CES Showcases ESPN Friday Night Fights In 3D
by Gautham Nagesh
LAS VEGAS, Nev.–Most folks come to the International Consumer Electronics Show to find the next big thing in technology, or possibly strike it rich by convincing a major buyer to market their product. But on Thursday afternoon the technology and boxing worlds collided with crowd-pleasing results.
The ESPN booth in the Central Hall of CES became the setting on Thursday afternoon for an early portion of Friday Night Fights intended to showcase the Worldwide Leader’s cutting edge, 3D broadcast. Techies stood ten deep around the the ring well in advance of the first fight, desperate for a distraction from the endless stream of iPad cases.
The main event of the five-fight card saw New Haven, Conn. welterweight prospect Javier Flores stop Alex Viramontes in the third round of a scheduled six. The southpaw Flores scored an early knockdown with a straight left but went about his business deliberately, stalking the overmatched Viramontes before ending the fight in the third with a hard right hook and a straight left. Flores notched his 8th win in the process, all by stoppage, while Viramontes fell to 10-9 (3 KOs).
The most impressive performance of the afternoon came from 18-year-old junior lightweight Saul Rodriguez of Los Angeles, who blitzed Henry Hernandez in 19 seconds to win his third professional bout, all by stoppage. Rodriguez came out with no hesitation and used his huge speed advantage to fire a series of punches, culminating in a flush left hook to Hernandez’s chin. The Texan went down for the count and stayed there, unable to rise.
Antonio Hernandez evened his professional record after four fights by earning a unanimous decision over Victor Sanchez in a four-round featherweight bout that had the tech crowd cheering. Hernandez caught Sanchez with a counter and put him down in the 2nd but Sanchez sprang up and came back for more to the crowd’s delight. Antonio was so engrossed by the action that he came out for the 3rd without his mouthpiece; during the same round he suffered a cut over his right eye from a classic southpaw-orthodox fighter head clash.
Your correspondent was being interviewed by C-SPAN as part of the day job and missed welterweight debutante Andy Ruiz stopping Freddie Cisneros in the opening bout, but arrived in time to see junior featherweight Jonathan Alcantara knock Esteban Nichol down three times on his way to a 5th-round TKO. Alcantara earns his living by fighting unbeaten prospects, so his sub-.500 record is not a true indication of his abilities. Against Nichol he was in control early, scoring two knockdowns in the 2nd and another in the 4th before closing the show in the final round.