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text & photos by chris cozzone What
was supposed to be a competitive grudge match between newly-crowned WBC
Fecarbox champ Joseph “Assassin” Brady and Jose “Goose” Ramirez
turned out to be one-sided butchery that ended in a second round knockout
victory for the undefeated Brady. For
the first time in his career, Brady was up against the bigger man. Ramirez
had the height, the weight and the reach on Brady—but that’s all he
had. What Brady lacked in physical dimensions, he more than made up for in
skills, heart and power. The
chilling staredown between Brady and Ramirez in the ring before the
opening round set the stage for what most thought would be a memorable
battle between the cross-town rivals. But when the bell rang, the mutual
hatred that should’ve sparked reciprocal hostility, became one-sided and
the electricity fizzled rather than sizzled. Round
One was tentative, at first. Rather than stay on the outside and box
safely, Brady went to war, moving forward toward the bigger man. Brady
backed Ramirez up, staying busy by throwing combos, and by the end of the
round, the Goose’s nose was bleeding. In
the 2nd, Brady wasted no time picking up the pace. He pressed
Ramirez on, landing fast combinations that had the Goose up against the
ropes. Courting danger by keeping his gloves too low, Ramirez did not
appear to be into the fight. Less than a minute into the round, a
combination that started with a right hook from the southpaw put the Goose
down. Ramirez
beat the count but the look on his face told all: Brady had battered the
heart out of him and this fight was a done deal. The “Assassin” went
in for the kill and in another 20 seconds, had Ramirez down again. This
time, when he got back, ref Rocky Burke took a look into Ramirez’s eyes
and waved the fight over. The
crowd erupted in boos and one fuming fan hurled a beverage that splattered
the gloomy Goose. What
had happened? Still shaken backstage, Ramirez said that his eye had been
blurry. He also said that he shouldn’t have taken this fight on the
short notice; and that his head hadn’t been in the ring, but with his
three-month-old daughter who’d been admitted to the Emergency Room at
the hospital the day before when she’d had trouble breathing. Take
your pick of excuses—the short notice, having to lose too much weight in
just a few days, the eye problem, or Goose’s daughter that is, no doubt,
a valid distraction—you still can’t tarnish Brady’s win. “I
thought for sure this fight would go eight rounds,” Brady said after the
fight. “In the 1st Round, he seemed calm, but I was already
starting to time his right hand. In the 2nd, I starting
throwing more combos and then landed a right hook that put him down. After
he got back up, he looked hurt so I went at him. But it was that right
hook. He didn’t want to fight after he felt my power.” Ramirez
falls to 9-9 (6 KO’s). Still undefeated, Brady moves up to a solid 10-0
(4 KO’s). Future opponents for the “Assassin” include Dallas’
Marquez Reed (who’d pulled out on the Tuesday before the fight due to a
hand injury) and possibly, Elco Garcia, who won a unanimous decision over
Rudy Lovato last night in Ignacio, CO.
After
a six-month layoff and a swap of trainers, the “Vicious One,” Vernon
Payne made his return to the ring. In what was an obvious tune-up fight
for him—up against the 12-9-3 Mexican Jose Luis Cruz—the interest in
watching Payne was not so much if he would win (which was a given,
as much as anything’s a given in Boxing) but rather how he would
look. Now
training under boxing legend Bobby Foster, what changes would be made to
Payne’s style? Would Payne look better or worse? Or was it too early to
tell, with just six weeks under the former Light Heavyweight King? In
a fight that went the 8-round distance, Payne won almost all
rounds—except for one that almost spelled his doom. Using his speed,
Payne adopted a simple strategy of in-and-out left-rights (then hold)
throughout the fight, using his jab as a taunt, or to land his powerful
right, which actually had little effect on the iron-chinned Cruz.
“I
saw that overhand right coming,” said Payne after the fight, “but I
guess it was ring rust, because I let it land.” Payne
also said that he was simply dazed and not showboating after he’d been
hit. After
8 rounds, my scorecard read 79-73 for Payne; the judges had it 79-74,
77-75 and 79-73, all for Vern who moves up to 8-0, 4 KO’s.
Slugger
Tommy Aragon has been lookin’ damn good in his last handful of fights.
Always a crowd pleaser, Aragon has begun to show solid boxing skills to
add to his loopy-and-always-dangerous knockout punches. But
the Tommy Aragon who showed up last night to take on 7-16-3 fighter
Leobardo Roman in what was a rare (for Tommy, anyway) tune-up was not the
Tommy Aragon who boxed/punched his way to victory against Steve Aragon in
March. The
Tommy who fought last night was a one-dimensional mauler-brawler who
should be grateful that Roman lacked the firepower to be a finisher. Rather
than utilize his newly-crafted jab, or throw his awkward-but-effective
overhand rights, Tommy was all wide shots and elbow pushes through six
rounds. Granted, he was, by far, the busier fighter and the aggressor; he
just wasn’t all that effective. Roman’s
gameplan was apparent from the 1st Round on: weather the storm,
let Aragon punch himself out, then sneak in the right shots. Roman was
content to hang out on the ropes, blocking almost all of Aragon’s shoves
and wide shots. In Round Two, Roman showed what he could do when he landed a short left uppercut/hook that, for the first time in Tommy’s career, had him down and nearly out. Aragon made the count but was damaged goods for the rest of the round. Rather than run and survive, Tommy launched an astonishing counter-attack for the rest of the round that, in my eyes, turned the round from 10-8 to 10-9 in Roman’s favor. Aragon’s
eyes were still glassy in the 3rd but he recovered and went
back to work, mauling Roman and taking the next two rounds. In
the 5th and 6th, Aragon was tired and Roman—as
fresh in the 6th as he was in the 1st—was catching
him with good shots. Luckily for Aragon, Roman was not a strong finisher
and the fight went to the scorecards. Judges
had a split decision: 58-55 for Aragon; 58-56 for Roman; and 57 even,
resulting in a draw. I had it 58-56 for Aragon. El Paso in the House Ramirez
and Aragon might’ve disappointed; and Payne might’ve been rusty; but
neither El Paso fighter on the card showed anything less than the
potential to eventually make it out of the state level and into the
contender stage of professional boxing.
Sportin’
a newly-shaved head, Lopez went up against Phoenix’s Jorge Lopez, who
may or may not have been 1-0-1 with rumors of over-the-border experience.
Nevertheless, “El Gallito” went right to work after being tagged with
a sneaky right seconds after the opening bell—that was nearly the only
time Jorge was able to connect. Cesar quickly tightened up his defense and
went to work. Through
four rounds, Cesar was at the helm, controlling the action, always moving
forward, moving well, cornering his man and landing his famous double and
triple-left hook combos to the body. The only resistance Jorge Lopez gave
Cesar was his granite chin. At
the end of four, it was nearly a shutout win for the El Paso flyweight:
40-36 x2 and 39-36. Lopez
moves up to 5-1, 3 KO’s. Watch this kid throughout the next
year—he’s going places.
While
Becerra was never in danger and won every round, Candelario proved durable
and took the El Pasoan the distance, despite hitting canvas three times. Candelario
had a bloody nose by the end of the 1st and constant
left-rights had him moving back. In the 2nd, a right hand
dropped Candelario and in spite of a brutal attempt by Becerra to finish
him off, the veteran lasted. In
the 4th, Candelario was down again from vicious body
attacks—twice, yet was able to last the round. Content to survive and
not launch too much of an offense, Candelario blocked, ran, held and
covered up the next four rounds. At
the end of 8, all three judges had a lop-sided score for Beccera: 80-70
twice and 78-72. I had it 80-69, with one 10-8 and one 10-7 round. Like
his stablemate Cesar, who is destined for a showdown with Brian Viloria in
the future, look for Becerra to work his way up into the ratings as he
develops. There’s already talk of Becerra fighting for the WBC
Bantamweight Youth title next year, against Julian “Bebe” Rodriguez.
He’ll eventually end up against Olympians Jose Navarro and Clarence
Vinson (who he defeated as an amateur.) Greener Than Green
But
why she’s fighting women like Jodi Johnson is beyond me . . . . Jodi
Johnson made her pro debut last night against Chavez, lasting but 1:40
before the stoppage. With pitiable attempts to hit and hold, constantly
turning away from Chavez’s punches and continually shutting her
eyes—perhaps to convince herself this was all a bad dream and to make it
all go away—Johnson had absolutely no business being in the ring. Not
only did she display inexperience that could’ve gotten her injured, she
looked as if she’d never laced on a pair of gloves before in her life. A
brutal criticism? Perhaps. But this is a brutal sport and one should think
twice about turning pro before you're ready—especially against a devastating
fighter like Chavez. Isleta, Take Two Although not as packed as the Isleta Card in January that headlined Brady vs. Linson, “Fights of Fury” last night drew a big crowd that had to number over 2,000. With the excellent set-up (great lighting, seating, not to mention Fred Esquibel’s brand spankin’ new ring canvas cover and the great job MC'ing by Pedro Fernandez), close proximity to Albuquerque and capability to seat more than the 300-500 Sky City can barely house, Isleta becomes my venue of choice for New Mexico boxing. To
stay in the running, Sky City Casino—which gets its props for
consistency—needs to build a showroom or arena fit for professional
boxing: that includes more seating, a higher ceiling and something other
than fluorescent lighting. Competition?
Look for Santa Ana Casino in Bernalillo to start putting on fight cards at
the end of the month. # # # QUESTIONS, COMMENTS? EMAIL US QUICK RESULTS
Joseph
"Assassin" Brady
10-0, 1 NC, 5 KO's
TKO 2
Jose "Goose" Ramirez
9-9, 6 KO's Tommy Aragon 6-3-1, 4 KO's DRAW Leobardo Roman 7-16-4, 3 KO's Alex "El Diablo" Becerra 9-1, 3 KO's UD 8 Joaquin Candelario 5-22-1, 3 KO's Cesar
"El Gallito" Lopez
5-1, 3 KO's UD 4
Jorge Lopez 1-1-1, 1 KO |
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© 2002 by New Mexico Boxing.com |
Rust in the House of Payne
Cruz
was simply not busy enough, although he had his moment in the 6th
round when an overhand right detonated on Payne’s mug, about halfway
through the round. Payne was dazed and in a strange survival mode, put his
gloves down and in an upright posture, backed up against the ropes with a
weird smile on his face as if he was showboating. Cruz tried to get close
again and land something, but Payne got on his bicycle and kept his
distance, losing the round but surviving.
Flyweight
prospect Cesar “El Gallito” Lopez and bantamweight hope Alex “El
Diablo” Becerra were both matched up to win—which they both did
impressively.
Alex
“El Diablo” Becerra was equally as impressive in his first 8-rounder
against 5-21-1 veteran Joaquin Candelario.