HOUSTON, TX, October 18, 2011 – Following his convincing unanimous decision victory over James Powell at Legacy Amateur Series 4 this past July, Legacy announcer Collin Cantrell touted Charlie Ontiveros as a top prospect to look out for – with more experience than his new 1-0 record implied while fighting in obscure promotions on the Indian reservations of East Texas while racking up an undocumented six fight record – all victories.
“I don’t really know what to say about it,” Charlie mentioned about the recent hype that’s surrounded him. “I guess I’ll try to live up to it.”
He’ll get that opportunity to fill in his reputation this Saturday night when he takes on Mike “The Truth” Jackson at Legacy Amateur Series 6 in downtown Houston’s Verizon Wireless Theater.
The son of 4th degree kempo and taekwondo black belt Charles Ontiveros, has long trained with his father at the father’s Tiger Warriors School of Martial Arts as part of the Hard Head Hitters fight team. Talking to us recently about his training, Charlie said he definitely prefers standing but also feels that his ground game may be stronger than his striking at this point.
According to him, that doesn’t matter much in this upcoming fight as he’s planning on showcasing the “hard hitter” part of his arsenal at Legacy by meeting his opponent head on, strength vs. strength.
“I think if we keep it standing it’s going to be a really fun fight for everybody to watch,” Charlie said about what fans can expect when he goes toe-to-toe with Jackson, a longtime boxer who hasn’t exactly showed an affinity for the ground game, instead preferring to keep his own fights standing as well.
“I’ve seen some of his videos and honestly, it’s not that impressive. I will stand with him. As long as he don’t try to take me to the ground, we can stay standing. I don’t plan on going to the ground if he doesn’t.”
Having prepared with his brother Dave and other fighters at HHH, Ontiveros feels ready for the challenge along with Jackson’s jab and anything else that may come his way. “I don’t really have a lot of guys that are my height to fight and Mike Jackson is my height and my brother is also my height so he’s been my main training partner for this fight. My dad and my stand-up coach Mondo have also been helping me get ready. I think it’s either going to be really quick or it’s going to be a war. I guess it really depends on how good his chin is. I don’t know if he’s going to remember this whole fight or not.”
Hard Head Hitter Ryan Hollis Also Seeking to Make a Name for Himself this Saturday
There’s another fighter from the Hard Head Hitters looking to make a name for himself in the form of flyweight striker Ryan “Riptide” Hollis.
Now 22 years old, Ryan first got into fighting as a high school freshman because he was too small to play football or compete in other sports while weighing around 90 pounds. “A lot of people would mess with me and makes jokes,” he said about those days past. Finding an outlet for his pent up aggression, Ryan would soon turn to martial arts like kempo, taekwondo, boxing, and kickboxing; eventually fall into the East Texas MMA scene with the Hard Head Hitters and compiling a record of 8-1 so far with 5 of those bouts official with the state.
Nobody makes fun of him anymore these days, he says.
“I don’t have any other hobbies now. This is my full-time thing and I plan to go pro by next year. To get there, all I do is train every single day and keep getting better. I like to do crazy stuff man. If I can jump on the cage and do a spinning kick, I would. I like to throw front kicks and all kinds of strikes. Really I would say I’m a counter-striker and I’m really slippery. I also like jiu-jitsu since I’ve trained it for awhile but I like going for the knockout. That’s what I’m looking to do.”
Looking to showcase his skills and move towards the top of a rapidly growing 125 class at the amateur level, “Riptide” has to get past his Legacy Amateur Series 6 opponent Alex Ramirez of Bushi Ban.
“I want to get knockout of the night against Alex Ramirez and then I want to possibly get a fight against Ricky Turcios. Also, I’ve heard people talk about Hugo De La Fuente a little bit and I went to Cage Combat to watch Jacob Silva and Joe Trevino. I want to get in there with those guys too. A lot of people haven’t seen me fight yet so I figure I’ll give them a good knockout this Saturday to get people talking. Thanks to Legacy for letting me come out here and showcase my skills and put myself out there. I’m going to get in there and take this guy out and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
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