|
report and photos by chris cozzone
Las
Vegas used to be the fight town in New Mexico. In the
‘30’s and ‘40’s, we had guys like Joe
Kavanaugh and Frankie “Panchito” Montoya. . . And then
the railroad business dried up and the town shrunk and Albuquerque
blew up. Albuquerque has now produced three world champions: In
the ‘60s and ‘70’s we had Bobby Foster, who may just be the
greatest light heavyweight of all time; in the ‘90’s and
‘00’s, from the same barrio emerged Johnny Tapia and Danny
Romero.
But
what happened to the fight town of Las Vegas, New Mexico? All
these years, it’s been dry of boxing hopefuls—until now . . .
Enter
Frankie Archuleta and more recently, Shawn Gallegos. Archuleta has returned from a year of hibernation following his first loss—to Kevin Kelley last year in Vegas, Nevada. In April, he beat up a tomato can and following his hometown fight Saturday night, he plans to pave himself a path to a title.
And
if he can’t do it, maybe Shawn Gallegos will . . .
If
the fight posters seen in nearly every business’ window is any
indication, this is one loyal fight town. Las Vegas loves their
fighters. It wouldn’t matter if Frankie was fighting Prince
Naseem Hamed or a midget wrestler on Saturday night, this town
would show up to see him.
In
Saturday night’s case, the truth was closer to the midget
wrestler.
No
disrespect to Oswaldo Guerrero—he’s a veteran fighter with a
good record against some tough fighters. But . . . he’s a
natural mini-flyweight and is neither a bantamweight nor a
superbantam.
Frankie,
on the other hand, has fought most of his fights at 122.
Friday saw him weighing in at 121. Guerrero, trying to
close that weight gap, weighed in at an all-time high of 118.
Originally,
there was a great fight in the works. Archuleta was up against
Juarez’s Rodrigo Facio. Trained by Luis Chavez, Archuleta had
trained long and hard for the hard-hitting body puncher fighter
Facio. But less than five days before the fight, Facio was out on
a cut that hadn’t healed from his previous fight, on May 3rd
in El Paso. The best that could be done on such short notice was
Guerrero.
At
the end of eight, it was a near-shutout for Frankie: 80-72, 79-73,
and 79-73. I had it 80-72.
Archuleta
might not have been able to down Guerrero, but in the end, this
bout was useful in shaking off what ring rust might have
accumulated since his single loss to Kevin Kelley last year. By
the end of the fight, Frankie was showing no signs of inactivity.
What’s
next for Frankie? Hopefully, a step-up in competition, maybe a top
20 contender in his own weight class . . . .
Speaking
of weight discrepancies, we had the co-main event: Shawn Gallegos
vs. Lorenzo Estrada. Maybe they did weigh the same . . . but
Shawn’s five-inch height advantage made Estrada look like a
bantam to the lightweight.
This
fight ran along the same lines as Archuleta-Guerrero. Estrada
proved as tough as Guerrero, only not as crafty—but the man can
sure take some damage! Shawn hit this guy with everything he had,
upstairs and downstairs; he not only took the beating, but he
continued to fight back and now and then, he’d sneak an uppercut
or right through Shawn’s defense.
The
worst for Estrada came in the Sixth when Gallegos unleashed a body
attack that had Estrada groaning. But he held up and made it to
the final bell.
After
six rounds, the still-undefeated Gallegos picked up the shutout
decision. Two judges had it 60-54; one had it 60-53.
On
the 3-bout undercard, Joseph Brady was matched up with his fourth
opponent in as many weeks. The final foe—Starr Johnson—was
secured as an opponent at 3 in the morning on Saturday, then a few
hours later, he was tagged and shipped to Albuquerque where he
arrived at 10-11 in the morning. From there, he was hustled up to
Las Vegas where he was weighed in.
Rumor
had it that he’d weighed in at 144 to Brady’s 154 and then was
told to stick some weight in his trunks (which NM Commission
members promptly denied happening.) His official weight was at
151.
Poor
dude was lucky to have gotten a few hours of sleep the night
before and maybe a cat nap before stepping into the ring with
Brady.
To
say the least, the fight was a mismatch—another win for Brady,
another weak opponent, another beat-up body. This time it was
Starr Johnson, now 2-9-1. Entering the ring wearing tennis shoes,
Johnson could not handle Brady’s attack. By 2:26 of Round Two,
he’d been down three times from Brady’s battering.
But
I’m not without praise for Brady. On Saturday night, in his two
short rounds with Johnson, he was very focused and, technically,
very sound. Plus, his amateur record shows a helluva promising
fighter and he is not to blame for all his powder-puff
opponents—he’s said on many occasions that he wants to fight
tougher guys. But where are they? C’mon guys—promoter,
manager, fighter, follower—how ‘bout fighting someone decent?
How ‘bout Elco? Or Vernon? Or Bobby Joe? Or anyone?
The
second undercard turned out to be the best fight of the night.
Nevermind Frankie’s or Shawn’s fight, the best bout was El
Paso’s Bobby Joe Valdez vs. the infamous Benjie Marquez.
Benjie
Marquez—who was allowed to fight in New Mexico only after
passing a neurological test in Colorado—is no stranger here. In
February, Adriano Sanchez went six rounds with him, winning the
decision. The next month, Joseph Brady had his turn with Marquez,
also getting the six-round nod. Then, in April, Rudy “Bad Boy”
Lovato accepted a fight with Marquez in Denver. Lovato said he was
going to knock Marquez out: “I’m gonna do what Lenny’s boys
couldn’t do,” he bragged.
Well,
Lovato did do what Lenny’s boys couldn’t do—and that
was lose to Marquez. Rudy lost a six-round decision to
Benjie and he hasn’t been seen since . . . . and Benjie, he
picked up his first win in 11 fights. And here he was again . . .
this time matched up against El Paso’s Bobby Joe Valdez.
But on the other hand, the Benjie Marquez Valdez thought he was fighting Saturday night did not show up. That Benjie Marquez, the one who lost to Brady and Sanchez, would’ve given Valdez some trouble but an expected decisioned win. But the Benjie Marquez who did show up came to fight. Benjie Marquez looked great. In fact, I had Benjie winning the first three rounds. They were close rounds but Marquez, the crafty old bastard, was the effective aggressor and I thought had the edge in those rounds. Valdez, who better tighten up his defense a little, especially when up against guys like Salas and a veteran like Marquez, fought back hard and by the 4th had figured out how to take the fight back. Marquez made the mistake of taunting Valdez, more than fighting him. Valdez kept his cool and went to work, outboxing his opponent. At the end of six, I had it a draw, although a couple of those early rounds were damn close enough to go either way. Judges scored ‘em mainly for Valdez: 59-55, 59-56 and 59-57. Another loss for Benjie Marquez, but the man gets my vote for Fighter of the Night (Props also go to underdog Oswaldo Guerrero for giving Frankie a fight; and to Lorenzo Estrada, because he can take a punch.) Valdez’s stablemate, Alex “El Diablo” Becerra, rounded off the undercard. Becerra is comin’ off his first loss—a very close fight with Jacob Gomez—and so was matched up with a game-but-beatable opponent, Jesus Jimenez. Jimenez was sloppy but he had heart. He was down in the 4th with a body shot and Alex tried to finish him off but had to be content with taking the unanimous decision at the end of four rounds. Next up for New Mexico boxing action: Next Friday, Fresquez Productions and Sky City Casino presents “Venganza!” Andres Fernandez will defend his NABO title in a rematch against Jorge Reyes. In out-of-town action, Jacob Romero takes on #1 WBO lightweight contender Juan “Golo” Gomez on the HBO undercard of Austin-Dotse Saturday night; and on July 7th, Adriano Sanchez gets an ESPN2 bout against the man who retired Pernell Whitaker last month: Carlos Bojorquez.
Quick Results: ©
2001 by New Mexico Boxing.com. |
Archuleta Decisions
Guerrero in Hometown Return!
For
those not up on the divisions, a mini-flyweight is a guy in the
108-pound limit. Granted, Oswaldo’s last fight was at 112, but
the bulk of fights on his record have been at 108.
