Glamour, celebrities, beautiful people, traffic and Hollywood. Those are the things that come to mind when you think about LA. People want to know what it’s really like in Los Angeles. When I go to Tom Loeffler’s Hollywood Fight Nights, I feel absolutely privy to an event that you will only experience in Los Angeles. It was an exciting night of boxing about to start with a big main event, big sponsors and flashy ring girls. Much to this nights success was that the undercard fights were filled with handsome young boxers with fresh fades and shredded bodies and impressive records. Many of these athletes are locals and some are from as far as Liberia. These boxers are headed for the big time with trainers like Marvin Somodio, Freddy Roach and Abel Sanchez.
Hollywood Fight Nights is an event that takes place every October at the famous and historic Avalon Theatre on the also famous area of Hollywood and Vine. Hollywood Fight Night’s starts early, but not too early. Everyone gets to sleep in and have a leisurely morning, and then drive to Hollywood for a late afternoon early evening of boxing. For a lot of fight fans, that is a perfect Sunday.
A sold out Avalon Theatre promised 8 bouts of boxing. There’s no wasting time at this event, it’s back to back fights. Some bouts go 4 rounds, 6 rounds and the main event goes the full 10. The theater was filled with fight fans loyal to their boxer, representing with banners and gear. Servers with cans of Tecate are within earshot at all times, a full bar and menu offers the VIP experience. 360 Promotion’s Cynthia Conte hosted with Ring Magazine Editor in Chief Douglas Fischer, and former featherweight world champion Kevin Kelley.
You can come as casually dressed as you like, but if you enjoy putting on your Sunday best, this venue provides the perfect vibe. The Spanish Baroque style of the 1927 theatre was built for glamour.
This Hollywood event reminded us how boxing is a gentleman’s sport. There was a lot of respect and sportsmanship displayed on this night. The main event fight was with Serhii Bohachuk who fights out of Big Bear and is trained by Abel Sanchez. Originally from the Ukraine, he entered the ring with an undefeated record of 15-0 with all 15 of those wins ending with a KO. That’s a pretty devastating record. Bohachuk, “El Flaco” as they call him is 6’2” and a lean 153 lbs. At the media workout, Bohachuk wore a long sleeve vinyl hoodie, leg compression workout gear and proceeded to jump rope for 10 minutes without even breaking a sweat. He’s a boxing machine.
El Flaco does his very best to speak english but sports a hot high heeled interpreter wherever he goes. Bohachuk seems genuinely happy and focused. Often quiet, I wonder if El Flaco is quiet due to a language barrier, or the possibility of nothing but boxing goes through his mind.
Serhii known as the knockout artist, had an opponent that was seasoned and smart, but also older. On this night he fought heavy handed Philadelphia veteran Tyrone “Young Gun” Brunson 28-7-2 (25 KO’s) for the World Boxing Council’s Continental Americas Championship belt. Tyrone Brunson holds the boxing record with 19 first round knockouts, a record previously held by deceased former world champion Edwin Valero.
Serhii Bohachuk is a dangerous 24 year old. Fighting Tyrone Brunson was not the usual first round KO for El Flaco, with a knock down in round three, Brunson was finished in round 4. Bohachuk now 16-0 (16 KO’s) was dominant keeping Brunson in the corners of the ring. It always looks like easy work for El Flaco.
The co- main event was a big one for the loyal fight fans. These two boxers are popular with incredible records. Humberto “Filly” Rubalcava of Westminster Ca, 11-1 (7 KO’s) vs Adrian Montoya 10-0 (9 KO’s) for a 6 round fight in the super bantamweight division. Montoya, from Sonora Mexico, defeated “Filly” with scores of 60-54 for Montoya.
Freddy Roach had a big presence in the house with his fighter Arman Darchinyan from Glendale making his debut with a KO in round 2 against Kendall Mayes-Taylor now 0-2 fighting out of Los Angeles.
Nathan Weston 6-0-1 (3 KO’s) vs Isaac “The Puma” Freeman 3-8-1 (3 KO’s) was a draw after 4 rounds of jabs and body shots. These boxers showed sportsmanship and professionalism. We hope to hear more from these athletes soon.
Christian Robles 3-0 (1 KO) vs Cesar Sustaita 3-5 (3 KO’s) in a 4 round fight in the flyweight division. Both boxers had solid fan bases in the crowd. Robles smiled every time Cesar made contact with his glove. Well respected trainer Marvin Somodio was satisfied with the unanimous decision for Robles. All three judges scored the fight 40-36.
A fight we were all waiting for, was LA’s beloved 19 year old boxer Adrian “Bam Bam” Corona fighting out of Rialto Ca with an undefeated record of 6-0 in the super featherweight division. He was up against Emmanuel Castro 2-6-1 fighting out of Maywood Ca. Corona was relaxed and confident. In round 5 Castro started bleeding from Corona’s constant right punch. Corona damaged Castro’s body with power shots for 6 rounds and won by UD, scores read 60-54 Corona, who remains undefeated.
Wild Card boxer Mario Deckman entered the ring with an impressive 3-0 (3KO’s) but walked out with a record of 3-1. He was up against Nigerian Jamel Reynolds 1- 7 (1 KO) now fighting out of Los Angeles. As the shutters of large camera lenses and comments from the photographers next to my ears were going, BOOM, Deckman got knocked down twice, and lost to a 38-37 score.
Last but importantly, a featured bout between George “El Phantasma” Navarro 6-0-1 (3 KO’s) fighting out of Apple Valley vs Nestor Ramos 7-9-1 (3 KO’s) fighting out of Nuevo Leon, Mexico in the bantamweight division, was highly anticipated. The fans waited to see the boxers go 4 rounds. Navarro, made a big walk out entrance with Los Angeles blue being his theme with a crowd pleasing rapper in tow. Navarro was giving it his all in every round going for the KO. Nestor can take a damn punch thats a fact, but the judges scored for Navarro 40-36. As the crowd chanted for George you could hear his body punches landing on Nestor all the way in the balcony.
These Hollywood Fight Nights by Tom Loeffler are a super fun night for the fans and a brilliant platform for up and coming boxers. Follow 360 Promotions on Instagram or visit their website www.360promotions.us