Temecula, CA-  Junior middleweight contender J.C. Candelo was supposed to start his comeback trail in grand fashion on August 13th. Candelo had brought in
top trainer Buddy McGirt to train him, and was looking forward to fighting undefeated Joachim Alcine for the WBA Fedalatin title. Candelo hoped this would be the first step in climbing back up the junior middleweight ladder after being TKOed in his last fight against Kassim Ouma.

Instead, Alcine pulled out of the fight, and Candelo faced little known Eddie Sanchez of Hollywood, California. Sanchez took the fight on one day's notice. Sanchez came into the fight with a meager record of 11-3-2 with 8 KOs, and looked to be a huge step down from the undefeated Alcine.

Nobody gave the memo to Sanchez that he was supposed to be a pushover, and he took the fight right to Candelo. Sanchez survived a knockdown, and went on to shock Candelo, who was ranked #9 by Ring Magazine, #11 by the WBC and WBA, and #5 by the IBF, and win a unanimous decision.

Candelo came out fighting very cautiously, not knowing what to expect from the little known Sanchez. Candelo was inactive in the 1st two rounds with Sanchez being the aggressor and landing the occasional overhand right. Super middleweight contender Antwon Echols was in attendance, and after round 2 was seen yelling at Candelo to get busy. Candelo seemed to respond, as he was a little more active in round three and four, throwing effective body shots.

The action really picked up in round five with both fighters landing blows in big exchanges. The crowd began chanting, "Eddie, Eddie" in support of the
underdog. Candelo did his best work in the middle rounds, starting with round six. As Sanchez tired a little from his aggressiveness, Candelo took control of the fight behind his overhand right.

Finally in round six, Candelo knocked Sanchez down. Sanchez rose up and fought hard and with heart, continuing to pressure Candelo. By round eight, Candelo got passive again, and Sanchez used his aggression to score points from the judges. Round 10 would be one of the better rounds of the fight. Candelo started strong, punishing Sanchez with overhand rights and body shots, but just as Sanchez looked to be in trouble, he came storming back.

Sanchez threw a crushing left hook to Candelo's bread basket, which stunned Candelo, and the momentum of the round switched. The crowd again continued it's chants for the underdog. The final round was another great round, with both fighters exchanging blows. Sanchez capped the fight with a flurry to the delight of the fans at the Pechanga Resort and Casino. Sanchez's aggressiveness earned him the fight, as he won unanimously, 115-112, 117-110, and 118-109. The wide margin in the scoring was surprising, as the fight was very close. I had the fight, 114-113 for Sanchez. A crushing blow for J.C. Candelo's comeback trail as he fell to 26-7-3, and Sanchez improved to 12-3-2.

In the co-feature, Emmanuel Lucero of New York, NY battled Brazilian prospect Valdemir Pereira in a featherweight bout. Lucero came in 22-1-1 with 13 KOs,
his sole loss came to featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Pereira came in 17-0 with 14 KOs, but unknown to most, having fought mainly in Brazil.

Lucero came out smoking in the first two rounds with a body attack, landing ferocious hooks to Pereira's body. The fight went downhill from there for Lucero. Pereira kicked it in gear in round three and through the remainder of the fight, taking advantage of Lucero's wide punches, with straight shots to Lucero as he tried to get inside. As the fight wore on Lucero took punishment as he tried to get inside. By round six Pereira had taken control of the fight, using a vicious assault to Lucero, anytime Lucero tried to get close.

In round seven Lucero was docked a point for a low blow, putting him further behind on the scorecards. Pereira's assault took its toll on Lucero, as Lucero seemed to have little behind his punches in the late rounds. Shockingly Pereira won by only split decision. The judges scored the fight 95-94, 97-92 for Pereira, and 95-94 for Lucero. I had the fight 97-92 for Pereira, an impressive victory for
the young Brazilian featherweight.

The other televised fight on ESPN2 was an exciting four round junior welterweight bout between Herman Ngoudjo of Montreal, and Jorge Padilla of Mexico City. Ngoudjo was 4-0 with 4 KOs, and Padilla was also 4-0 with 2 KOs. The southpaw Ngoudjo won a split decision over Padilla.

Each round was exciting, but Ngoudjo seemed to be landing the bigger shots and
better percentage of shots. This was a good slugfest with Ngoudjo controlling it with his straight left. Two judges scored it 40-36 for Ngoudjo, with one judge
scoring it 39-37 for Padilla, an odd discrepancy in the cards, but nonetheless a very exciting fight.

The first bout of the evening was a non-televised fight between Justo Almazon of La Mesa, California, and Antonio Soriano of Lakeside, California in a welterweight affair. Almazon nearly pulled off a huge upset, losing a split decision to Soriano to the dismay of the crowd who thought Almazon had done enough to pull off the
shocker. Almazon came in with a record of 14-38-5 against Soriano, who was 9-2-1.

Soriano had trouble with Almazon's awkward style, as Almazon connected
with wild hooks to the body and head. Soriano was able to counter enough to score the split decision win and improve to 10-2-1. This fight kicked off what would be an exciting evening of boxing at the Pechanga Resort and Casino.

In other action, Anthony Salcido of Chula Vista, California, scored a devastating 58 second first round knockout over Alvaro Morales of Riverside, California, in a junior welterweight bout. Salcido improved to 3-0 with 2 KOs, while Morales fell to 2-2. 

Kelsey Jeffries of Gilroy, California won a shutout unanimous decision victory over Melissa Yanas of San Antonio, Texas, in a four round female featherweight bout. Jeffries improved to 28-8, while Yanas fell to 3-3.

The final bout of the night was an exciting 4 round middleweight bout between Mauricio Grajeda of Calexico, and Alex Bogarin of Riverside. The fight ended in a majority draw, with two judges scoring 38-38, and the other 39-37 for Bogarin. Grajeda's record moved to 4-1-1, and Bogarin's record moved to 3-2-1.

Some familiar faces in the crowd at the Pechanga Resort and Casino were former WBO middleweight champion Otis Grant, and super middleweight contender Antwon
Echols. Also spotted were Julio and Antonio Diaz, Julio fresh off winning a lightweight title from Javier Jauregui. Junior Middleweight Carlos Bojorquez
was also in attendance.

The fight card at the Pechanga Resort and Casino was promoted by Banner Promotions. It was also announced that the next Pechanga fight card is scheduled for September 23, with James Toney fighting in the main event against heavyweight Rydell Booker.

8-13-2004