Gesta Gets By Diaz Jr.

 In Golden Boy / DAZN Elevated Main Event!

By: David Colon

March 18th, Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, California: Having been elevated to the main event of the Golden Boy promoted bill streamed live on DAZN due to the light heavyweight bout between Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez and Gabe Rosado being cancelled after Ramirez failed to make 175lb weight, San Diego, California, lightweight, Mercito Gesta took full advantage of the opportunity busily working his way to a spiritedly contested split decision win over Downey, California’s, Joseph “Jo Jo’ Diaz.

The quantity versus quality, styled crowd pleasing twelve round battle of Californian, southpaws started quickly with the Filipino former kickboxer, Gesta the busier fighter, sticking to his early established fight plan out worked the heavier handed 2012 Olympian’s concentrated body attack to a widely spread 98-92, 99-91 Gesta, 97-93 Diaz split decision win.

In a ten-round scheduled 136lb catch weight match Chihuahua, Mexico’s, Oscar Duarte cut near the right eye in round five finally caught up with Calumet City, Illinois, mobile southpaw, Alex Martin with a significant hard right flooring the “Chi-Town Heat”, sending him to the canvas for a second time with a follow up barrage of punches provoking referee Jerry Cantu to call it over at 1:14 of round eight. Ahead at the time of the stoppage 68-65, 67-66, 69-64 Duarte, unbeaten since a February 2019 split decision loss to Adrian Estrella improves to 25-1-1, 20Ko’s while Martin 2-2 since the pandemic drops to 18-5, 6Ko’s.

Following a feeling out opening frame Fort Lauderdale, Florida, super welterweight, banger, Eric Tudor and Oakland, California’s, Damoni Cato-Cain got down to work with the 21-year-old, Tudor cut  on the forehead from accidental headbutt in round four shifted gears establishing his space punching in combination off the jab, winning the back and forth boxed his way down the stretch to a 80-72, 78-74 times two eight round unanimous decision win. Tudor’s three bout KO run comes to a close at 8-0, 6Ko’s while the 25-year-old, Cato-Cain experiencing his first pro defeat dips to 7-1-1, 6Ko’s.

In a four round preliminary Waianae, Hawaii, 24-year-old, lightweight, Dalis Kaleiopu, demonstrating some patience, perseverance and determination out-boxing Barranquilla, Colombia’s, straight ahead, rough and ready, Jonathan “Popeye” Perez to a referee Ray Corona1 point deducted for hitting behind the head round 3 and 1 point deducted for holding round 6 penalty assisted 60-52 times three points win. Kaleiopu improves to 4-0, 3Ko’s while the 36-year-old, time and battle tested, opponent, Perez sinks to 40-35, 32Ko’s.

San Diego, California, 23-year-old, Jorge Chavez wasted no time ending his scheduled four round featherweight bout blitzing Managua, Nicaragua, “mark” Bryan Perez with a rapid-fire volley of punches flooring the out gunned Nicaraguan, provoking referee Jerry Cantu to wave it over without a count at 0:30 of round one. Chavez back to his KO ways advances to 5-0, Ko’s while Perez stopped in six straight dives to 12-17-1, 11Ko’s.

In the evening opener, Los Angeles, California, five-time USA female national amateur boxing champion, transgender, super featherweight, Patricio “Cacahuate” Manuel “man handled” Saint Louis, Missouri, Hien Huynh flooring his Vietnamese foe in rounds one and three with Huynh cut near the left eye from accidental headbutt in round four when on the advice of the ringside doctor the bout was sent to the judges for a 0:56 final round four 40-34, times three announced technical decision win. Manuel moves to 2-0 while the Huynh evens out at 1-1.

ABOUT ZURDO PROMOTIONS: Headquartered in Las Vegas and Mexico, Zurdo Promotions is the premier combat sports/event led by former World Champion, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. Zurdo Promotions strives to be the best in all areas to set the new standard in boxing.

ABOUT GOLDEN BOY: Los Angeles-based Golden Boy was established in 2002 by Oscar De La Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national boxing promotional company. Golden Boy is a media and entertainment brand committed to making fighting entertainment more accessible and affordable. The company’s in-house production team develops creative original programming, holds the exclusive rights to top boxers, and has promoted some of the biggest and highest-grossing events in the history of the sport. Now, Golden Boy is one of the most successful boxing entertainment companies in the world and shapes the future of boxing for fighters and fans alike.

About DAZN Group
DAZN Group is one of the fastest growing sports media companies in the world. Headquartered in the UK and with employees in over 25 countries, our businesses touch every aspect of the way fans engage with sports; from production, through to content distribution and commercialisation. DAZN Group is home to DAZN, the leading global sport destination, as well as the popular sport portal, DAZN News. DAZN is leading the charge to give sports fans around the world access to sport anytime, anywhere. DAZN guarantees affordable access on most connected devices including smart TVs, set-top boxes, streaming sticks, smartphones, tablets, PCs and game consoles. DAZN is now live in more than 200 countries and territories after first launching in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Japan in 2016.