Storm Cloud over the Windy City!

Ringside by Jacob Chavez
Photos by John Booz

Knockout artist Tavoris Cloud (19-0-0, 18 KOs) burst into the scene of top competitors in the light heavyweight division by completely dominating former world champion Julio Gonzalez, scoring a tenth round TKO, Friday night at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago’s north side.

Gonzalez was battered from start to finish, and stopped for the first time in his career—quite a feat for the undefeated Cloud, who claims the Windy City as his second home

The venue resonated with cheers as the combatants climbed into the ring, and many die-hard Mexican fans rooted their countryman despite Cloud’s having fought over ten times in the Chicagoland area.

The crowd, however, played no role in this match.

Right away, Cloud jumped on Gonzalez with a stiff jab that snapped his head back as they circled the ring. Cloud showed much faster hands as he quickly began mounting assaults to the head. The veteran in Gonzalez began pumping his own jab in efforts to keep Cloud at bay, but Cloud pressed on with hard blows upstairs. During the second half of the opening round it looked as though Gonzalez might be folding under the pummeling but he, amazingly, fired back and finished off the round.

Gonzalez came out in the second putting punches together and sticking to his jab. In a change of pace, Cloud studied his opponent and boxed more during the first half of the stanza. But during the final moments, the whirlwind of power shots battered Gonzalez to the head and he, again, found his back against the ropes taking punishment.

Cloud picked his punches conservatively in the third, and Gonzalez peppered him with combinations, but failed to do any real damage. The warrior in Gonzalez stood two-to-two with Cloud in the fourth and managed to connect with a hard left-hook to the body followed by one to the head, but it was far from enough to deter Cloud, and they traded in spectacular fashion in the center of the ring. At the sound of the bell Gonzalez staggered toward his corner.

As the fight progressed, Cloud picked the spots for his damaging bursts and used more footwork. The lateral movement from Cloud encouraged Gonzalez to walk forward and press the action. He managed to display a solid array of combinations and angles but the power behind them was insufficient to turn the tide. Gonzalez took more punishment in the fifth and nearing the end of the round, almost had the fight stopped by referee John O’Brien, as he was pinned against the corner and took incredibly thudding shots to the head.

This pace continued until the eighth, where Cloud switched to counter-puncher, allowing for Gonzalez to take the offensive. But again, it was mostly ineffective.

Surprisingly, Gonzalez started the tenth off with more success, and his sneaky combinations managed to find a home and scored. He never abandoned the jab and one could see his confidence growing. But it was short-lived, as Cloud responded with one of his more destructive volleys of the fight. Looking in very bad shape, Gonzalez fought back and looked to weather the storm but the onslaught showed no signs of ending. One could see Cloud leverage his punches with tremendous balance and momentum. After several moments,  Referee John O’Brien wisely stepped in to halt the action, in spite of Gonzalez’ protests.

The time of the stoppage was 2:50 of round ten.

With this victory Cloud is in line to challenge the winner between Chad Dawson and IBF Champ Antonio Tarver, which takes place October 11^th.

Molina outboxes Camarena

Welterweight Carlos Molina (12-4-1, 4 KOs) outboxed rugged Donald Camarena (19-5-0, 9 KOs) in their exciting eight-round match-up.

The left-handed Camarena was unable to counter Molina’s slick combinations, as he was pressured and forced to move backwards throughout. Molina had the edge in hand speed, and it was apparent from the start. Camarena tried becoming the aggressor in the middle rounds, but this only opened him up to more of Molina’s quick counter punches. In the eighth and final round, the two came together in a series of exchanges that had the crowd in a cheering frenzy.

The judges’ scores read 79-73 twice and 78-74 all for Molina.

Undercard results

William Mitchell Williams (1-1-0, 1 KO) of the heavyweight division lost to Theron Johnson (2-1-0, 0 KOs) after four rounds. Williams simply did not throw enough punches and allowed for the taller Johnson to use his jab and lateral movement to win the fight. The judges scored it 39-37 for Williams and 40-36, 39-37 for Johnson.

Welterweight Nick Casal (18-3-1, 14 KOs) had his hands full with Frankie Zepeda (16-7-0, 9 KOs) but managed to score a fifth round TKO. The left-handed Zepeda had a charging styled that caused a clash of heads in the opening round, causing a cut over his left eye. He was very gutsy and looked to trade with Casal regardless, but the more accurate punches were from Casal. He managed to wear Zepeda down and finally put him out after connecting with a perfect left uppercut to the chin in the fifth. Zepeda crumbled down and the fight was stopped by Referee Pete Podgorski at 59 seconds into the round with no complains from Zepeda.

Welterweight Guadalupe Diaz (4-4-2, 1 KO) ended with a draw against Johnny Suarez (2-0-2, 1 KO) after four rounds of action. The two traded wildly from the start and Diaz’ awkward style made it difficult for Suarez to get off. Diaz ended getting the nod from one of the judges who scored the fight, 40-36, but the other two scored it 38-38.

In the opening bout, super featherweight Jose Guadalupe Navarrete (12-17-2, 6 KOs) lost to Zaid Zavaleta (17-4-3, 11 KOs) unanimously. Zavaleta had little problem controlling the action from the start. Navarrete showed heart but lacked the skills to thwart his opponent’s plan of attack. In the end, the judges scored it 60-54 and 59-55 twice for Zavaleta.