The Vicarious Boxer: July 2023

Monday, July 31, 2023

MMA this week in California

WCK Muay Thai in San Diego This Saturday, August 5, 2023

Thompson Boxing Wraps Up a 23 Year Run

After 23 years of promoting fights in Ontario—with occasional fights in other places such as Corona, Sacramento, San Diego, and Salinas—Thompson Boxing Promotions presented their very last show before a packed house on Friday, July 21st at the Double Tree in Ontario, California. This last fight was suddenly announced during the first week of July, just several weeks prior, and caught most everybody by surprise. Though it really should not have been completely unexpected in light of the fact that its founder, Ken Thompson, had passed away on February 10th of this year. Even though the night sadly marked the end of an era for the local fight scene, loyal fight fans in attendance enjoyed a night of action on a five bout card. And when the main event ended, it was truly over, and all that is left are the years of memories…

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Manny “Gucci” Flores Returns to the Ring September 7, 2023 at Fantasy Springs

Manny “Gucci” Flores fought in the main event of the Golden Boy Promotions fight this past June at Fantasy Springs in Indio, CA. A Cochella resident and crowd favorite, he was widely expected to win and advance from 15-0, 11 KOs to 16-0. But his opponent, Walter Santibanes from Phoenix, Az, coming into that fight with a record of 11-2, ignored that expectation and won a unanimous decision by a wide margin on the score cards (91-99, 90-100, 91-99), dominating the action and handing Flores his first loss as a professional boxer. In doing so, he also earned the respect of the crowd, even though they were disappointed at Manny’s loss. And now, with a record of 15-1, Manny is looking to bounce back from that loss on September 7, again at Fantasy Springs in a 10 round fight, but this time as the co-main event. Manny’s cousin, Grant Flores 2-0, 2 KOs, will also appear on the card in a seperate bout.

Meanwhile, the main event will feature Raul “El Cugar” Curiel with a record of 12-0, 10 KOs, a former Mexican Olympian and current NABF Welterweight Titleholder from Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX, in a 10 round title defense against Courtney “BKNY” Pennington, with a record of 17-6-3, 7 KOs, and as his nickname suggests, he is from Brooklyn, New York. Tickets go on sale on Friday, July 28, 2023 at 10 am.