Aguirre takes close nod over Estrada in boxing match

The Complex in Salt Lake City hosted a pro/am boxing card on March 16, and the main event matched undefeateds Christian Aguirre and Bladimir Estrada in a promotional six-round title fight at 168 pounds. It was a fantastic bout (I had the opportunity to view it via Facebook Live (thanks Julian Stevens). It matched the Jake LaMotta-like aggression of Aguirre against the strong boxing and counterpunching skills of Estrada. Aguirre was the winner via a split decision, which was fair, but if Estrada had gotten the nod it would have also been fair. What likely earned Aguirre a win was a knockdown he scored in round 5. I'd love to see these two good prospects fight a rematch, this time over eight rounds.

Here is the undercard: You can see the results at the bottom of this webpage:

Debuting featherweight Brandon Douglas, who Utah Speaker of the House Greg Hughes believes is a great prospect, won his pro debut with a KO in 35 seconds over Andre Kennedy.

Undefeated heavyweight Frank Sanchez Faure defeated Eric Salazar

Heavyweight Eric Wahlin, also an MMA pro, is 2-0 as a boxer after defeating Uchendan Alete.

INVICTA

On Saturday, March 17, the Union Event Center in SLC hosted an Invicta card that was also streamed on UFC Fight Pass. In the semi main, Orem-based DeAnna Bennett won a split decision over Karina Rodriguez, of Mexico. In a preliminary bout, Spanish Fork's Kaytlin Neil lost a unanimous decision to Tracy Cortez of Phoenix, Ariz. The entire card is here. Thanks to Eric Tillotson for keeping us informed of the results via Facebook.

MORE: FitCon MMA card is April 6 at the Salt Palace. In the main event veteran MMA pro Jarome Hatch meets Ben Robinson. A series of amateur state title belts include Destiny McCubbin versus Lauren Chidester, Nathan Owens versus Daniel Arelleno (a rematch of a bout won by Arellano) and Hector Lopez versus Julian Ruiz. The scheduled card is here. ... The regional Golden Gloves are also at FitCon on April 6-7. ... Finally, Northern Utah professional MMA fighter Miles Welk will fight May 18 for SteelFist. He meets another undefeated fighter, Nick Clem, for the promotion's 125-pound belt. The pair were scheduled to meet in Logan earlier this month but Welk was injured.

Photos from SLC boxing card on April 1

(UPDATE: Below more info on Saturday's amateur card in Draper.) As we promised, we have a collection of photos from several bouts at the April 1 Boxing at the Bend card in Salt Lake City. Without further ado, we go to the photos, taken by Utah Fight Game's Justin Hughes.

IGNACIO CHAIREZ (red and white trunks) DEFEATS JORGE SOTO, PROFESSIONAL

BLADIMIR ESTRADA (on the left) DEFEATS BRITTON NORWOOD, PROFESSIONAL

CHRISTIAN AGUIRRE (white trunks) DEFEATS LAURENTINO ENRIQUEZ, PRO

IN THE MAIN EVENT, DAMIAN VAZQUEZ KO 1 OVER LORENZO TREJO, VASQUEZ IS ALSO SEEN WITH HIS HAND RAISED AND IN A PHOTO THAT INCLUDES PROMOTER EDDIE "FLASH" NEWMAN.

AND FINALLY, ONE OF THE AMATEUR BOUTS INCLUDED LAST YEAR'S NATIONAL GOLDEN GLOVES CHAMPION, DIEGO ALVAREZ OF OGDEN (red white and blue trunks), WHO DEFEATED RENEE MENDOZA

UPDATES --- And one more thing ...Saturday night from Legends in Draper at Sports City, 757 W 11400 South there's an amateur card from 7 to 10. A couple of Ogden-area gyms were scheduled to have these fighters competing:

Foley's gym: Alex Treadway, heavy; Eduardo Arrequin, 138, Lizber Herrera, 147, England Patu-Pauulu, heavy, Macy White, 125, Andy Gold, 175, and Luis Cornejo 135.

All Heart Boxing: Adrianno Benn, 15, 124, Santana DeCarlo, 17, 130, and Jesus Saldana, 18, 128.

Lights Out in Clearfield will have 152-pounder Jon Bryant, one of the area's best boxers, competing.

The card as of Thursday is below.

And more things. We neglected to note that northern Utah woman MMA fighter DeAnna Bennett competed at Invicta on March 25. Bennett, 8-3, lost a split decision to Jodie Esquibel. It was Bennett's second straight split decision loss. ...  in an amateur boxing last weekend in Idaho Lights Out's fighter Ozmanny Sanchez won both nights and garnered outstanding boxer of tournament. James Cox won and Dylan Bahama and Jose Torres were defeated in bouts.