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 Guillentined!
Romero Finishes Feisty Foe in First!
text and
photos by chris cozzone
Whack!
Whack! Whack!
It never
left the first round. With a series of crippling body shots,
Danny Romero had challenger Domingo Guillen down on his hands
and knees, unable—or unwilling—to get back up for another go at
the former two-time world champ.
No doubt
about it: Domingo came to fight. When the bell rang, Guillen was
all over Romero, throwing uppercuts and his own body shots.
Romero weathered the storm, calmly blocking the attack with his
arms, then maneuvered the smaller man against the ropes where
the Dominican—erringly—went willingly.
That’s all
she wrote.
Danny let
loose his whack-attack and Domingo was a done deal.
I suppose
there are advantages to fighting out of your weight class—a
decent payday, a chance to upset a name fighter, and there’s no
need to diet—but for Domingo Guillen, who weighed in two pounds
under the 118-pound limit the day of the fight, there wasn’t a
chance in hell that he was going to be walking out of
 Isleta
Casino with Romero’s NABA belt around his waist. Not with
Romero’s newfound hunger, and his close proximity to a shot at
World Title #3.
Mission
accomplished in impressive fashion and NABA title defended,
Romero is one step closer to that title.
“This is
what he needs,” Danny Romero, Sr. said last night after the
fight. “You saw him in there—he’s sharper than ever. We need to
keep him sharp, by fighting him every month.”
The Romero
camp does not plan to stick around and wait for a title fight to
fall into their lap. They’re negotiating with WBA champ Johnny
Bredahl for a Fall showdown, but, in the meantime, the Romeros
hope to secure another fight for Danny in August.
With his
2:21 knockout win, Romero climbs to 43-4-1 (37 KO’s); Guillen
drops to 28-5-1 (25 KO’s.)
 Max Stings
Ray
Co-main
event headliner “Hollywood” Max Heyman (15-4-3, 9 KO’s) did not
have as easy a time as Romero did, in his tough match-up against
the experienced, durable veteran from Munich, Germany, “Sting”
Ray Berry (19-8-1, 7 KO’s).
Well,
actually, throughout eight of the ten rounds, it looked
as if Heyman was having a heyday against Berry. Most of the
rounds looked the same: Max staying on the outside, jabbing and
popping Berry, then moving away or tying up before the slower
German could retaliate. While Berry continued to press forward
through the entirety, he was unable to find or corner Heyman
often enough. The later rounds saw Berry start to land, although
Heyman was never put in a dangerous situation and remained in
control.
After ten,
it appeared to be a no-brainer: 8 rounds to 2 for Heyman. At
least, that’s what I and the reporters immediately around me
were thinking. We were surprised to hear the scorecards: 96-94 x
2 and 96-94 for Heyman. Maybe it was the angle we were sitting
at, but none of us could see giving Berry any round before the 7th.
Despite
the scoring, Heyman said he thought his rib had broken early on,
in the 2nd, when Berry had crashed his shoulder into
his ribs. Despite the pain, Max kept to game plan.
Gallito
and the Pit Bull
 On the
undercard, looking as sharp and as animated as always, Cesar “El
Gallito” Lopez was pitted against the hard-headed “Pit Bull”
from San Antonio, Jorge Saucedo.
Sportin’ a
crown of blue-dyed hair, Lopez came out with hands-a-flying.
With a tight, tight defense, Cesar was snapping punches at
Saucedo, who tried to press forward. In the 2nd,
Saucedo took some of Lopez’s best shots, letting us know he was
going to be around come the 6th and final round.
Round
Three had the best action, as the two stood toe-to-toe in heated
exchanges. Cesar started loading up on left hook body shots;
Saucedo kept taking ‘em.
The 4th
was similar, although Saucedo landed a solid right hand on
Cesar’s chin that stopped him in his tracks—for about half a
second. Then, Gallito went back to work trying to take Saucedo
out.
That
wasn’t
going to happen. Saucedo had his best round in the 5th,
taking more shots and landing several of his own—although not
close enough to actually win the round. Round Six was more of
Lopez controlling the action.
At the end
of six, all three judges and myself were in agreement: 60-54 for
Lopez.
Along with
Alex “El Diablo” Becerra, Lopez will be headlining a Fresquez
fight card early September in El Paso. Hopefully, we’ll see him
against someone who can not only take his punches, but can fire
back fast enough to give Lopez a tough fight.
Lopez
climbs to 7-1, with 3 KO’s. Saucedo falls to 1-3-1. Despite
Saucedo’s record, the “Pit Bull” has earned his nickname—kid’s
got heart, and he can take a punch.
Delgado
Dismantles Moulton
 Simply
put, Adriana Delgado looked better last night than I’ve ever
seen her look.
Tracy
Moulton was a test—a tough test—yet Delgado not only aced it,
but the bad habits she displayed in her last couple of fights
were nowhere to be seen.
Coming off
a long lay-off, Moulton gave Elena “Babydoll” Reid all she could
handle. Last night, she might’ve shown an iron resolve, but
Delgado schooled her, round after round.
Delgado
came out of the first round virtually untouched. Not so,
Moulton: hit with a variety of punches but mainly those left
hooks of Delgado’s, Moulton’s nose was bleeding by the end of
the round.
Tracy
managed to land a couple in the 2nd, but Delgado,
employing a stay-on-the-outside strategy, waited for Moulton to
come in, then slammed her with hard combinations. Delgado slowed
down in the 3rd but continued to dominate Moulton,
who was having a hell of a time trying to close the gap and land
anything.
Delgado
had Moulton hurt at the end of the 4th but the bell
rang before Adriana could try and finish. The 5th and
6th were slower rounds, with Moulton able to land a
few, but with Delgado maintaining game plan and outboxing.
Despite gushing blood from a nose that looked broken, Moulton
never gave up trying to turn the fight into a scrap.
At the end
of six, Delgado, as expected, won a near-shutout decision:
60-54, 59-56 and 59-55. She climbs to 9-2-1, with 3 KO’s.
In
September, Delgado is scheduled to take on Santa Fean Jayla
Ortiz on a fight card in Pueblo, CO. The fight will be for the
WIBF’s Intercontinental title. Rated by all three women’s boxing
organizations, Delgado is on course for a world title shot.
Do I hear
“Babydoll?”
Martinez
Mops Up Martinez
 David
Martinez had it rough for his first two tough fights. Sure, he
won decisions, but his opponents were rough and tough and
scrappy.
Not so
Jose Martinez.
David was
originally scheduled to fight Puerto Rican Ricky De Leon but
there must’ve been travel problems because, at the last minute,
Juarez’s “fighter” Jose Martinez made the trip to face David.
Jose
weighed in at 121 to David’s 114.5, but from the way Jose
Martinez fought, David could’ve weighed in at twelve
pounds and still beat the crap out of him.
It was
over in 58 seconds.
David went
right to work, as he trains to do; and so did Jose—covering up,
flinching, moving away, and eyeing the canvas for a soft place
to land.
Many
times, matchmakers have no choice in finding a last-minute
replacement. But, c’mon, guys, Jose Martinez? I’ve seen this guy
fight four times and every single time, he’s done the same
thing: look for a place to fall down and go beddy-bye.
David gets
his first KO win and rises to 3-0.
Martinez?
Uh . . . well . . . he falls (yep, he sure likes to fall) to
0-7.
Parker
Upsets Pro Debuter Reyes
 Not all
of the Red Corner had their way last night: pro debuter Fernando
Reyes was hoping to get a ‘W’ but 0-1 Roosevelt Parker wasn’t
willing to oblige.
It was a
dull fight, with neither fighter all that willing to go in there
and let loose. It was just that Parker had a bit more zest to
him last night than Reyes did.
In the
First, Reyes employed a jab-jab-tie-up strategy, and suffocated
his hook when in close. Parker held back, too, although I
thought he won the round with a hard right hand thrown that
landed near the end.
Round Two
was close; no one doing enough to claim the round. Reyes was
holding too much but did land one good right hand that had
Parker saying, “Nice one.” Parker, though, landed two hooks that
could’ve swayed judges to his side.
The 3rd
was damn near close to a 10-10 round if not for Reyes’ one good
right hand at the end of it. In the last 10 seconds, Reyes
turned up the heat, claiming the round and showing us he has
what it takes to mix it up.
Unfortunately, Reyes forgot about what made the last ten seconds
of Round Three go his way. Parker continued to outpoint in the 4th
and picked up the round, and thus, the win.
Scorecards
read 40-37, 40-36 and 39-37 for Parker. I had it for Parker,
39-37.
Last
night’s show had a sellout 2,800 crowd—you can expect the same
on August 16th when Frankie Archuleta and Joseph
Brady headline on a Telefutura-televised card. Both Archuleta
and Brady will defend their respective titles—and against
fighters who have a good chance of upsetting.
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