Trini Ochoa outboxed and outworked Jose Jacobo on Friday night, winning a hard-fought unanimous decision at the Celebrity Theater in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. The scores were 96-94, 97-93 and 99-91 for Ochoa, who improved to 19-0, 8 knockouts.
Jacobo was wild and had his moments during the fight, but Ochoa displayed his pedigree by landing the more telling blows, especially to the body. Halfway through the fight, Jacobo was bleeding from the nose, due to the amount of accurate punches Ochoa landed. As the fight progressed, Jacobo’s punching output dropped, paving the way for Ochoa to win rounds convincingly by continuing to box Jacobo out.
“It was a challenging fight for me,” Ochoa told The Ring on Saturday night. “My opponent’s game plan was to try to outbox me by holding and moving, mostly using his jab and taking away whenever I got close. It made it a little challenging to get in, but I was able to cut off the ring, control and apply pressure the entire fight. I marked him early with good body shots and by the latter half of the fight I slowed him down enough and was able to take control and beat him with corners and work him out.”
Ochoa was proud of his performance and appreciated the crowd support, which included hundreds of family members and friends, including fans of his throughout the Phoenix area. All but two of his pro fights took place at the Celebrity Theatre.
“It was a good experience with a tough opponent who did his homework and practiced to beat me,” Ochoa said. “I had to stay sharp, disciplined and focused if I wanted to secure the win and bring that (WBC regional title) belt back to my hometown (near) Mesa. It was a great fight, fans enjoyed it, and I showed my ability to adapt and overcome.
“I was happy with my performance but there is always room for improvement so I plan to get back in the gym and get back to work straight away. Nothing set in stone yet, but I want to make a title defense soon, hopefully early in 2025.”
The 26-year-old Ochoa previously fought on Aug. 24, defeating gatekeeper and Olympian Jose Angulo by unanimous decision. The win over Angulo was Ochoa’s first scheduled 10-round fight.
On April 27, Ochoa defeated Jesus Gutierrez by decision over eight one-sided rounds.
Hailing from Grand Island, Nebraska, Jacobo is 15-2, 6 KOs. Jacobo also previously fought on August 24, defeating journeyman Clay Burns by unanimous decision over six rounds.
The 30-year-old Jacobo has not lost since a unanimous decision loss to Misael Lopez in July 2016, which was his second fight as a pro.
The Ochoa-Jacobo fight headlined a card promoted by Iron Boy Boxing.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at (email protected)
