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By Arne K. Lang
Top Rank was in Southern California tonight at the OC Hangar in Costa Mesa with a nine-bout card that aired on ESPN and ESPN+. Akin to the company’s recent show in New York, it was a card in which most of the “A-side” fighters were matched exceptionally soft.
In the main event, former U.S. Olympian Mikaela Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs) retained her WBO and IBF world super featherweight titles with a wide 10-round decision over El Paso veteran Jennifer Han (18-5-1). Mayer won every round on two of the cards and nine rounds on the other.
Mikaela’s best round was the fourth when she drew a copious amount of blood from Han’s nose. She hurt Han late in the ninth, but the rugged Korean-American stayed on her feet and ultimately stayed the course.
A 38-year-old mother of two with a college degree in kinesiology, Han may have reached the end of the road. She was a kickboxing champion during her early days.
Mayer has expressed interest in unifying the title – the WBC version is held by Alycia Baumgardner and the WBA version by Hyun Mi Choi – and in meeting the winner of the forthcoming match at Madison Square Garden between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.
Co-feature
San Diego welterweight Giovani Santillan, in his first fight with the noted trainer Robert Garcia in his corner, broke down and eventually stopped Colombia’s Joevanis Barraza who stayed upright but lost every round before the bout was halted at the 33 second mark of round seven. Santillan has yet to taste defeat: he’s 29-0 (16 KOs). It was the third loss in 26 pro starts for Barraza.
Moloneys
In the first bout on ESPN’s primary platform, super flyweight Andrew Moloney, best known for his three-fight series with Joshua Franco, forged an eighth-round stoppage of Modesto, California’s Gilberto Mendoza (19-12-3). Moloney (23-2, 16 KOs) pressed the action, landed the sharper punches, and had won every round prior to the stoppage which came with 31 seconds remaining in the eighth and final round. Mendoza fought from the third round on with a nasty cut over his right eyelid.
Bantamweight Jason Moloney, Andrew’s twin brother, advanced to 23-2 (18) with a lopsided 10-round decision over Tijuana’s Francisco Javier Pedroza. The fight was more competitive than suggested by the scores (100-90 and 99-91 twice) although Pedroza (17-11-2) ran out of gas late and barely made it to the final bell.
The Moloney brothers, popular Aussies, are expected to appear on the big June 5 card in Melbourne featuring the lightweight title unification fight between George Kambosos Jr and Devin Haney.
Other Bouts
Mexicali’s Luis Alberto Lopez, ranked #1 by the IBF at featherweight, improved to 25-2 (14 KOs) at the expense of hapless 35-year-old Raul Chirino who was on the deck four times before the bout was halted in the fourth frame.
Lopez, whose recent activity includes upsets of Andy Vences, Gabriel Flores, and Isaac Lowe, is boxing’s pre-eminent spoiler. Tonight, he was matched soft. Chirino, who holds a boxing promoter’s license in his native Colombia, declined to 19-14 and has now been stopped 10 times. The match was contested at the catch-weight of 129 pounds.
In a welterweight contest slated for eight, Monterrey, Mexico’s Lindolfo Delgado dispatched Argentine no-hoper Gustavo David Vittori in the second round. Vittori was on the deck twice and bleeding from a cut under his right eye when the match was waived off.
Delgado (15-0, 13 KOs) is managed by Rick Mirigian who also handles Jose Carlos Ramirez. As an amateur, he was reportedly 139-15 (BoxRec shows 24-13 which includes an 8-5 mark in the semi-pro World Series of Boxing). Vittori has now lost six of his last eight and been stopped eight times.
2016 U.S. Olympian Virginia “Ginny” Fuchs, a 34-year-old flyweight who had more than 100 amateur fights, was successful in her professional debut, scoring a fourth-round stoppage of Albuquerque’s Randee Lee Morales (4-4). Fuchs started fast and had more Morales on the deck late in the opening round. There were no further knockdowns, but the stoppage was justified.
Eighteen-year-old Las Vegas super bantamweight Floyd Diaz (4-0, 1 KO) scored a fourth-round stoppage over Kearney, Nebraska’s Blake Quintana (4-2). Diaz, who put Quintana down for the count with a body punch, is nicknamed “Cashflow,” a moniker given to him by Floyd Mayweather Jr who Diaz first met when he was six years old.
2021 U.S. Olympic medalist Duke Ragan improved to 6-0 (1) with a 6-round unanimous decision over Guadalajara trial horse Diuhl Olguin who is 1-10-2 in his last 13 and 15-22-5 overall.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty images