Leonardo Ruiz stalked and swung and nearly shut out Jarrod Tennant on Friday at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, and although he didn’t get the knockout he appeared to want, he was at least able to put an unwelcome one behind him.
Ruiz produced a tactical-but-aggressive performance in their junior-middleweight eight-rounder, having his way in a wide unanimous decision win while also moving on from his disastrous previous outing – a first-round knockout loss to Elias Mauricio Haedo in December in Mexico.
The scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 79-73. That Ruiz – originally from Zacatecas, Mexico, and fighting out of San Bernardino, California – smirked at the announcement of the third score showed just how thoroughly in control he was from wire to wire.
Although Ruiz, 16-1 (8 KOs), was comparatively more tentative in the early rounds, he consistently moved forward, fired his jab and looked for opportunities to target his opponent’s body. It was an ideal, patient game plan for Tennant, who, although slippery, entered the fight as a 40 year old coming off three losses in his past four.
If Tennant took a round, it would have been the third – when he was at his most active in the fight. Letting his hands go when Ruiz paused and occasionally countering, Tennant – a Kenosha, Wisconsin, native fighting out of Los Angeles – might have even stolen the round when he split Ruiz’s guard with a long right hand at the bell.
In his post-fight interview, Ruiz – one of interim junior-middleweight titleholder Vergil Ortiz Jnr’s main sparring partners – said he thought he hit his groove in the third. “I felt like I was able to warm up a little bit,” he told DAZN. “I don’t know why the judge gave him a round. Maybe the first one, because I took my time. That’s what I wanted to do with this fight.”
And why not? By the fourth, Ruiz had learned that Tennant was little threat to him and gradually began turning up the volume. He went all in targeting Tennant’s body, landing a heavy left hook to the midsection in the fourth. With Tennant routinely backpedaling, Ruiz came down with chopping right hands whenever his opponent ducked away after feeling his back against the ropes.
Ruiz moved his feet effectively to set up his shots, punching with greater frequency, hammering the body and sapping the bounce from Tennant’s legs. In the sixth, when the DAZN sideline reporter indicated trainer Robert Garcia was asking for more uppercuts from Ruiz between rounds, his charge unloaded with a series of them against a ducking Tennant.
The corners became traps for Tennant, who ducked away from Ruiz’s power, only to be caught with jabs and left hooks from his opponent. By the final rounds, as Ruiz continued to walk him down, Tennant, 9-5 (4 KOs), clutched rather than countered, yet still got stung by a big overhand right from Ruiz in the fight’s closing moments.
Earlier on the card, junior welterweight Juan Sanchez blasted out Yeis Gabriel Solano in three rounds of a scheduled six.
Sanchez, of Buena Park, California, by way of Baja California, Mexico, opened the spigot and poured it on Solano from beginning to end. Solano – from Monteria, Columbia, and fighting out of Los Angeles – was game but began breaking down almost immediately when attempting to trade with his opponent.
Sanchez, 9-0 (8 KOs), sent Solano to the canvas four times in the short fight – not including when referee Ray Corona finally stepped in to wave off the fight at two minutes, 50 seconds of the third.
Solano, who opened a bloody cut over Sanchez’s eye in the third but was already too far gone to capitalize, fell to 15-6 (10 KOs).
“It feels great,” Sanchez said after the fight. “I don’t know, maybe it was destiny. Because every time since my last fight, I kept on being confused and saying, ‘I’m 9-0, eight knockouts'. But, you know, maybe I predicted it.”
In a mild upset, junior welterweight Dorian Mendez edged Leonardo Rubalcava for a split decision win in a blistering action battle.
The scores were 59-55 across the board, but one of those cards went to Rubalcava – which may have been an indication of how difficult the fight was to score.
Mendez, of Los Angeles, and Rubalcava – a native of Teocaltiche, Mexico, fighting out of Jurupa Valley, California – combined to put on a nonstop torrent of punches over six rounds.
Mendez moved to 6-0 (2 KOs), while Rubalcava dropped to 9-1-1 (3 KOs).
Californian Daniel Cruz, 10-0 (3 KOs), stayed perfect with a unanimous decision win over India’s Sachin Rohila, 8-4 (2 KOs), in a junior-welterweight six-rounder.
Alexis Alvarado, 8-1 (5 KOs), of La Puente, California, pitched a near shutout in a junior-featherweight four-rounder against Jose Silva Gonzalez, 5-1-1 (4 KOs), of Sparks, Nevada. Scores were 40-35, 40-35 and 39-36 for Alvarado.
Featherweight Emiliano Alvarado, 8-0 (5 KOs), of Desert Hot Springs, California, also won a unanimous decision, over Mexico’s Antonio Mejia, 2-2 (0 KOs). The judges saw it 39-36, 39-36 and 38-37 for Alvarado.
Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at and followed on and .