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Friday, March 2, 2001 - Poliforo - Juarez, Mexico
photos & text by chris cozzone
In Vegas,
you can cover two fight cards, two days in a row. The casinos, the
crowds and obtaining press credentials can be a pain in the ass, and
the actual fight cards, most of the time, usually fall short of
fulfillment. Not so in Juarez. If the long drive back home, or the
lack of sleep, or too many Carte Blancas, or too much time spent on
the wrong side of town don’t get you, the sheer intensity of the
fights will sap your strength. But you will leave satisfied.
In Vegas, people don’t care
about the undercards. It’s the main event or nuthin’. In Juarez,
it’s the total fight
card
people come to see. Sure, the main event is a big thing—especially
when you got a hometown hero like Kirino Garcia goin’ up against
Frankie “Surgeon” Randall—but you’ll see a full house long
before the main event goes on. Friday night at the Poliforo was no exception. There had to be at least 6,000 people packin’ the place in, no doubt a violation of the fire safety codes, but who’s counting? This is boxeo . . . We don’t need no stinkin’ fire codes. I was psyched for the fight card. Last time they were held, I was in Vegas shooting Corrales-Mayweather, which was quite a fight to see, but it still isn’t like a Juarez experience. I was ready for some action . . . I’d been waiting for a bunch of homiez to show up to take me to the massage parlors .. . but they never showed and I’d spent the afternoon in my hotel room napping & dreaming about a young female Mexican bodybuilder dwarf wearing a nurse's uniform and a green bikini beneath, then watching telenovelas and “Venganza Azteca” commercials hyping the fight that were on nearly every 7 ½ minutes. By the time it was time to head to the Poliforo for the fights, I was anxious for a bit of acíon. I was also curious to see if Alfred Ankamah would be showing up at the fights . . .
Time
to backtrack.
See,
Vegas ain’t the only city where promoters are out to cut each
other’s throats. In Juarez, you basically have one promoter—Oswaldo
Kuchle—who puts on fight cards, every month, month and a half, or
so. Now, you got two: a guy by the name of Valentin Calanche
has formed “Boxeo Verdad,” which translates to “True
Boxing,” in order to compete with Señor Kuchle. Will he put on
better shows? Kuchle’s cards are a tough act to follow. I’ve
said before that I haven’t seen better cards anywhere in the
State. But we shall see what happens with Boxeo Verdad: their
first show is on March 29th with Cesar “Cobrito” Soto
headlining here in Juarez; and yet another show is planned in April,
with Alfred Ankamah as the main event.
Let
me backtrack again, por favor.
Alfred
Ankamah may have born in Ghana, and may be living in LA, but he’s
no stranger to Juarez. See, he came here in August of ’99 to fight
Kirino Garcia—and he beat him, with an 11th Round TKO.
He came back here in March of 2000 to give Kirino a rematch. From
what I’ve heard (I did not see the fight,) Ankamah was ahead by
points in the 12th Round when the fight was stopped due
to a cut on Alfred’s face—Kirino got the win, despite (again:
hearsay) having a worse injury. To say the least, the stoppage was
controversial; others have described it as questionable. Yet, others
claim it was justified and that Kirino deserved the win. As usually
happens at some point in Juarez, the crowd reacted to the stoppage
by launching boo’s and cups-o-beer into the ring.
Yet
here was Ankamah, his manager, and this new promoter showing up at
the end of the weigh-in the day before the fight. The press gave
them attention and a contract was signed for Ankamah’s fight in
April.
One
thing is true about Mexican fight fans: they love their hometown
heroes and the great Mexican champs, and they’ll boo the outta-country
opponents. But they have a deeper love of the sport and if they see
these opponents give a fight, they’ll shower them with respect and
cheer ‘em on. Such is the case with Ankamah (and Frankie Randall,)
who are received well here.
Received
so well, that Alfred & Co. thought nothing of attending the
fights Friday night. They figured, why not drum up some publicity?
Of course, that’s not gonna sit well with the competition, who is
trying to promote Kirino Garcia vs. Frankie Randall, not drum up the
Garcia-Ankamah past. Understandable. (Of course, not having seen either fight, this reporter would
sure love to see Garcia-Ankamah III.)
There
was also concern over Ankamah’s safety. Sure, he’s well-liked
here in Juarez, but could be there’s a psychotic Kirino Garcia fan
out there, a little too die-hard, who would like nothing
better than to smash in Ankamah’s kneecaps with a Coca-Cola
bottle. Despite the mayor of Juarez promising to double security at
the Poliforo at the expense of the city, Team Ankamah decided not to
risk his health. Plus, figuring it was best to avoid an incident, Boxeo
Verdad promised to foot the airline bill if he did not go
to the fights.
And
so Garcia-Randall was free & clear of any Garcia-Ankamah vibes
that night at the Poliforo. Still, there’s nuthin’ like a little
pre-fight drama . . . Pre-Venganza Azteca
Around
8:15, the card started up with its first fight: Jose Juan
“Maromerito” Mendez (4-4-1, 1 KO) vs. Rodrigo “Carita” Facio
(8-5-1, 7 KO’s) in an 8-rounder.
Best
damn fight of the night.
Facio
is coming off a draw (he should’ve won) with Andres Fernandez in
New Mexico on February 7th. Mendez, too, has fought
recently: a 4-round decisioned loss on February 18th in
El Paso to Adan Hernandez. Facio is an awesome body puncher (he had
Andres Fernandez hanging on for dear life) who sometimes forgets to
keep his hands up; Mendez, a hard-headed toe-to-toe cholo dude who
fights non-stop, win or lose.
These
two slugged it out straight for eight rounds, with barely a
second’s rest. The earlier rounds saw Facio in control, despite
him looking worse and bleeding from his nose. Mendez looked a
little tired, too—but appearances are deceiving. Mendez took the
fight to Facio and forced him to fight his fight. Facio, who
should’ve outboxed Mendez, who should’ve focused entirely on
Mendez’s body (he hurts people with those body shots), and who
should learn a bit more defense, chose instead to try to hit Mendez
where he was getting hit—in the head. But Mendez has a head
like a rock. He shakes off punches like that and he keeps coming at
you, which is what he did to Facio.
The
fight was close, and I wouldn’t have been surprised at a
draw. But the judges saw Mendez having the edge and gave him the
unanimous decision.
If
they can refine their skills, and learn how to defend, both
these guys could be guys to worry about.
Me,
I spent the rounds swatting away mosquitoes which weren’t
mosquitoes at all but feathers that were floating around from the
cockfight. By this time, I was wondering where all the ring girls
were.
The
ring girls showed up before the next fight but they weren’t the
usual ring girls. These ones must’ve been second string . . . word
is, the others were on vacation.
WBC
Youth Featherweight champ David “Tacubayo” Murillo (15-2, 9
KO’s) was up next. His opponent Jorge “Coque” Munoz (20-15-2,
14 KO’s) didn’t have much of a chance despite his record of 37
fights: he’d lost his previous four fights—to Jesus Salad, Danny
Romero, Roberto Lopez & Oscar Larios.
“Coque”
Munoz was bloody from Round One, and besides a few well-connected
shots to Murillo’s head (which are always shaken off with an eerie
lack of care,) he was just trying to survive. After the sixth round
Munoz gave up and quit on his stool. A couple cups of beer thrown
into the ring revealed what the crowd thought of that.
Murillo?
He’s someone to watch. I’d like to see him against a top-ten
featherweight: someone like Danny Romero or Oscar Larios. (Can you
imagine Romero vs. Murillo in Juarez? Yeah, right.)
Murillo
danced around for five, ten minutes while the crowd chanted his name
before things got quiet again and the next pair of fighters entered
the ring: Alejandro “Apachito” Moreno (11-6-1, 7 KO’s) and
Lorenzo “Yaqui” Lopez (0-2). It was a pretty dull fight and
Lopez followed Munoz’s example and quit after the bell sounded for
Round 6.
It
was a pretty long half-hour before the main event came on: Kirino
Garcia (38-21-1, 27 KO’s) vs. Frankie “Surgeon” Randall
(56-9-1, 42 KO’s.) Then it was time for “Venganza Azteca” . .
. . Venganza Azteca
For
Kirino, I had no doubts. His last fight with David Reid had been
straight-up road robbery. I knew he might start out a little slow,
but that he would get stronger and stronger as the fight wore on.
Frankie
Randall had the first three rounds, if not the first four. He fought
smart by outjabbing and outworking the slower Garcia. Right around
Round 4, things started to change.
Garcia
started to connect and slow down Randall. His punches started to
make their mark on Randall who stopped trying to outbox Garcia. By
the end of the sixth round, the fight was close but it looked like
it was only a matter of time now before Garcia would be able to
finish off Randall.
Within
the first minute of the 7th, Garcia cornered Randall on
the ropes and swung away. Randall covered up and the ref quickly
stepped in and called a halt to the fight—somewhat prematurely, in
my opinion. Now, if there’s one thing the Mexican fans don’t
like, it’s a premature stoppage.
The
crowd booed, threw lots of beer, confetti was sprayed all the over,
and several fights broke out. The ring girls scooted beneath the
ring for cover. Me, I stayed where I was on the apron, getting
sprayed and soaked by beer, attracting bits and pieces of confetti
like a magnet.
While
I might have thought they’d stopped it too early, Frankie Randall didn’t.
He told me after the fight that although he hadn’t been hurt
at the time, the ref had been right in stopping the right because
Kirino had been “getting to him.” He also said Kirino had been
too big for him.
Things
eventually calmed down and as most of the crowd left the arena, we
had our last fight of the night: a four-round superbantamweight bout
between Adrian “Gallero” Valdez (2-1-1, 1 KO) and Victor Duran
(0-3.) Duran was KO’d in Round 2.
By
now it was early for Juarez: around 12:30. It was time to pack up,
get the hell out, grab some tacos somewhere and get to bed . . . . # # #
Kirino
Garcia (38-21-1, 27 KO’s) TKO 7 Frankie “Surgeon” Randall
(56-9-1, 42 KO’s) ©
2001 by New Mexico
Boxing.com. |
I’ve
seen both guys fight several times. And never would I’ve thought
that Mendez had a chance to beat Facio. 
The
question on my mind was whether Frankie Randall had anything left.
The Frankie Randall who fought and beat Julio Cesar Chavez in 1994
was not the Frankie Randall who was beat up and retired in the 5th
Round against Antonio Margarito last December. After the first
couple rounds, though, I knew he was in a helluva lot better shape
than in his last fight—although there was an obvious difference in
weight. Randall looked around 150 or so; Kirino looked at least 15
pounds heavier.
Right
behind me, security moved in to take out a bunch of vatos who
were beating on each other and I was torn between shooting the
action out of the ring and Kirino raising his arms in victory, inside
the ring.