Fight
Results: September 1, 2000
ESPN2 Friday Night Fights @ the Ohkay Casino, San Juan Pueblo, NM
photos
& report by chris cozzone
Allen
Decisions Weaver;
Fights 7 rounds with Broken Hand!
Alvarez
Decisions Crayton
Official
Scores
Main Events:
Middleweight: Robert Allen (27-4-0, 21 KO's) D 10 Ron Weaver
(26-6, 20 KO's)
Co-Main
Event:
Lightweight: Julio Alvarez (23-6-1, 18 KO's) D 10 James
Crayton (31-14-2, 19 KO's)
Undercards:
Middleweight: Raul Jesus Gonzalez (1-1) TKO 2 Benito Castillo
(0-1)
Junior Bantamweight: Richard Pasillas (3-4) W 6 Alejandro Moreno
(8-6-1, 6 KO's)
Junior Welterweight: Ebo Elder (3-0) TKO 3 Roy Hughes (2-5-1)
Featherweight: Rudy Martinez (11-2-1) W 6 Alvin Brown (15-3, 4
KO's)
Junior Featherweight: Bryan Garcia (4-3, 1 KO) W 4 Carlos Zambrano
(2-3-1)
It
was a last-minute fight card full of last-minute changes. At
first, Johnny Tapia was headlining the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights
card. Then, Danny Romero was the main event, with a co-feature
fight between James Crayton & Julio Alvarez. But when Team
Romero could not agree with Holden Productions & ESPN (or
Holden Productions & ESPN could not agree with Team Romero),
the main event changed again. Robert Allen was brought in to fight
Aaron Mitchell . .. so they thought. One day before the fight
card, Mitchell, unable to make it to New Mexico, was replaced with
Ron Weaver.
I
asked Weaver why he'd taken the fight, about an hour before his
battle with Robert Allen.
"The
money," he said. And then with a smile: "But I love
boxing. I like to fight. I came to fight."
Could've
fooled me . . . .
For
at least 8 out of the 10 rounds Weaver fought with Allen, he
. . . well, he didn't fight. Most of his time was spent
taunting Allen. Several times he stood there with his hands
dropped, his head out and his tongue sticking out, inviting Allen
to take a shot. Or two. Or three.
Which
he did . . . Robert Allen, I mean. Allen played serious and
outboxed his opponent. It was a shame, because when Weaver hit, he
hit hard. You could probably hear that whap! outside
in the parking lot, when it landed . .. when it was thrown, which
it wasn't. Much.
It
took 8 rounds for an actual exchange of punches between
Allen & Weaver. The crowd, bored of booing Weaver's antics,
nearly wet its pants . . . but then it slipped back to the same ol'
same ol'. During the last round, maybe twenty seconds before the
bell, Weaver had a change of heart and decided he wanted to fight.
He stamped on the canvas and yelled at Allen to "C'mon, man!
Fight!"
By
then, it was a little too late . .. about ten rounds too late.
Believe
it or not, one judge scored the bout 97-95 for Weaver -- on the
basis of his defense. A good majority of Allen's punches landed on
Weaver's gloves. The other two judges scored it overwhelmingly in
favor of Allen: 100-92 and 99-92.
After
the fight, Allen said he'd been hurt in Round 3. The fight doctor
checked him out and said he'd definitely broken his hand. Now I
know why he didn't seem too happy backstage after his victory . .
.
The
co-featured main event between Julio Alvarez and James Crayton was
a better fight to watch. Both guys came to fight. One judge scored
this bout even; the other two scored 97-97 in favor of
Alvarez.
From
the third round on, Alvarez seemed tired; at least his facial
expressions said so. Not so his fighting, though. Just when
Crayton seemed ready to turn the tide of the fight, Alvarez would
come back and out punch him. Alvarez was the busier of the two;
and the more accurate.
The
undercards were nearly all evenly matched - except for the one
they televised. The fight between Ebo "Extreme Machine"
Elder and Roy Hughes resulted in a TKO in the second round for
Elder. At least this bout was entertaining, though.
Ebo
is a colorful guy; a guy you can't help but not like. He
came out all glitzed out in a bright yellow-get-up, almost as
bright and shiny as his punked-out Dolph Lundgren hair. And
Hughes? He came out looking bored in wrinkled boxing shorts that
should've been folded neatly out of the dryer, not tossed up in a
ball. He fought lackadaisically, falling neatly to the canvas when
pushed or manhandled (or punched, as he was the final time.)
Ebo
had a point taken off for holding and punching. He is a dirty
fighter and his future opponents should take note.
The
other undercards all featured New Mexico fighters (even if the
televised portion of the card did not.)
The
first bout of the evening saw Raul Jesus Gonzalez from Santa Fe
TKO Benito Castillo in the second round. Castillo, from
Albuquerque and fighting in his pro debut, fought well against
Gonzalez. I even saw him winning the fight, as he was scoring the
better shots . . . until Gonzalez (who was not flinching from
Castillo's shots) let him have it with a devastating right.
Pasillas
vs. Moreno was another action-packed fight, and evenly matched.
Richard Pasillas from Albuquerque went toe-to-toe for six rounds
with Juarez fighter Alejandro Moreno. There was lots of inside
fighting, lots of holdin' and punchin'. Moreno was the more
elusive of the two; Pasillas the better banger. By the third
round, Moreno was tiring; Pasillas was not. Pasillas had Moreno
against the ropes all too often in the next couple rounds. He
ended up with the unanimous decision over Moreno.
Rudy
Martinez and Alvin "Slick Nick the Quickster" Brown
fought next. Only, the "Quickster" got slower as the
fight wore on, not quicker; and Martinez did not slow down his
pace at all. I saw Brown winning Round One. Martinez won all
rounds from then on . . . keep an eye out on Martinez, the
featherweight from Michoacan, Mexico.
The
best fight of the night was actually the last fight of the night,
well after ESPN2 closed shop and left the building.
Bryan
Garcia from Santa Fe was matched up against Carlos Zambrano of
Denver. These two guys went at it for four solid rounds, non-stop.
Garcia, the slightly better conditioned and better boxer, had the
edge; although Zambrano fought with a lot of heart and stood
solid, even when he was obviously hurt.
Garcia
is one of those guys who gets better every time you see him. Both
him and Pasillas are guys to watch out for, despite their
unimpressive records (4-3 for Garcia; 3-4 for Pasillas.)
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