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text & photos by chris cozzone Elco
Garcia might’ve been the hometown draw Friday night in Durango on Too
Hot to Handle’s debut fight card, but it was a couple of women from
Albuquerque, New Mexico who stole the show. In
front of a thin crowd of 300 at the LPC Fairgrounds, on a card billed as
“The Homecoming,” Garcia, as expected, made carne of Carnell,
knocking the Iowa opponent down three times before the fight was
mercifully stopped. The
3-6 underdog was up against all odds: it was Garcia’s hometown; Elco
dwarfed him in size and reach; and Carnell arrived in Durango without a
corner. But despite his slim chances to upset the brawny Garcia, Carnell,
on instructions from borrowed trainer Rocky Stapleton, took the fight to
Garcia when the bell rang. Pinning Elco against the ropes to smother his
power, he landed a 4-punch combo that gave Garcia a wake-up call, not to
mention a nasty cut over the left eye caused from an uppercut. Garcia
took over from there. He got off the ropes, fired off a couple jabs at
Carnell, found his range, and let loose a bomb that had Carnell taking a
knee. The fight resumed after making the count, but mere seconds later, it
happened again. With his opponent ready to topple, it wasn’t hard for
yet a third knockdown, at which point the ref called it quits. Rising
to 12-2, Garcia called his performance “sloppy” but said that whether
he’d won or lost the fight, he would like to take on Albuquerque’s
undefeated Joseph Brady next. The
Garcia-Carnell carnage might’ve been dramatic, but it was too
short-lived to give the fans their bucks’ worth—but the six-round
rematch war between Adriana Delgado and Monica Michel more than made up
for it.
Delgado
came out strong, taking the fight to Michel by outboxing her and landing
these left hook bombs. The 2nd round bordered on a 10-8 round
for Delgado. Things weren’t lookin’ so good for Michel—but that’s
a situation she’s been in before. In
the 3rd, Michel pumped her gloves in the air to get the crowd
going, then went to war. She started landing her right and had Delgado
backing up for most of the round. When in close, Delgado has a tendency to
close her eyes, and an even worse tendency to turn her back and walk
away—this all worked in Michel’s favor.
Delgado
was tiring in the 5th and Monica took the round. Whenever in
close, Delgado would tie up or turn her back and move away—a strategy
that made her look bad to the crowd. She was warned at one point, but
constantly repeated her tactics. It
was Michel who tired in the 6th, giving Delgado the opportunity
to finish up strong. The tide went back and forth, but it was Delgado who
controlled the last round, again, with that left hook that Michel was
never prepared for. I
had the fight four rounds to two, for Delgado, although that 4th
could’ve gone either way. All three judges scored it differently: one
had it 59-55 for Delgado; one had Michel winning 58-56; the third had it
57 even, making the fight a draw. Delgado’s
record goes to 8-2-1; Michel is 0-3-1. There
were three fights on the undercard.
In
the 1st, King was busier, pumping his jab at Corona and using
his footwork. Corona stood in one place while King circled and when the
two exchanged, it was Corona landing the more telling blows. Corona
stepped up the aggression in the 2nd and it made a close round. King
wasn’t busy enough in the 3rd and it was all Corona until the
final minute when King let his hands go and stole the round. Pinning
Corona to the ropes, King nearly had his man out in the last ten seconds.
Corona came back strong in the 4th and King was content to
throw an ineffective jab at him rather than let fly his right hand. King
was on his way to a loss, until the 5th and final round when he
decided to mix it up with Corona. He ‘buzzed’ Corona, landing a
straight right that put the hometowner down. Corona beat the count and
King did not finish him off but let him recuperate. Later in the round,
Corona picked up the pace and landed some good shots that hurt King. At
the end of 5, one judge had it 47-even, which is how I saw it; the other
two had it for King, 49-46 and 49-45. Farmington’s
Jose Mongue and Mexico’s Martin Mendoza were next. Mongue
took the first round with his aggression. Mendoza was not busy and when
punching, threw just one at a time. In the 2nd, Mongue picked
up the pace even more and had Mendoza in trouble several times. Near the
end of the round, Mendoza, cornered and swarmed upon, took a knee and let
himself be counted out.
The
third fight was the card’s sleeper: a six-rounder between veterans
Gilberto Flores and Ruben Aguayo. It
wasn’t so much who won each round, but who didn’t win
each round. Flores did not win Round One because Aguayo was more
aggressive; Flores did not win the 2nd because Aguayo was
punching harder; Aguayo did not win the 3rd because Flores
decided to throw something . . . it continued on that way, with Flores
throwing his playful slaps and Aguayo going in and out of sleep mode,
waking up to throw hard punches, then drifting off again while Flores
showboated and slapped away. Tell
you the truth, I wasn’t sure who won that fight, and I wouldn’t
have argued with any judge who saw every round 10-10 . . . but the refs
all saw it for Flores: 58-56; 60-54 and 60-54. Look
for ‘Too Hot to Handle Boxing Promotions’ to return in June or July. # # #
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Garcia Clobbers Carnell
but Delgado & Michel Steal the Show in Durango
Delgado,
ranked as high as #2 by one of the women’s ABC’s, had nothing to gain
and much to lose by taking on 0-3 fighter Monica Michel. And Michel,
always the underdog against much higher competition, had vowed to hang up
the gloves should she lose—nevermind that all three fights had her
overmatched. Despite the disparity in experience and skill, Michel is
quickly building a rep as a near-upsetter on account of her heart and
toughness. The rematch with Delgado was no different.
Delgado
pulled herself together in between rounds and the 4th was a
slugfest that could’ve gone either way. Delgado came back, landing that
left hook that almost always found its mark on Michel; but Michel pressed
the fight, popping Delgado with hard shots as the more experienced fighter
tried to tie up.
Albuquerque’s
Andre “Buzz” King and Durango’s Manuel Corona opened things up with
a close five-rounder.
Mongue
gets his first win, now 1-1-1.