Hector Serrano Out-Guts Arizona's Steve Gonzalez

COMMERCE, CA.-Riverside’s Hector Serrano turned up the heat and won a lightweight scrap against Arizona’s Steve Gonzalez on Thursday.

Serrano hadn’t been inside the ring for more than a year but he showed he still remembered what to do as he used his strength and accuracy against Tucson’s very capable Gonzalez (7-4-1) at the Commerce Casino. The All Star Boxing Promotions card was not televised.

“I used pressure and more pressure,” said Serrano (9-0), who fought inside most of the six rounds. “He was a tough guy but I’ve fought tougher.”

Serrano and Gonzalez immediately began a body war with each sending their most lethal punches to both sides of each other’s body. By the third round it seemed the Tucson fighter decided to go to plan B and move and hit.

It didn’t work out.

Serrano’s uppercut and left hook to the head began finding the range from the outside, but Gonzalez never wilted. He kept firing back and holding his ground periodically while his corner yelled for him to throw more punches.

The judges scored it 59-55 and 58-56 twice for Serrano.

The Riverside fighter is actually from Huntington Park, but is trained by Henry Ramirez, who also works with Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola, the heavyweight contender preparing for a world title bid on Sept. 26 at Staples Center.

Arreola was in the audience along with another Mexican-American heavyweight, Javier “Monster” Mora. Also in attendance was junior middleweight Robert Garcia, Alfonso Gomez and Urbano Antillon.

Other fights

A fight between undefeated junior middleweights was captured by San Diego’s Chris Chatman (4-0) at 2:26 of the fourth round over South El Monte’s Francisco Mora (4-1). A bad cut over Mora’s left eyebrow forced referee Jack Reiss to halt the fight in favor of Chatman. Both fighters had their moments, but after the cut, Mora was not the same fighter and Chatman began to gain confidence by the time the bout was stopped.

East L.A.’s Al “The Bomber” Martinez (4-0-1) lefty kept his undefeated streak against Palm Spring’s Hugo Ramos (2-3-1) in a featherweight slugfest. All three judges scored it 40-36 for Martinez. Although Martinez won every round, no round was easy as Ramos battled closely every three minutes. It was Martinez’s long range punching that enabled him to convince the judges.

Santa Clarita’s Chad Yarvitz (1-0) beat Anthony Wheaton (0-2) by unanimous decision 39-36, 38-37 and 39-37 in a junior welterweight contest. A first round knockdown was scored by Yarvitz.

In a battle of undefeated heavyweights Bakersfield’s Seth Colebrook (3-0) stopped Westminster’s Danny Gonzalez (1-1) at 1:06 of the third round. Both fighters ripped away until referee Pat Russell decided Gonzalez was absorbing too many blows. Until the third round it looked like Gonzalez was too big and too busy for Colebrook. Then the smaller fighter landed multiple blows that seemed to daze Gonzalez who began receiving too many punches though he never went down.

Glendale’s Stepan Zeytunyan (3-0) out-boxed the stronger punching Cudahy’s Mario Evangelista (4-4-1) and won by majority decision 39-37 twice and 38-38 in a junior middleweight contest.

San Bernardino’s Frank Guitierrez (2-6-2) had too much experience for Cudahy’s pro debuting Luis Lucas (0-1) in a junior featherweight bout. Gutierrez won a majority decision 38-38, 40-36 and 39-37. Though the San Bernardino fighter has many losses, several were against highly regarded prospects like Daniel Hernandez.