Young Has to Fight Traffic Before Meeting Gonzalez

Jonathan Young’s fight against Julio Gonzalez of Huntington Beach still is two days away, but he has already faced a preliminary challenge.

Young, traveling from Las Vegas to Anaheim for Thursday’s news conference at the Arrowhead Pond, was stranded on Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass for nearly two hours while fire raged out of control late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

“It was crazy,” a tired-looking Young said of the fire that temporarily shut down the main route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas for nearly 12 hours. “I’m just glad I’m here and now I’m just looking forward to beating Julio Gonzalez.”

Gonzalez (29-1, 19 knockouts) will fight Young (10-4-2, 5) in a light-heavyweight bout, the main event of a five-bout card Saturday night at the Pond.

“Jonathan’s speed might create some problems,” said Gonzalez, who trains at La Habra Gym, along with Anaheim heavyweight Javier Mora (13-0-1, 12), who will fight former NFL player Leroy Humphries (3-3-1, 1) of Austin, Texas

“It should be an interesting fight and I see it going the distance,” Gonzalez said.

Dagoberto Najera of Bell (15-3, 5) will fight Kelson Pinto of Brazil, who has won all 11 of his pro fights by knockout, in a super-lightweight bout. Najera had been scheduled to fight Larry Mosley of Culver City, but Mosley pulled out Wednesday because of flu.

Also on the card, Robert Ortiz of Simi Valley will fight Jose Luis Torres of Canoga Park in a featherweight bout, and Tracy Stevens of Canada will box Maria Duron of Anaheim in a mini-flyweight bout.