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 Santa
Ana Furthers Their Fight Game
Tapia to Headline in September
Sanchez III, Martinez Featured Saturday Night
by chris cozzone
Santa Ana Star
Casino held a press conference on Wednesday to give their “Summer Thunder”
card on Saturday a last-minute hype, and to formally announce the benefit
fight card September 6th that will headline IBF featherweight
champ Johnny Tapia.
Tapia will fight a
10-round non-title tune-up fight to prepare for a November showdown with
the Generally-Recognized-As-The-Top-Featherweight-Champ Marco Antonio
Barrera. Proceeds of the fight card will go to disadvantaged children,
through a charitable organization(s) TBA.
While November 2nd
at the MGM Grand has been reported for the Tapia-Barrera showdown, rumors
and reliable sources in Vegas tell a different story—there’s talk that the
match-up is not yet quite signed & sealed; and that this September 6th
tune-up for Tapia may play a deciding factor on whether it’ll happen or
not.
In the meantime,
Tapia will be around this weekend: at Friday’s weigh-in (2 PM) and at the
fights. He may even be walking with Ray Sanchez III as he makes his
entrance into the ring Saturday night.
Speaking of Sanchez
III . . . Albuquerque’s Most Likely to Succeed prospect says he’s still on
a high from the response he received from the Santa Ana crowd in June.
He’s looking forward to a repeat performance Saturday night.
Hopefully, it won’t
be too much like the last fight.
In June, Sanchez
III’s foe lasted but 27 seconds. The first solid shot Ray landed had him
canvas-bound.
This time, Sanchez
III will face Missouri’s Shad Howard. At 8-2-3, he’s got the best record,
thus far, of Sanchez’s opposition. He’ll also be the tallest opponent—at
6’0”—that Ray has faced.
 “He
has ten fights more experience than I have, and I’m looking for a
challenge,” Sanchez III said yesterday. “I’ve been lucky to catch all my
previous opponents early. I’ve been sparring 8 to 10 rounds a day and I
expect to go six hard rounds.”
With Sanchez III’s
record at 5-0, with 5 KO’s (all but one going past the 1st,)
Howard is in for quite a battle—more like, the toughest fight of his life.
He’s not the only
one.
The double-feature
co-main headlines Idelfonso Martinez (9-2), who will defend the WBC Youth
World Bantamweight title he won in April when he knocked out veteran
fighter Julian Rodriguez, from Juarez.
Up until a few days
ago, Martinez was slated to fight Mexican Ivan Hernandez. Although
Hernandez was 14-0 (10 KO’s), he was coming up from 115, and was virtually
an unknown commodity, fighting the local circuit in Mexico.
Hernandez pulled
out, though, and was replaced with Chihuahua monster Daniel Ponce de Leon.
Anyone who doesn’t know Ponce, should—or will. Ponce was a 2000
Olympian on the Mexican team and since turning pro, has won 11 straight
fights—all by knockout. Six of those fights have not gone out of the 1st,
and only one made it into the 5th.
Martinez, though, to
his credit, does not seem fazed, neither by the last-minute opponent swap
nor by facing a former Olympian:
“It doesn’t matter.
I’m gonna take the title back home . . . I’ve been training hard, sparring
with the best. He’s a tough opponent but I’ll play it smart and outbox
him. I’ll make him respect me in the 1st.”
That is, if it
gets past the 1st Round—which Ponce de Leon does not think
it will.
“There will be no
decision,” Ponce said Wednesday. “I’ll knock him out in the 1st.”
Ponce got the call
to fight a few days ago and did not hesitate to accept.
“I’m always in the
gym, always in shape,” said Ponce, who fought August 2nd in
Juarez, crushing yet another foe in the 1st. “I don’t know much
about my opponent—just his record—but I will win by knockout.”
Should Sanchez III
and Ponce de Leon fight their typical fight, we could have an early night
at the Santa Ana Star Casino . . . . which is why you should get there by
first bell (8 PM) to enjoy the undercard:
Looking to secure
his new smart fighting style, Adriano Sanchez continues his return by
taking on Denver’s “Hurricane,” Earl Jackson in a six-rounder. Jackson is
dangerous in the first couple rounds and may give Sanchez
trouble—especially while Sanchez is deciding whether to box pretty or
brawl.
Supermiddleweight
prospect and Bob Foster protégé Jason Bray looks for Win #3 by taking on
Phoenix kickboxer-turn-boxer Arturo Ortega.
Brian “Torito”
Romero fights a could-be-tough four-rounder against Denver’s rugged Eloy
Varos. The former amateur star could have trouble if Varos doesn’t take so
long to warm up and get busy.
And in female
action: Albuquerque’s undefeated Jackie Chavez takes on her toughest
battle in Raquel Tebo; while Holly Holm gives Martha Orozca a rematch in a
four-rounder.
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