It was a night for revenge on Friday night at the “New Blood 2” card at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, CA. A crowd of around 1,400 saw Aris Ambriz and Jose Reynoso hook up in a junior welterweight bout that was a rematch of their draw in January. Both fighters believed that they won their previous meeting, but only Ambriz could back up his beliefs in the ring on Friday. He controlled the later rounds and was able to earn an eight-round majority decision in the card’s headlining fight.
Ambriz (13-1-1, 8 KOs) won by scores of 79-73 and 78-74 on two of the judges’ scorecards. The third judge scored the bout a draw, which might have more accurately reflected the back and forth nature of the action that took place inside the ring. The win was critical for Ambriz – not only did he avenge the draw against Reynoso (12-3-1, 1 KO) and earn a “bragging rights” victory in the rematch between Southern California residents, but he also kept his reputation as a young prospect worth tracking within the division.
Ambriz was the aggressor early, finding a home for his right hand with lead and counter punches. Reynoso had trouble finding an answer for Ambriz early in the fight, as the southpaw either attempted to counter punch or would go looking for big, looping right hooks.
However, Reynoso would start to turn the fight around in the third round, moving the smaller Ambriz around and stopping his attempts to press forward dead in their tracks. By the fifth round, Reynoso looked like he might be on his way to taking control of the fight, using his right jab to set up a variety of hooks and crosses while being more effective in stopping potential counter punching attacks from Ambriz.
However, Ambriz was able to rally back in the later round, starting to press the action in the seventh round and landing some solid rights in the process. Ambriz and Reynoso traded punches in the eighth and final round, with Ambriz showing patience in picking his spots to throw while Reynoso was more active. In the end, the judges reward the more careful, efficient boxer and gave Ambriz a fairly comfortable victory.
While Ambriz celebrated what he believed was a well-deserved victory, Reynoso stewed. It was just his second loss in his last 10 fights, but not a contest that he felt like he deserved to lose.
“He was jabbing more in this fight, but my jab was more effective,” Reynoso told FightNews.com after the bout. “He was more defensive in this fight and I wanted to throw more punches. I did not want to see him win this fight, so I had to let my hands go more.”
In undercard action, welterweight Aron Martinez (13-1-1, 3 KOs) was the more active and impressive fighter in claiming a unanimous victory over Pavel Miranda (16-5-1, 8 KOs) in the co-feature bout of the night. Miranda was a game fighter and kept coming forward, but Martinez was simply too fast for Miranda, usually meeting him with an assortment of hooks to the body and head.
The fight of the night might have been the six-rounder between young junior welterweights Artemio Reyes and Alan Sanchez. It was an action fight from the opening bell and earned a standing ovation from the crowd when it was over. At the end, Reyes (6-1, 5 KOs) was able to score a split decision victory over Sanchez (5-2, 2 KOs) by landing the more telling and impactful punching during the fight. However, both fighters showed heart and ability, making this a fight which might be deserving of a rematch in the near future.
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