In an effort to diversify venues and in hopes of increasing visibility and reviving a beleaguered sport, 8 Count Productions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. bring professional boxing to Cicero Stadium in the infamous Illinois town of Cicero.  On the outskirts of Chicago, Cicero is notorious for showdowns and bloody fisticuffs.  It is known that the mob used this town as a safe haven away from the flash and glitter that Chicago offered.  This night was no different.

 

In an eight round welterweight bout, Dallas, Texas Francisco Javier Rincon, 10-1 pit his skills against the brawler from Tijuana, Mexico Fabian Luque in what was, on paper, due to be a blowout.  Paper, in this instance, was correct.  Rincon dominated the first round by mainly counterpunching and gauging what Luque would bring.  Luque swung wildly for the first half of the round and kept Rincon countering and using the ring.  The harder shots were landed by Rincon and their frequency increased as the seconds ticked by resulting in two knockdowns in the opening round.  The second round proved no different as Rincon smothered Luque with combinations dropping him causing referee Gerald Scott to peer into Luque’s eyes and see he wanted no more punishment.  Fight was stopped at 1:53 of the second round, Rincon by TKO.

 

After the fight, a well-mannered Rincon team stated that they need to keep working.  “This camp we trained with Antonio Margarito for the first time and the sparring helped us prepare for this fight,” said Rincon Manager Gilbert Vazquez. Rincon admittedly wants to get back in the gym, keep working hard and keep learning.

 

The night’s main event that had the making of a classic Cicero brawl, Michoacan, Mexico native Undefeated Jose Armando Santa Cruz, 19-0 (9KO’s) matched up against Uganda favorite Justin Juuko, 39-9-1.  The tall and lanky Santa Cruz began with crisp jabs and ring movement against the shorter but stockier Juuko.  Juuko seemed as if he couldn’t find his rhythm.  Round two was more of the same with Juuko throwing hard shots but were neutralized by Santa Cruz’s formidable defense.  The round ended with a hard right cross to wobble Juuko.

 

Round three began with Santa Cruz in the lead according to scorecards.  And the fighters did not disappoint. Heavy action in the middle of the ring but the inevitable began to transpire as Santa Cruz began firing hard combinations to the head and body dropping Juuko to the floor near the neutral corner. Santa Cruz’s long range assault began to prove too much for Juuko.  In one exchange near Juuko’s corner, Santa Cruz’s assault was so heavy, that Juuko was knockdown through the middle ropes.  At this point the small town of Cicero had hardly ever been this alive.  The audience erupted to their feet as the Mexican fighter displayed a dominance performance.  On his feet, however unable to fully recover from the hard blasts that sent him through the ropes, Juuko was stopped by referee Tim Adams. Santa Cruz TKO’s Juuko in 2:14 of the third round. 

 

After that dazzling display of poise and power, Santa Cruz averted any talk of a championship opportunity. “I just want to keep working and whatever Top Rank has in store for me, I’ll be ready,” said a crowd pleasing Santa Cruz.  We want to stay active and get more fights under our belt,” said Manager/Trainer Rudy Hernandez.  “We were with another promoter and we didn’t fight that much.  This is one of first fights in a few years and we’re hoping with Top Rank we can be more active.” Hernandez continued. This is one fighter to keep your eye on.

 

In other action, Ottu Holifield wins a four round unanimous decision over and outmatched Ben Aragon. Also, a bloody Joseph David Lynch 5-1 fighting from Buffalo, Minnesota out pointed hometown favorite Trinidad Garcia to a unanimous decision in a six round contest.  Garcia 4-2-1, hails from Chicago and seemingly was not prepared for this bout.  He had a decent enough jab to contend, however he lacked any other dimension to his game plan unless you count shoulder-shaking and Ricardo Mayorga-like stunts.  Note to Garcia: You need to win fights to have in-ring antics.

 

In the most frenzied event of the evening, Francisco Rodriguez, 3-0 pummeled Kevin Bernard Hudgins, 2-2 into a controversial first round TKO.  The opening round was so action packed that Rodriguez caught Hudgins with several hard shots that referee Pete Podgorski halted the fight in the first of the scheduled four rounds.  Hudgins completely livid at the decision contested to Podgorski and pleaded for an answer on why he could not continue… to no avail.

 

8 Count Productions publicist Bernie Bahrmasel hinted that this is the first of many different venues to host professional boxing through the state of Illinois. “This is the first time we visit Cicero Stadium, (more to come).”  It seems true that this promotion team is in fact Creating Contenders, Not Pretenders.

 

Vittorio M. Gomez

joe_telameto@yahoo.com