Fight Results: July 1,  2000 - Ohkay Casino, San Juan Pueblo

'Speedy' Gonzales Outboxes Beltran
Ortiz beats Mendivil
(or Americanos 5, Mexicans 0)

by Chris Cozzone

Chino, CA's Roger "Speedy" Gonzales (15-0) retained his WBC FECARBOX bantamweight championship by outpointing and outsmarting Mexico's Juan Jose Beltran (18-4-1). Although Beltran might have gotten one or two good licks in, Gonzales was too fast. Beltran quit in the 7th round. 

Just what is a "Fecarbox" championship? Hell, I don't know. The referee alongside of me didn't know either. Nor did the fight doctor on my other side. For those of you brain-weary of titles and champions and alphabet soup, I've done the research for you: FECARBOX is just one of the WBC's 9 continental championships; the Central American and Caribbean Boxing Federation. Oh, okay . . . 

Jayla Ortiz of Santa Fe, NM also outpointed her opponent, Copitzi Mendivil of Guamuchil, Mexico. Mendivil made a good showing in the second and third rounds over Ortiz but as soon as the Santa Fean figured her out in round 4, it was over. Ortiz came back strong, dominating Mendivil throughout the rest of the fight. The hometown favorite won large by points and by furious flurries at the end of each round.

National toughman champ Francis Royal of Albuquerque made his pro boxing debut. He entered the ring with a shiny gold plastic king's crown to fight last-minute replacement Martin Lopez (3-13-0). "King" Royal had his way, making Lopez look like court jester. Sure, Lopez might have gotten one or two good shots in, but Royal pounded and bulled and overpowered him. The ref stopped the fight in the 4th round and gave the TKO to Royal. I guess after a couple dozen slips and falls to the canvas, and turning his back on Royal when caught against the ropes, Lopez might have appeared a little fatigued to the ref.

For the start of the fight, Edgar Chaidez (6-5-0) looked like he was mopping the floor with Los Angeles' Yakini McKinney (13-5-0), but after receiving a nasty cut above his left eye, he lost his steam. The only mopping that went on then was the blood on the canvas between rounds. Every punch from McKinney brought speckles of blood over those ringside (decorating my nice bald head with pretty red dots) and a steady stream down the side of Chaidez's face. Still, the ref continued the fight . . . In the third round -- nevermind the referee or fight doc -- Chaidez called it quits on his own. 

The last fight of the evening was a lackluster affair between Fernando Ramirez (4-1-0) of San Jose, CA and Martin Llamas (3-4-0) of Juarez, Mexico. Llamas started out strong, then lost gas as Ramirez started scoring points. Near the end, it didn't seem as if either wanted to fight and they coasted 'til the end of the six rounds.

# # #

Roger "Speedy" Gonzales (15-0) TKO 7 Juan Jose Beltran (18-4-1)
Jayla Ortiz (7-5-3) W 8 Copitzi Mendivil (7-5-2)
Francis Royal (1-0) TKO 4 Martin Lopez (3-13-0)
Yakini McKinney (13-5-0) TKO 3 Edgar Chaidez (6-5-0)
Fernando Ramirez (4-1-0) W 6 Martin Llamas (3-4-0)