April 15, 2023

Green River Community College

Makina Boxing Promotions

The capacity crowd filed into the gym at Green River Community College to watch a boxing event packed with local favorites. The main event featured two of those men, Luis Gallegos faced Gregory Cruz in a six round featherweight bout. The two men had only one loss between them and accounted for five knockouts in their eleven bouts.

The first round, like the others, appeared to be close, however Cruz was more active and targeted his jab at Gallegos’ body. Cruz was able to take advantage of his reach in moving Gallegos around the room. While Gallegos did throw punches, his output was less than Cruz throughout the round. Cruz continued to be the busier fighter in the second round as well. Gallegos had moments when he was in close that allowed him to land some heavy body shots.

Cruz moved to keep Gallegos with his back to the ropes for most of the third round, and with Gallegos’ back on the ropes, Cruz threw body shots with his left and looked to land the right to Gallegos’ head. Gallegos was able to throw short punches in close, most targeting Cruz’s body, and some landed with power. Cruz returned to using his reach advantage in the fourth round and in so doing he kept Gallegos on the move. Gallegos looked to move his attack to Cruz’s head when there was space between the two, and while he landed a few, Cruz showed his ability to slip away from many of them.

Gallegos was warned for holding and for leaning Cruz’s back in the fifth round as he appeared to be somewhat frustrated by Cruz’s aggression. While much of the fifth round was fought with little distance between the two men, and that limited Cruz’s ability to work behind his reach. The two men traded body shots as they worked to create an opening. The crowd sensed the results of the fight were close, and that created a noisy atmosphere to open the final round. That also meant that both men were busy, throwing a lot of punches and trying to inflict enough damage to slow the other. As he had through the fight, Cruz kept pressuring Gallegos. Gallegos looked to land combinations, and there were some that found their target, but Cruz showed the ability to move and slide out of reach.

After six rounds the decision went to the judges. One judge scored the fight 59-55 for Cruz, the other two scored it 58-56 for Gallegos who would score the split decision win to remain unbeaten.

Cruz's reach advantage allows him to land his left

Gallegos throws his right to Cruz's head

Diezel' left connects to Kim's body

The eight round co-main event pitted Seattle favorite Rob Diezel against Ye Joon Kim, a man who had spent the majority of his time fighting in South Korea. Diezel entered the fight coming off two losses while Kim’s last loss came in 2012 in his second professional bout. Kim brought some power into the super bantam weight fight having scored eleven knockouts in his nineteen fights. Diezel has also showed power at times, scoring four knockouts in his fourteen wins.

This was an eight round action packed fight. Both men threw a lot of punches and both worked to keep the other off balance. The men fired jabs at each other to open the fight, and once they settled into a rhythm they opened up looking to land power shots. In the alter stages of the round Diezel was more active, but Kim proved to be an effective counter puncher. Diezel had a solid and strong second round as he focused his attack on Kim’s body. Diezel also found opportunities, when Kim dropped his left, to score with shots to Kim’s head. One of those punches opened a cut over Kim’s left eye.

Kim’s cut man did a good job closing the cut and stemming the flow of blood. Kim spent much of the Kim continued his pressure campaign in the fourth round and he was effective in keeping Diezel on the move while he landed his right to Diezel’s body, forcing Diezel to tuck in his arms to cover up.

The fifth round was close because each man dominated at different points. Diezel had control of the opening half of the round as he returned to firing quick jabs and then shooting his right to Kim’s body. Kim turned the tables in the last half of the round as he backed Diezel into the corner and landed shots to Diezel’s body. The sixth round was also close as Diezel landed his right to Kim’s body and then changed up his attack to throw his left at Kim’s head. Kim covered well and then when Diezel backed him into the corner Kim unleashed his uppercut and was able to score.

The seventh and eighth rounds were again packed with punches. Both men threw combinations, but it was Kim that pressed the action keeping Diezel on the move. As the fight drew to a close Kim was landing three or four punches, again forcing Diezel to cover up and move out of trouble. When Diezel created space, he was able to land two and three punch combinations.

After eight rounds one judge scored the fight even at 76, the other two scored it 78-74 and 77-75 in favor of Rob Diezel who would get back on the winning track behind the split decision victory.

Alexis De La Cerda had a large contingent of fans in the crowd as he made his professional debut facing Cory Dea who was also making his pro debut in a super bantamweight bout scheduled for four rounds.

Both men answered the opening bell looking more like seasoned fighters than someone making a pro debut. They were patient, they threw their jabs, they looked to find an opening to land a power shot to the other’s body. Then nearing the minute mark of the round De La Cerda caught Dea with a few body shots that slowed and staggered him. After another flurry of De La Cerda body shots, Dea appeared about to go down until the ropes held him up. The referee administered an eight count and the fight continued. De La Cerda jumped on Dea and again landed a lot of punches, most of them right hands to the body. As Dea covered up and tried to move away from the assault, his corner waved the referee to stop the fight.

De La Cerda would claim the TKO win in his pro debut at 2:13 of the opening round.

De La Cerda shoots hs right to Dea's head

Sevilla Rivera's left rocks Carlson

On paper, the light heavyweight bout pitting Cameron Sevilla Rivera against Dylan Carlson in a six round bout might have looked like a mismatch. Carlson last won a fight in his pro debut in 2019; Sevilla Rivera, while coming off a loss in his last fight in 2022, had scored six knockouts in his nine wins. After the fight Sevilla Rivera said that he thought he would end the fight in the second or third round, Carlson had other plans.

Carlson threw more punches in the opening round as he launched his jab at Sevilla Rivera and followed that with his right targeting Sevilla Rivera’s body. Carlson’s aggression kept Sevilla Rivera on the move and it was not until late in the round that Sevilla Rivera was able to land scoring punches. Sevilla Rivera had a better second round, but Carlson was still the man throwing more punches. That forced Sevilla Rivera to settle into the role of counter puncher, and as the round drew to a close he was able to land some scoring punches.

In the third round Sevilla Rivera established a rhythm that allowed him to land his right to Carlson’s body. Carlson continued to target Sevilla Rivera’s body and at times that created openings for Sevilla Rivera to land heavy shots to Carlson’s head. Sevilla Rivera added the over hand right to his assault in the fourth round and it often followed his jab. Carlson’s punch output slowed some in the round, though he continued to throw to Sevilla Rivera’s body.

Settling into a rhythm, Sevilla Rivera kept Carlson on the move in the fifth using his jab to create some space between the fighters and slow Carlson’s body attack. That was also the pattern in the closing round as Carlson was unable to close the distance between the two and land what had been effective body shots.

After six rounds all three judges scored the fight 60-54 for Sevilla Rivera who would claim the unanimous decision victory.

Evian Rodriguez was looking to score his first win as he faced Jose Cervantes in a welterweight bout scheduled for four rounds. Cervantes’ two professional wins had come by way of knockouts.

The fight opened with a slow pace as the men backed across the ring looking for openings and creating some distance by sticking a jab at the other. Then, when the distance between the closed, they both threw a lot of short tight punches inside. As they backed out of one exchange, Rodriguez complained of a head butt that caught him over his left eye. The referee looked, but waved the fight to continue. Cervantes then jumped at the opportunity provided by a slowed Rodriguez and landed a number of left right combinations as the men stood center ring. Cervantes then backed Rodriguez into the corner where Cervantes landed a flurry of body shots that dropped Rodriguez to the canvas. He would not rise as the referee counted him out.

Cervantes would continue his streak of wins by knockout, this one coming at 2:16 of the first round.

Cervantes throws his right

McDonald (left) moves to close the distance with Martin

Jacob Martin entered the four round middleweight bout against Devontae McDonald looking to score his second win. Devantae McDonald was looking to score another win after taking a tough loss to an unbeaten fighter in his last outing.

McDonald was the more aggressive fighter in the opening round as he controlled the action, keeping Martin on the move, Much of the later portions of the round was fought in close which meant that McDonald turned to throwing tight uppercuts. Martin spent much of the second round with his back to the ropes and that meant he could only throw short punches to McDonald’s body while McDonald again threw in tight uppercuts and coupled those with lefts to Martin’s head.

Martin was again on the ropes in the third round, and though he was able to block some of the punches McDonald threw to his head, he could not find an answer to McDonald’s uppercut. Unlike the previous three rounds, the fourth started with both men fighting in the center of the ring, and that looked to be to Martin’s advantage as he was able to score behind his jab. Then McDonald backed Martin into the corner and again landed a number of punches.

After four rounds one judge scored the fight 40-36, the other two scored it 39-37 all in favor of Devantae McDonald who would score the unanimous decision win.

The night opened with a scheduled four round heavyweight bout pitting Aurek Anderson against Carlos Villanueva. The two man faced each other just over six months ago in Toppenish where Villanueva won a four round unanimous decision.

Each man had good moments in the opening round. Anderson was the more active puncher in the first half of the round as his punches targeted Villanueva’s head. Once the round hit the midpoint, Villanueva shifted the momentum in his favor as he began to land heavy punches to Anderson’s body. The round closed with the men throwing short punches while in close.  Early in the second round Villanueva pinned Anderson on the ropes and landed a number of punches to Anderson’s head, causing him to lose his mouthpiece. While Anderson was holding Villanueva, the referee stepped in to break the two men and once fighting resumed, Villanueva landed a hard right to Anderson’s head that dropped Anderson to the canvas. Anderson would not rise while the referee counted.

The fight would end at 1:14 of the second round as Villanueva would score the knockout victory.

Villanueva's left catches Anderson's chin