Isleta Casino, December 13th, 2002

Round by Round Report
by Ricardo Trujillo
photos: cozzone

Barrera vs. Archuleta

Rd. 1 – Hands high Archuleta comes out jabbing and double left hooks to the body. Barrera is patient though, learning everything he can from this first round, he rakes the inside part of his glove against Archuleta’s forehead. Although warned by ref Burke, Barrera uses this tactic through out the fight.

Rd. 2 – Better round for Barrera as he finds the range with his best weapon, a double jab. Barrera is getting off first and frustrates Archuleta who is caught with a hard right when Barrera feigns the left jab. Archuleta’s left eye begins to swell.

Rd. 3 – Archuleta is reaching and getting caught. It’s one punch at a time for Archuleta. An unintentional head-butt draws blood from Barrera, above his right eye. Archuleta presses the action in the last minute and lands the cleaner harder shots.

Rd. 4 – Barrera is out jabbing Archuleta and boxing very effectively. Barrera’s most convincing round to this point in the fight.

Rd. 5 – Barrera’s pedigree is his defense, which he demonstrates beautifully this round. The blood flowing from the laces cut suffered earlier now bothers Archuleta, he wipes it away. Archuleta is slowing down considerably, he tries to fight back but it’s still one punch at a time.

Rd. 6 – Barrera peppers and pot shots Archuleta from the outside with his jab. The crowd senses Archuleta needs help and cheers “FRANKIE FRANKIE” this wakes up Archuleta momentarily who has his most sustained attack in three rounds and lands two very hard left hooks to Barrera’s body.

Rd. 7 – Archuleta is energized now and starts faster backing up Barrera. Hard rights by Archuleta punctuate the round for him. Barrera is in great shape though and is hardly breathing.

Rd. 8 – Barrera gets on his bicycle and becomes a more illusive target, but Archuleta cuts off the ring and is finally getting untracked. Counterpunching is not what Barrera wants to do. Archuleta is beating Barrera to the punch this round and landing the cleaner shots.

Rd. 9 – Archuleta is gaining confidence, more erect and crouching less, he picks up where he left off in the previous round. A few Barrera jabs get in and reopen Archuleta’s cut.

Rd. 10 – Now it’s Barrera who has turned aggressive as he pops Archuleta with his opening salvo, a jab and straight right that rocks him backwards. Still hardly breathing Barrera is back in the fight with his effective aggression. More blood flows from above Archuleta’s eye.

Rd. 11 – Archuleta is not letting his hands go, what is he waiting for, this is a very close fight. Crouching and looking for one shot will not win him this round. Another round to Barrera.

Rd. 12 – Barrera is finally huffing puffing for air with his mouth open. He dances out of harms way as Archuleta almost desperately tries to catch him. I had Archuleta winning this round and the fight 115-113, judges had it a majority decision victory for Barrera 114-114, 115-113 and surprisingly 117-113.

Barela vs. Velaquez

Rd. 1 – Barela is letting Velasquez take the lead, but in the last half of the round Barela steps-up, counterpunching and takes the round narrowly.

Rd. 2 – Velasquez is more aggressive this round, but is still not cutting off the ring. A hard right by Barela is his best punch, but he doesn’t follow up. He is circling to his right and losses the round because of his constant backpedaling.

Rd. 3 – Barela turns it on a bit and decides to press the action. He is letting his hands go more but not in combination. Round is razor thin to Barela.

Rd. 4 – Velasquez who was brought in as a last minute opponent is unaffected by Barela’s punches. Barela moves left then right is posing and not fighting. His corner is imploring him to go to the body, while Velaquez stays flatfooted and is trying hard. Another narrow round goes to Barela.

Rd. 5 – This round saw Barela use his footwork and counterpunch to the inability of Velasquez to cut off the ring. Velasquez chases the illusive Barela all over the ring and begins to slow down like just before the gun lap.

Rd. 6 – Barela is content to sit on his lead and circle his opponent, but about halfway into the round he finally lets go in the center of the round. Velasquez winds up for one last assault and forces Barela to the neutral corner above press row. Suddenly, in what looked like a knockdown from a left hook to the body by Velasquez, Barela took a knee. What actually happened was Barela injured his shoulder. Dull uninspired performance by Barela, I was expecting more after seeing his picture in the Castillo/Mayweather Program. My card 58-56 Barela, judges had it 59-55 x’s 2 and 60-54.

Heyman vs. Commings

Rd. 1 – Commings bum-rushes and head butts Heyman under the chin. Heyman stays cool and patient though and keeps Commings at the end of his punches.

Rd. 2 – Heyman draws blood from Commings nose with a punishing jab. Feigning being hurt to draw Heyman in is not working for Commings.

Rd. 3 – Heyman is taking the “payaso” out of Commings who bounces off the ropes like a wrestler to gain leverage. He gets under Heyman and lifts him up forcing him to the canvas. The blatant foul costs Commings 2 points in a fight he is losing badly.

Rd. 4 – The rugged and durable Commings came to fight but mostly clown and showboat, he gets hit and wants more. Cut in the right eye now, he gets whacked there again and goes down. Still the clown, he counts with the ref very loudly. Heyman finishes the round pounding the hapless Ohioan from pillar to post. Commings corner wisely stops contest and won’t let him come out fore the 5^th round. I had it 40-33 at the stoppage.

Taylor vs. Wade

Rd. 1 – The much shorter Wade crouches to get close, but pays with jabs to the head from Taylor. Wade is trying to uncork uppercuts on Taylor to slow him down but with no success.   

Rd. 2 – Wade is simply not letting his hands go, now Taylor gets close enough to slam him to the body. This slows down the charging and ineffective aggression of Wade and enables Taylor to pop from the outside and go into cruise control. Wade has 2 rounds to turn it around.

Rd. 3 – Taylor is teeing off now, Wade holds on and is warned for it. Wade is taking so many left hooks to the beltline it is actually rearranging his boxing trunks. Wade squares up and becomes an inviting target for Taylor and he almost goes down from an uppercut.

Wade needs a KO to win.

Rd. 4 – Taylor continues to move Wade around the ring with his jab. Wade keeps on dipping hoping Taylor will bite so he can score coming from underneath. Taylor doesn’t take the bait and catches Wade coming in with a chopping right that nearly drops him. My card was a shutout for Taylor 40-36, judges had it 40-37 x’s 3.

Martinez vs. Valdez

Rd. 1 – Martinez demonstrates quickly why he is a prospect. Short crisp punches by Martinez moves around the shorter Valdez, Martinez has command of the space in the ring. By out maneuvering Valdez, the more experienced Martinez can land those hard chopping rights to the head of his opponent.

Rd. 2 – Valdez comes out firing, more aggressive he backs Martinez to the ropes for the first time. The first minute belongs to Valdez, but Martinez comes on in the last two minutes to take the round.

Rd. 3 – Martinez won’t let up and Valdez takes quite a beating in this round. However, Valdez is proud and he must be given credit for taking this fight on such short notice. Although he is absorbing much punishment, he is a gamer.

Rd. 4 – Martinez’s amateur experience shows brilliantly as he schools the less refined Valdez through out the round and the bout. My card same as the judges 40-36.

Torresillas vs. Espinoza

Rd. 1 - The tall, lanky Espinoza is giving Conan problems at first. But by the end of the round Torresillas is finding a way inside and winning the round with the cleaner, harder punches.

Rd. 2 - Espinoza is down twice. The second time, the ref counts to nine before calling off the fight. Another knockout win for Conan.

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