Fighters trade uppercuts at the Pyramid

Controversy spilled all over the Walter Pyramid on Sunday as “Fight Night at the Pyramid” was overshadowed by one disputable decision.

In one half of a double main event, Long Beach’s 75-pound, 11-year-old national champion Moises “Mighty Mo” Orozco from DG Boxing defeated 11-year-old Anthony Zavala from The Rock Gym in a highly competitive fight.

After three rounds of fiery exchanges with little regard for defense, both fighters had clearly left it all in the ring and in the hands of the three judges scoring the fight.

After a brief delay with the scorecards, Orozco was awarded the decision much to the dismay of the hundreds of fans who voiced their displeasure by booing the announcement.

“You heard the fans. That was not our crowd, this is his hometown,” Zavala’s trainer Eddie Gonzales said. “They know who won the fight.”

The hesitation with the scoring clearly bothered Zavala and his trainer as they thought that they won the fight. The referee didn’t immediately announce the scoring and Gonzales said he knew that “the fix was in.”

“The referee saw the scorecards, went back to talk to one of the judges and they were [all] looking at the cards,” Gonzales said. “I have been doing this since 1973, I knew what was happening. It was 100 percent favoritism, no doubt about that; I can put my blood on that.”

Zavala was disappointed about the outcome and was mostly at a loss for words.

“I thought I won,” Zavala said. “I won the first and second rounds, but the third one was close. I don’t know.”

Orozco thought he markedly won the fight.

“The first round was close but in the second and third rounds I was the aggressor, he was just running the whole time,” Orozco said.

The other half of the double main event was a close contest between DG Boxing’s John Crispo and Layac’s Oscar Andrade.

Andrade was given the decision in a clash of two highly regarded amateur fighters.

“I thought it was real close,” Crispo said.

Both had their moments, but neither had a clear edge in any of the rounds.

“I stunned him in the second but I couldn’t follow up on it because he was real crafty,” Crispo said.

Andrade had similar feelings.

“I hurt him in the third,” Andrade said. “I wanted to knock him out, but I couldn’t because he was strong.”

The day started with a match-up between two young female fighters: 10-year-old Lina Lincona and 11-year-old Dalia Garcia.

The battle was three rounds of non-stop flurries with hardly any breaks in the action, as Lincona prevailed.

“She was taller and she was heavier but, I had already fought her so I knew I was going to win,” Lincona said. “I threw a lot of punches. That last round I was tired, but I just kept thinking that I was going to win.”

Overall, there were a total of 45 fights and the attendance of approximately 2,200 prompted DG Boxing owner David Gonzales to declare the event a success.

“I’m real happy, it’s a dream come true,” Gonzales said. “I dedicated this show to my father who passed away from leukemia. I want to thank the people for their support. There are people who couldn’t make it who helped and I hope next year they can make it and we can all be here together.”