Miami, FL: Henry Rivalta, the well-respected boxing promoter and manager, launched his new brand Friday night with the inaugural event of Rivalta Boxing. The FL-based promotional organization put on a black-tie event in spectacular fashion with an action-packed 11-fight card from the Intercontinental Hotel in North Miami. BeIn Sports aired the event live on its streaming network with the assistance of commentators Raúl Márquez, Barry Tompkins, Claudia Trejo, and Barry Hunter. A limited, widespread crowd of fans were in attendance, all dressed to the nines to enjoy the classy evening. Several professional boxers were present, along with a pair of current NBA and NFL players. A special shout-out goes to Ulysses “Monster” Diaz, who was in the house, coming off of his record-breaking (under) three-second knockout win at BKFC 14, which took place at the same venue just two weeks earlier.
As for the fight card itself, knockouts and stoppages were abundant, as six bouts never saw the final bell. Yunieski Gonzalez (20-3, 16 KOs) made it an early night in the main bout, as he knocked out Alex Theran (22-4, 15 KOs) at 2:51 of Round 2 after landing devastating body shots throughout the fight and ending it with an extremely accurate right hook over the top to Theran’s left temple. Theran took a knee after the shot and the referee stepped in to stop the beating.
In the co-main event, Luis “Chucho” Melendez (9-1, 7 KOs) earned his 9th professional win after his opponent was knocked down in the second round by a perfectly-placed punch and failed to beat the count. Melendez’s fans were definitely in attendance, as the crowd could be heard going wild for the local up-and-comer following the stoppage.
Marcel Barlatier (2-0, 2 KOs), the six-foot-tall, 19-year-old Super Bantamweight, showed much promise with extremely quick hand and foot movement around the ring en route to his own knockout. Barlatier’s opponent didn’t seem to understand that his guard needed to be placed higher against a fighter who had a 6-plus-inch height advantage in the ring, so Barlatier simply fired at will, landing freely, until the referee stepped in to end the onslaught at 1:43 of the first round.
The venue was great. All who attended seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. It was certainly a great start to something even greater. The next event has already been planned for a date in February 2021. It’s understood the location will be the same. Come on out for a pleasurable evening of boxing and socializing in a high-class atmosphere with some of boxing’s elite. We hope to see you there!
Continue following The Fighting News for more content and updates as they become available and be sure to tune into TFN TV Live on Facebook and YouTube for future interviews with some of the fighters from this event, as well as many others. Stay safe, everyone!
–Mike Feinberg
TFN Reporter
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