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Fresquez
Productions & Chargin Prod. The St. Patrick’s Day Massacre Ringside Report & Photos by chris cozzone
It
was a fight billed as the “St. Patrick’s Day Brawl.”
Only
two things missing were Irish people and the color green.
Well,
we had John Lowey, the one and only Irishman on the card (Hell, the
one and only Anglo on the card—but this is New
Mexico.) That’s true. But you couldn’t really say it was a green
St. Patrick’s Day . . . . Not with all the blood—and certainly
not with the red canvas ring. But brawling, we had.
Brawling
and blood. And Johnny Tapia.
The
5,000 or so hometowners who opted for live action rather than
Showtime got all three in the battle between Johnny Tapia and
Famosito Gomez Saturday night.
“Johnny’s
gonna destroy this guy in a round or two, huh?” asked the
photographer next to me who was anxious to make deadline and was
hoping for an early night.
“I
don’t think so,” was my opinion. “Not with Famosito Gomez.”
“Isn’t
he some hack?” was the return question.
“Hack,
my ass!” And I told him: This guy came to fight. This guy is an
experienced ring veteran with 56 fights. This guy also went
12 rounds with Paulie Ayala and lost a decision and, like Johnny,
believes he was robbed. This guy— Cuauthemoc “Famosito”
Gomez—is one tough sumbitch. And above all: Never
underestimate a Mexican.
Only
he was up against Johnny Tapia. And Johnny was fighting in his
hometown.
If
that didn’t make the difference, then Tapia’s speed and accuracy
gave him the edge over Gomez. And if that wasn’t enough for
Famosito to handle, throw in his susceptibility to cut and bleed . .
. .
Famosito’s
only chance of beating Tapia was to get him to forget about boxing
and into a brawl. That didn’t happen in Round One. What did happen
was a nasty accidental head clash that opened up a cut on the top of
Gomez’s head. By the end of the round, blood was running down into
his left eye. Tapia picked up the round by outboxing the smaller
opponent.
Round
Two saw some toe-to-toe action, with Gomez landing some clean power
shots but Tapia outscoring with lead rights. Rounds 3 through 6 saw
Tapia controlling the fight, landing most of the shots and Gomez
missing his hooks.
By
Round Five, Gomez’s nose had split open and he was bleeding
profusely, from another head butt or a flurry of elbows in Round
Four. Tapia began signaling referee Al Martinez to stop the fight
but was ignored. At the end of the round, the ringside physician gave the okay to
keep going.
Still,
Famosito continued to fight. As much heart as Gomez showed, I’m of
the opinion that the intense blood flood took a toll on his ability
to concentrate. Tapia maintained dominance in the fight.
After
the 6th, on the advice of the ringside doc, Famosito’s
corner threw in the towel. At the time of the stoppage, the official
cards read 59-56; 59-55; and 59-55—nearly a shutout for Johnny
Tapia. Just one win from the big five-oh, Tapia seeks a 5th world title and an eventual showdown with Prince Naseem Hamed.
As
for Famosito Gomez, this fight should raise his stock. If he stays
within his own weight class (and fights same-size opponents in the
118-122 range), he should be able to get another fight with a name
fighter and could be, get a second shot at a world title (his one
and only world title shot was a loss in 1995.) The Co-Main Event
Appearances
are deceiving. John Lowey might look a bit mileaged. He might only
have three fights in the last three years. But he remains a
dangerous man in the ring.
Oscar
Larios might have ended up with a near-shutout unanimous
decision—98-93; 99-90; and 100-92—but he had a helluva time
tryin’ to do away with the crafty, craggy Lowey. Rather than
content himself with outboxing Lowey, he tried to do away with him,
which only made him look ineffectual and clumsy. His hooks were wide
and awkward. Lowey bided his time,
Larios
was not that impressive. And in the 8th, he ate a right
uppercut that nearly put him out. But Lowey did not play the
finisher and Larios recovered, winning the next two rounds, opening
a cut above Lowey’s right eye, and taking the decision. The Undercard
Diaz never had a chance. Fifteen seconds into the fight, Diaz was caught with a straight right that put him down for the 8-count. He was able to get up but did little but run, clinch and cover up while Shawn issued him a beating around the ring. The end came at 2:50 of that same first round. Gallegos put him down and this time, referee Russ Mora stopped the fight. Gallegos is now 3-0 with 2 KO’s. He’s got the goods—solid boxing skills and aggression—and is more than ready for someone to challenge him. Sooner or later, it just may be the guy who fought next . . . . The pro debut of top New Mexico amateur Ray Sanchez was next.
Ain’t no shame to losing to Ray Sanchez, pro debut or not. But it’s time for El Chocalate to figure out what he wants to do with his boxing career. In three fights, he has yet to make it out of the first round. All three fights have been repeat performances: throw a few wild punches, clinch, run, get hit, fall down and after 8-10 seconds, shake your head ‘no mas’ to the ref. In this fight, it was over at 1:44. Ray gets his first win and first KO. (Note: the announced called it a TKO but the ref had actually given Labecena the 10-count, which officially makes it a KO, not TKO.) As for Ray Sanchez—from what we saw of him in that portion of a round—he fought smart and fought aggressive. He plans to fight every six weeks or so until he’s got ten fights under his belt. You’ll be hearing from him again soon . . . . Undefeated Joseph Brady was up against Benjie Marquez next in a six-rounder.
Obviously, the Arizona Athletic Commission didn’t think so. They’d suspended him because he’d lost his last ten fights or so, or because he was in no condition to fight. After some talk that the New Mexico Athletic Commission was not going to allow him to fight Brady, they’d approved the fight. My opinion? From what I’ve seen, there’s nothing wrong with Benjie Marquez. With a record of 23-23-2, he’s still a solid fighter—as he proved in his six rounds with Brady (and Sanchez.) Marquez gave as good as he got, and he did not seem to tire. Hell, at one point, while he was tying Brady up, he looked over at me and winked. But despite Benjie’s extensive ring experience, despite his dirty tactics, Joseph “The San Jose Assassin” Brady got the best of him. It was an entertaining fight that Brady could’ve won by hitting and running. But like many others tonight, he was drawn into a brawl. Kid showed heart, though. He was persistently aggressive and not afraid to go toe-to-toe. Neither fighter appeared hurt at any time. Marquez stands solid and the shots he landed on Brady were more slaps than punches. Still, Marquez should not have been able to land so many shots; in his desire to drop Marquez, Brady left himself open too many times. Marquez also left his chin exposed and had Brady utilized a few uppercuts, he might’ve been able to really hurt his opponent, maybe even drop him. Regardless, Brady fought without lowering himself to dirty tactics as Marquez was doing. Plus, he outpunched his opponent and earned the unanimous decision. Brady climbs to 5-0, with one NC. Soon after the fight, Benjie could be found at the nearest concession stand downing a brewski. Now, with 11 straight losses, we’ll see if Benjie decides to make yet another stand before retiring . . . . The final bout before Showtime went live scored my vote for Best undercard fight of the night. Albuquerque’s Kenny “Loverboy” Maldonado was up against his toughest opponent yet: ring-wise fighter from Juarez, Roberto “Famosito” Gomez. (Yes: another "Famosito," this is not the guy who Johnny fought.)
The first three rounds were Maldonado’s. Kenny did exactly what he needed to do: stay on the outside, hit and move, hit and move . . . Meanwhile, Gomez hit him when he could and tried to corner him for some inside fighting. By the end of the round, Kenny was doing exactly that: goin’ toe-to-toe with the stronger Gomez. Round 4 was all brawl and Gomez started to take the lead and score some damage, which included a solid knockdown that put Maldonado through the ropes. He was able to survive the round—but he was hurt. At 1:08 of Round 5, the end came for Maldonado. Gomez floored him with a wicked body shot and although he tried to recover and stay away, Gomez went in for the kill. Another shot staggered him so bad that ref Lorenzo Saiz stepped in and stopped the fight. A loss is a lesson learned: don’t abandon the game plan. Don’t brawl a brawler. And don’t underestimate a Mexican fighter . . . .
Johnny Tapia
(49-2-2, 27 KO's) TKO 6 Famosito Gomez (48-9, 28 KO's) © 2001 by New Mexico Boxing.com. Site & photos by cozzone |
TAPIA TKO'S GOMEZ IN
BLOODBATH!
Famosito
proved his worth last night against Tapia. To say Gomez was a
“game” opponent would be to slight him. As his father, Octavio
“Famoso” Gomez, did before him did against superior, bigger
opponents—Danny “Little Red” Lopez & Ruben Olivares, to
name a couple—Famosito Gomez fought heart and soul. His punches
were hard, and when landing, at least a couple times, they visibly
rocked Tapia. This guy came to fight.
Round
Six was ugly. Famosito’s face was painted red, Johnny was splattered
with his opponent’s blood, and my cameras, face and clothes were
speckled with random red dots. What made it even worse, was the
unholy, unwholesome glare of the red canvassed ring (speaking of
unwholesome, the red canvas wreaked havoc on Showtime’s cameras,
not to mention my own precious color film . . . red is not a
good color for the canvas.)
John
Lowey looked like he’d last, maybe, a few rounds with Oscar Larios.
Granted, that opinion comes from not ever seeing in Lowey in action,
and is based purely from appearances. Plus, it comes from having
seen Oscar Larios fight Willie Jorrin in January—a fight in which
he was certainly robbed of winning.
looking for openings and reaching
into his bag of dirty tricks now and then. There were plenty of head
butts and Lowey lost a point in the 7th for hitting
behind the head. 
Las Vegas-native (uh, that’s Las
Vegas, New Mexico to you Nevadans) Shawn Gallegos
opened up the night’s card in a 4-rounder against
Albuquerque’s Marcos Diaz.
For at least 4 weeks, it’s been
known that Rafael Labacena was going to be the
sacrificial lamb for Little Ray Sanchez. But word in
the gym was that he was pulling out . . . then he
wasn’t . . . then he was . . . then he was sparring,
and quitting, out of breath, after half a round . . .
then he was pulling out again . .. then not. In fact,
the night before the weigh-in, Team Sanchez was pretty
concerned because they did not have an opponent.
Miraculously, “El Chocolate” Labecena showed up
for the weigh-in and went ahead with the fight.
Before the fight, I’d had a little
talk with Mr. Marquez. He said this fight was his
“last stand,” and that he’d been robbed in his
last fight against Adriano Sanchez—just one month
ago at Sky City Casino. Regardless, he was here
tonight to show Joseph Brady that he still had
something left in the gas tank.
I’ve seen both fighters fight
their last 4 or so fights and I was pretty confident
how things would go, or could go. Maldonado is
a boxer; Gomez is a fighter. Kenny could win if—if—he
could fight smart and outbox Gomez. But Gomez (who
just fought two weeks ago in Juarez and is scheduled
to fight yet again in Texas in two weeks) would try to
lure his opponent into a brawl . . . and if he did so,
he would win.