Hovhannisyan, Rocha score pair of shutouts at LA Fight Club
![](https://www.ringtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Azat-Hovhannisyan.jpg)
LOS ANGELES – Azat Hovhannisyan has shown a penchant for knocking out his opponents in recent fights. Friday night, Hovhannisyan showed he could box and batter his foe.
Hovhannisyan dominated late-sub Isao Carranza for eight rounds, winning a one-sided decision in the Belasco Theater’s latest edition of LA Fight Club.
With the win, Hovhannisyan improves to 12-2 (10 knockouts). Carranza, who replaced Neftali Campos on Wednesday, falls to 15-9-1 (9 KOs).
Originally from Armenia and now residing in the Los Angeles area, Hovhannisyan entered Friday’s bout having knocked out his previous five opponents.
From the opening bell, he utilized his quickness and ring generalship to outbox the fighter from Mexico City. Carranza attempted to get on the inside of Hovhannisyan’s guard, but got hit repeatedly with two- and three-punch combinations.
Despite being down on the scorecards in the second half of the fight, Carranza tried to walk Hovhannisyan down. Carranza would land an occasional punch but more often caught a combination or a series of right hands to the head.
By the end of the fight, Carranza’s face was bruised, with cuts above both eyes from the abundance of punches he received from Hovhannisyan.
All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Hovhannisyan, who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.
In the co-feature, Alexis Rocha was impressive in winning a one-sided eight-round decision over Cesar Valenzuela.
Rocha, who hails from nearby Santa Ana, improves to 8-0 (5 KOs). Valenzuela falls to 7-1 (2 KOs).
It was a battle of unbeaten welterweights, but the 19-year-old Rocha was too talented for his opponent. The southpaw Rocha battered Valenzuela through the first four rounds, effectively utilizing three- and four-punch combinations to Valenzuela’s head.
By the midway point of the fight, Valenzuela’s face was reddened and bruised, but he pressed the action as Valenzuela was content to box from the outside. Anytime Valenzuela would launch an attack of lead right hands to the head, Rocha would easily counter with right hooks or left crosses.
All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Rocha, who is the younger brother of junior featherweight contender Ronny Rios.
Miami’s Niko Valdes (5-0, 5 KOs) remained unbeaten, stopping Ernesto Berrospe in the second round of a scheduled six-round super middleweight bout. Valdes was the more athletic and stronger southpaw of the two, beating Berrospe (11-11, 6 KOs) to the punch repeatedly. About midway through the second round, a barrage of punches dropped Berrospe to the canvas. Berrospe stood up and attempted to fight back, but was hurt by a series of left hands against the ropes. Referee Jack Reiss stepped in and stopped the bout at 2:26.
Featherweight Tenochtitlan Nava of Los Angeles won a six-round unanimous decision over Christian Renteria (7-5, 6 KOs). Scores were 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56 in favor of Nava, who goes to 6-0 (1 KO).
Lightweight Jousce Gonzalez (5-0, 5 KOs), the younger brother of unbeaten Joet Gonzalez, knocked out Daniel Bastien (4-6, 1 KO) at 2:57 of the opening round.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.