Joey Alday Jr. Headlines Exciting Fight Card at the Bomb Factory

Alday photo by Porfirio C. Barron, Jr.

By Austin Killeen                                                                                                                                                                

Eagle Promotions in association with Montoya/Rubial Boxing hopes to present a twelve bout fight card at the Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas  later today, December 9th 2016. An undertaking of this magnitude can result in migraine headaches and aspirin consumption. Fight week boxers suddenly have hangnails, lose their lucky socks, or get the sniffles. Matchmakers now are burning the midnight oil looking for boxers of various sizes and weights to replace boxers with boo boos. Guess who has the advantage when negotiating how much the substitute should be paid? Diehard fans will show up regardless who is on the card, but the casual fans want details. Joey Alday Jr., Alexis del Bosque, Oscar Mojica, DeAnthony Jones, Jarvis Shepard and Raymond Ximenez are hot prospects but who’s in the other corner? Welcome to the world of professional boxing.

In the four round main event, undefeated middleweight Joey Alday Jr. (3-0-0, 3 KO’s) of Odessa, Texas will hopefully face Gilbert Aguilar (2-1-0) of Phoenix, AZ in a scheduled four rounder. Alday amassed over 200 wins with only 25 losses as an amateur. He was the #1 ranked 152 pounder in the nation three years in a row with over 45 international bouts. Alday has signed with longtime Dallas boxing backer Michael Montoya and his business partner Mike Ruibal under the banner Montoya- Ruibal Boxing Management. A boxer/puncher Alday has a fan friendly style and speaks both English and Spanish giving him crossover appeal. “I started sitting down on my punches more as opposed to a points style which I’m used to in the amateurs.” I’ll be honest, I don’t know anything about Aguilar.

The next six bouts are scheduled for six rounds.

Lightweight Alexis del Bosque (11-3-0, 8 KO’s) of Dallas, TX will face Mohamed Rodriguez (8-3-0, 3 KO’s) of San Luis Potosi, MX. del Bosque is over six feet tall and will tower over most lightweights. He has a lot of body to protect and he does it surprising well. Pinned on the ropes he is very relaxed, he tucks his elbows in tight making a surprisingly small target. I like the way he spins off the ropes when his opponent tries to lean on him. Not surprisingly, he has a nice left jab and possesses a nice spin move to escape pressure. I was impressed with his left hook and uppercuts when opponents try to back him up. Don’t be sleeping on this young man as he is much more durable that he appears. I confess that I have not seen Rodriguez in action.

Bantamweight Oscar Mojica (9-2-0, 1 KO) of Dallas, TX will face an opponent to be named later. Mojica has a rich amateur pedigree having participated in over 150 amateur bouts winning many amateur titles. This has made his transition to the pros a smooth process. Although Oscar only has one stoppage win, it was impressive; stopping Elio David Ruiz in 2 rounds. He used a double left hook, first to the body than to the head to stop his game opponent. Mojica has a nice body attack that takes the steam out of his opponents, allowing him to be strong over the second half of his fights. He employs speed and quickness to frustrate his opponent, making him difficult to hit.

Welterweight Amon Rashidi (3-0-0, 2 KO’s) of Desoto, TX will face Jon Bullock (6-3-0, 2 KO’s) Wichita, KS. Rashidi fights out of Montoya Boxing gym from Dallas, Texas. The hard-hitting prospect is coming off a sensational 1st Rd KO after dropping his opponent 3 times in June 2016. The young Welterweight Prospect looks to continue his unbeaten streak. Jon “The Professor” Bullock fights out of FHG Boxing gym out of Ft. Worth, Texas. Bullock is a smart pressure fighter who does a great job cutting off the ring. His high work rate along with his body attack makes Bullock an exciting fighter to watch.

Featherweight DeAnthony Jones (10-2-1, 2 KO’s) of Denton, TX, will face an opponent to be named later. Bonner is a true warrior who leaves everything in the ring. One of his most memorable matches was in August 2015, when he faced the scrappy Eric Anton in what turned into an all-out War earning FIGHT OF THE NIGHT honors on the undercard of Top Ranks Solo Boxeo Series in Frisco, Texas. Bonner looks to provide his hometown crowd another memorable night of action.

Super welterweight Jarvis Shepard (2-0-0, 2 KO’s) of Dallas, TX, will face Gilbert Cuhen (0-1-0) of Deming, NM. Shepard fights out of FHG Boxing gym out of Ft. Worth, Texas. Jarvis looks to continue his knockout streak and remain undefeated as he is returning to Dallas, Texas for the 2nd time this year. The Welterweight Prospect brings an exciting and crowd pleasing action and is coming off a first round knockout performance in Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua Mexico back in September 2016. Cuhen lost his pro debut against Joey Alday Jr. who is fighting in tonight’s main event. No one can accuse Cuhen of picking soft competition in his early career.

Middleweight 4-2-0, 4 KO’s) of El Paso, TX.

The remaining bouts are scheduled for four rounds                                            

Super featherweight Thomas Smith (2-2-1, 1 KO) of Dallas, TX will face David Montez 0-4 Dallas, TX 

Featherweight Raymond Ximenez (14-1-0, 4 KO’s) of Dallas, TX will face Raymond Chacon (6-21-4) of Los Angeles, CA. Ximenez is a talented featherweight prospect, coming off a unanimous decision victory in Midland, Texas back on October 2016. In April 2016, Ray was featured on the CO-Main event of Top Ranks SOLOBOXEO series which he battled undefeated (15-0 10KOs) TOP RANK Puerto Rican featherweight prospect Christopher “Pitbull” Diaz for the WBO Youth Featherweight Title in Puerto Rico. Ximenez wasted no time in attacking Diaz early making it into a slugfest throughout the night. Both fighters showed tremendous heart in what was considered the fight of the night. The fight was very close to call, which the hometown judges awarded Diaz the victory. I saw Raymond Chacon upset Tony Valdez at the Camel Rock Casino, in Santa Fe, New Mexico in Valdez’s back yard. Chacon is very elusive, which can leave an opponent very frustrated.

Middleweight Marchristopher Adkins (7-2-0, 2 KO’s) Dallas, TX will face Dawond Pickney (1-2-1) of Hot Springs, AK.

Super flyweight Alfredo Mojica (1-0-0, 1 KO) of Dallas, TX will face debuting Adrian De La Cruz. If Alfredo has any of the skills of older brother Oscar, debuting De La Cruz will have a busy night.

Featherweight Gabriel Rodriguez (1-0-0) of El Paso, TX will face Javier Cepeda (0-3-0) of Roswell, NM. I know nothing regarding Rodriguez, but witnessed Cepeda win a fight of the night award when he was fighting in the amateurs.

This will be my first trip to the Bomb Factory and I’m looking forward to seeing some exciting contests. I hope I did each competitor on the card justice when writing about them. I’m sorry I didn’t have more knowledge regarding some of the competition. I hope the Bomb Factory has a sellout and that all the fighters entering the ring will be able to do their best.