Omar Trinidad's boxing career did not get off to the strongest of starts. Held to a split draw by Gerardo Yescas in his 2018 debut, he didn't compete in the ring again for two years. Since then, though, it has been a tale of unrelenting success for the 29-year-old from Los Angeles, who made it 19 wins in a row as the featherweight turned back the challenge of Alexander Espinoza on Saturday night.
The fight was the co-main event on 360 Promotions’ Hollywood Fight Nights at the Commerce Casino & Hotel and was streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Trinidad, 19-0-1 (13 KOs), began brightly, moving around the ring to find angles from which to attack and torquing punches from mid-range. Espinoza, though, came with a plan, keeping his guard high to protect against Trinidad's power punches, launching fast single punch counters when Trinidad stepped within range and opening up with flurries against the ropes when possible.
Showing why he's so highly regarded, however, Trinidad turned Espinoza's strategy against him in the third, bursting through his guard with powerful combinations and turning counterpuncher off the ropes with a hard body shot followed by a cascade of head punches.
But Espinoza, 20-4-1 (9 KOs), was nothing if not resilient, and over the next several rounds he sought to walk Trinidad down and back him to the ropes. Trinidad remained unconcerned, comfortably able to smother his opponent's work before opening up with combinations as soon as he was able to gain a measure of room to punch.
By the eighth round, Espinoza seemed to have run out of new ideas and the strength to implement the plans he had already formulated. He remained game but showed more reluctance to try and take the fight to the Angeleno, increasingly content to stay just out of range of Trinidad's punches and inclined to tie up whenever the two were working in close.
Trinidad, still fast and lively in the final round, made one last effort to secure the stoppage in the 10th, but the durable Espinoza was able to endure until the final bell.
The result was a formality, Trinidad winning by scores of 98-92, 99-91 and 100-90.
Also on the card, Japan's Mizuki Hiruta made the fifth defense of her WBO junior bantamweight title a successful one, scoring a unanimous decision win over Argentina's Carla Merino. Scores were 98-92 twice and 99-91.
Hiruta, bouncing on her toes throughout, was a picture of constant motion, feinting behind a busy southpaw jab and opening up with combinations when she was able to back Merino to the ropes.
Merino, 16-3 (4 KOs), seemed at times almost hypnotized by Hiruta's movement, the champion gliding in and out of range almost at will, as the flat-footed Merino remained planted in place as she tried to anticipate her foe's next move.
It took until the seventh round for Merino briefly to find a groove of her own, her timing enabling her to try and punch between Hiruta's punches and to find movement in her own feet. But even then she found herself trapped in the corner and covering up against the titleholder’s flowing punches. By the eighth, however, normal service had resumed and, despite Merino's best efforts, Hiruta, 8-0 (2 KOs), was able to cruise to a classy decision win.
Promising junior lightweight Abel Mejia, 8-0 (5 KOs), remained undefeated by outpointing Antonio Dunton El Jnr, 6-4-2 (2 KOs), over six rounds. After a lively opening frame, Mejia slowed the pace of his offense but remained in comfortable control throughout courtesy of superior hand speed and combinations and a left hook that landed repeatedly to Dunton's breadbasket. Scores were 60-54 twice and 58-56.
Guadalupe Medina dropped Maria Micheo in the sixth and hurt her several more times en route to a wide unanimous decision win over eight minimumweight rounds. Scores were 80-71, 77-74 and a far-too-close 76-75. Medina remained unbeaten at 10-0 (2 KOs), while Micheo fell to 12-6 (8 KOs).
In an exciting, crowd-pleasing brawl to open the card, welterweight Michael Meyers moved to 7-2 (3 KOs) with a unanimous decision win over Eduardo Diaz, 9-4 (3 KOs). Scores for the six-round contest were 58-56 twice and 59-55.
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, including most recently , and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.