Chavez Holds Off Colquitt

About the only damage Ernie Chavez suffered in his debut as a main-event boxer Monday night at the Irvine Marriott was a pair of torn shorts.

“My Aunt Josie made these,” he said pointing to the pink pair he worn in Monday night’s unanimous 10-round decision over Daryl Colquitt.

“I didn’t even notice they ripped until I sat down. Then I laughed. Good thing I’m not too proud.”

Chavez, a welterweight from Huntington Beach, ripped his shorts trying to stay low with Colquitt, who employed a duck-and-cover style. Whenever Chavez would throw a punch, Colquitt would turn and twist, getting closer and closer to the canvas and farther from Chavez.

It proved to be an effective strategy, one that frustrated Chavez. He landed only a few damaging blows. Certainly nothing close to a knockout punch.

“I didn’t want him to be lower than me,” Chavez said.

So he crouched down to see eye-to-eye with Colquitt and in the fourth round, his shorts ripped.

“He was difficult,” Chavez said.

Chavez gained the upper hand early in the fight, but never put together any kind of flurry. Colquitt seemed content to play a defensive role, landing only a few sneaky left jabs.

None of the jabs did much damage and Chavez was left wondering how to get low enough to score. At the same time, he was worried about overextending himself.

“He could counterpunch OK,” Chavez said. “I was a little gun shy. All I was worried about was missing him and having him come back strong at me.”

This also was Chavez’s first 10-round fight and he said that made him a little conservative.

“It was a lot mental,” he said. “My legs felt a little stiff when we first started.”

Other than his shorts, the only other damage Chavez sustained was a swollen right knuckle. It was from an early punch to the back of Colquitt’s head.

He said Colquitt turned away from him and that’s where the punch landed.

Chavez improves to 6-0. Colquitt, from Los Angeles, is 10-7.

It proved to be a good night for the Westminster Boxing Club.

John Armijo of Huntington Beach defeated Robert Jackson of Los Angeles in a six-round decision between super middleweights. Armijo, who is known as the Fighting Lifeguard, improved his record to 7-0-1. Jackson is 5-8.

Bantamweight Martin Garcia of Westminster beat Gilbert Aladriste of Huntington Park in a fourth-round decision. It was Garcia’s professional debut.