crowd. Gloria Munguilla at flyweight versus Nikkia Williams (29) in her pro debut coming into the ring was barely a threat to Munguilla at 2-0.
Munguilla’s not new to the game anymore. Her gym Fundamentals 19 has stablemates like
Arnold Barboza, Jose Barajas, and also fighting on this card—Omar Trinidad in the main event.
Rounds one and two were scored for Gloria—as both fighters were trying to gain range and find their place. She seemed a bit sharper for the older fighter of 31 years of age. In her last bout, I spoke to her opponent who was also a local and they thought they had the advantage in the fight because she was older and only her second pro fight. They were proved wrong and ended up having an extremely tough fight. Going into round 3 and Gloria has been in control the whole time, random body shots are coming through from the opponent. Three uppercuts stagger Williams with only 40 seconds left in the ring. Gloria pushes through. Every straight right or uppercut Gloria gives
is landing crisp enough for the crows to react, definitely a pro-Munguilla. Fourth and final round Gloria was still in control and ended the round on a good note. Scorecards read 38-38, 40- 36, 39-37 MD Winner Gloria Munguilla.
The next day another fight card this time on ESPN + brought to you by Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren in the UK. I watched Joe Joyce versus Chinese boxer Zhilei Zhang with the undercard Mikaela Mayer. She originally was supposed to fight Cristina Linardatou (14-2-0) nationality origin from Greece and Dominican Republic both her losses are from prominent fighters—Katie Taylor and Delfine Pearsoon—with victories on paper over now world champ Alicia Baumgardner. Trouble brewed on fight weekend when the BBofC wasn’t approving her Pro Boxing license thus not enabling her to fight. Chatter spread that she couldn’t pass an eye exam. She pulled out of the fight claiming the ophthalmologist did approve her she just has a special lens in one eye that has never stopped her from fighting before. From the commission's point of view, I understand they give exceptions example: if a bullet lodged in her head and can’t have the MRI done—they’ll accept a CT exam. So I’m not sure why they waited this long to bring it to light that they were not accepting her special eye exemption. Wasted money and time. Lucky for us another opponent was found on 24 hours' notice—Lucy Wildheart (10-1-0) with 4 ko’s under her belt. This Swedish fighter was ready willing and able to fight on Saturday seeming unknown to casual fans. She took Mayer the distance
feeding off the energy from the crowd. Both were bloody and battered after 10 rounds. I watched her struggle and try to understand why she struggled with an opponent she should have dominated on paper. Mayer has a new opponent unknown to her on a 24-hour notice—she has to adapt and change her game plan if she had one going in—which it looked to be because she even added a coach to her team Manny Robles. No stranger to us Los Angelenos. This could have been a sweep for Mayer but instead, she was challenged and mercilessly attacked by Wildheart, who clearly overpowered her. No knockdowns but that’s women’s boxing for you when you only have 2-minute rounds—which I definitely need to do a blog on…
My notes on the other Bouts watched in person Friday night: Bout 2, Osvaldo “Ozzy” Lopez vs Jose Gomez—tough fight—both sides had the crowd at their every move for four rounds. I had Lopez up two rounds by the end but judges saw it differently as they scored it a Majority Draw. No loss for either.
Umar Dzambekov (3-0) vs Nathan Sharp (4-4) six rounds in the light heavyweight division. It only took 3 rounds for the fight to come to an end. Headhunting from Umar even into round three, wide-swinging left hooks cheer the crowd, waiting for that knockout power of Umar’s, and boom 33 seconds left to go and the towel is thrown in. Umar’s opponent wants nothing to do with this fight, Technical Knockout win for Umar Dzambekov.
Bout 4 For Sandoval vs Sharp. I was in line for food, but what I could see it was an exciting back-and-forth fight. A voucher from the Promoter was allotted for media—extremely grateful to everyone at 360 Promotions.
Bout 5 was on honor watching, the son of famed MMA legend Anderson Silva, Gabriel Silva, slightly taking a different route than his father. Still in combat sports but in professional boxing—something Anderson has been dappling in lately. Silva took the Majority decision over Angelo Thompson.
The Main Events were covered in the article by Matthew J. Hunter. https://www.thebeautyofboxing.com/post/weekend-review-zhang-destroys-joyce-mercado-ko-s-lundy-and-trinidad-wins-la-rivalry