|
“Es Mio!”
‘Licenciado’ Keeps Mexican Belt with 1st Round
Vengeance Knockout Over ‘La Parka!’
by chris
cozzone
“¡Es mio! ¡Es
mio!”
It’s mine!
It’s mine!
It was 1:30
AM Saturday morning and Arturo “Licenciado” Rivera, having
completed his ¡absoluta venganza!, was pumping his beefy
arms into the air.
Glancing
disdainfully at his vanquished foe, recovering now on his stool,
then across the converted rodeo arena at his one-time promoters
who’d just lost their shot at acquiring the complete monopoly of
Juarez boxing, Rivera completed his vengeance with another cry
of victory:
 “¡Toma!
¡Toma!”
Translation?
Something to the effect of: “Up yours!” or “Yeah, I got your
campeon belt—right here!”
Arturo
Rivera’s win last night on the far east side of Ciudad Juarez
went way beyond the mere title defense of his WBC Light
Heavyweight Campeonato Nacional belt. It was a double-whammy ¡Toma!
sort of win: amends made for the one black mark on his record—a
1997 knockout loss to Gustavo “La Parka” Enriquez—and, perhaps
more importantly, a flippant getback at the former promoters
who’d made the unknown fighter into a national champion.
Two minutes,
35 seconds and it was all over.
It was, for
the most part, a feeling-out round, full of darting jabs from
both combatants; neither fighter taking the lead; neither giving
nor gaining ground. And then Rivera threw his first right
hand—the first power punch of the fight. It was a short
explosion to Enriquez’s chin that had La Parka parked upon the
canvas in a spongy heap.
The 1,200
crowd fell silent, as Rivera gazed down upon his fallen foe,
before the ref motioned him to the neutral corner. La Parka
rolled onto his hands and knees, trying to make sense of his
spinning world, trying to conjure strength into spaghetti legs.
As the ref counted off his fingers, Enriquez crawled alongside
the ropes, trying to climb his way back to the World of the
Vertical.
Opposite the
ring, Rivera was already screaming victory, flexing his big guns
and crying out while La Parka made little progress before the
ref reached the count of ten, sealing the fate of the fight.
Enriquez
would later say he did not see the punch coming; and that after
he went down, he lost all “sense of time and space.”
The fight in
the bag, there was no longer any question who was Juarez’s—and
Mexico’s—top light heavyweight . . . .
 However,
the questions about Rivera’s place in the light heavyweight
division outside of Mexico is just beginning. While
Mexico can boast to have no more than a handful of light
heavies, the numbers across the border eagerly await the stocky
Mexican slugger.
Rivera and
his “Licenciado” persona was created and built by Promociones
del Pueblo (PdP.) Except for the loss to Enriquez in 1997
(Rivera’s 6th fight), Rivera fought for the longtime
Juarez promoter and destroyed most of his foes—all Mexican—by
way of knockout, including the May 2001 title fight destruction
of David Lopez. It was then that the short-lived promotion team
of Boxeo Verdad gave PdP a run for their pesos, buying up
several fighters (including Rivera) but, lacking PdP’s pizzaz
and fan loyalty, Boxeo Verdad went under.
Just this
year, Group Aguirre under Guillermo Pacheco was formed. After
their initial fight card in August, a deal was made with PdP for
their new light heavyweight hopeful Gustavo Enriquez to fight
the new promoter’s key fighter, Rivera.
If Rivera had
lost, Group Aguirre would’ve been dealt a knockout blow. With
Rivera’s win, the new team will move ahead with their plans to
give PdP a bit of cross-town opposition.
They have a
long way to go. While the venue was decent, the matchmaking
excellent, Group Aguirre lacks PdP’s production value, solid
core following, hot ring card girls and, most important, the
city’s top fighters—guys like Kirino Garcia, Juan Carlos
“Ranchero” Ramirez and David “Tacubayo” Murillo.
Promoters—just like fighters—do not become champions overnight.
Time will tell whether Group Aguirre is the right stuff . . . .
Until then,
Juarez fight fans will next be found on PdP’s card November 1st
at the Poliforo when “Ranchero” Ramirez takes on Cesar Soto; and
“Tacubayo” Murillo gives Jose Luis Tula a chance at payback
while getting a shot at Tula’s WBC Mexican Featherweight belt.
 
# # #
12 Rounds for
the WBC Light Heavyweight Mexican Belt
Arturo “Licenciado” Rivera (18-1, 15 KO’s) KO 1 Gustavo “La
Parka” Enriquez (10-4, 7 KO’s)
10 Rounds
Heavyweight:
Arturo “Frankie” Rodriguez (?) KO 1 Miguel Angel “El Poli”
Alarcon (?)
8 Rounds
Lightweight:
Armando “Bellavista” Bosques (15-12-2, 12 KO’s) UD 8 Jose Juan
“Maromerito” Mendez (8-7-2, 1 KO)
6 Rounds
Lightweight:
Jorge Reyna (?) KO 1 Daniel “La Rana” Molina (0-2)
6 Rounds
Featherweight:
Oscar Olivas (?) UD 6 Jesus Campos (?)
6 Rounds
Jr. Welter:
Hector Castillo (3-2) MD 6 Ramon “El Grillo” Arrieta (?)
4 Rounds
Jr. Welter:
Sergio “El Puas” Santillan (1-0) UD 4 Roberto Piceno (0-1)
4 Rounds
Jr. Welter:
Ruben Lopez (1-0) UD 4 Jorge Torres (0-1) |
Undercard
Results
--Ricardo Trujillo
A 7-bout
undercard in far southeast
Juarez at the Rodeo Corona was the scene. A small dirt floor
arena was converted to an intimate boxing venue and away we went
on another
Juarez boxing
adventure . . . .
Torres
Takes Lopez
First up were 140 pound “debutantes” Ruben Lopez and Jorge
Torres, in an evenly matched bout that had local boys dueling
for bragging rights. Ruben Lopez won an entertaining opening
under-carder by unanimous decision. The aggressive Lopez
survived a late rally by Torres, but a hard lead right to the
face by Lopez about half-way through the fourth and last round
put a stop to the rally.
Santillan
Decisions Piceno
--chris cozzone
Pursuing Piceno, Santillan lands the more meaningful shots in
the 1st, staggering Piceno once and stopping him in his tracks
another time. In the 2nd, Piceno occasionally lands a decent
left hook but the round goes to the more aggressive, more
effective Santillan. Santillan continues his fight into the 3rd
and 4th, landing with more variety on the game but outpowered
Piceno. Easy unanimous decision for Santillan: 60-54 x 3.
Arrieta
Wins But Loses
--Ricardo Trujillo
Old, graying, out of shape and a winner . . . at least, that's
what it appeared to me. Ramon “El Grillo” Arrieta pleased the
crowd but not the judges in losing an incredulous decision to
Hector Castillo in a six round jr. welter fracas. In what can
only be described as theater of the absurd, the "Cricket"
endeared himself to the assembled by handing out novelty
balloons in the shape of “Cri Cri” the famous Mexican TV
cricket cartoon character. He also embarrassed the much younger
Hector Castillo with his antics in the ring, frequently dropping
his hands and showboating. The crafty, wily Arrieta had
everybody in stitches, especially after feigning being hurt, a
la Johnny Tapia, to his swiveling off the ropes and making
Castillo miss badly. The crowd chanted "GRILLO! GRILLO!" as “The
Cricket” fancy danced his way into the hearts of the fans. But,
alas, in the end, the judges had it 60-54, 56-56 and 59-57--for
Castillo. After I complained about the decision to the judge
next to me, he went ballistic, snapping at me: "I'm the
judge. You are the writer." Well, you know what, judge?
You got it wrong this time.
Olivas
Outdoes Campos
--chris cozzone
The taller Jesus Campos had the height and reach advantage but
threw it out the window, letting southpaw Oscar Olivas
consistently rush in and go to work. Olivas, more than happy to
oblige Campos, controlled the beat and in the 2nd, floored his
clumsier foe with a straight left to the chest. Again, at the
end of the round, down went Campos, this time from a right hook.
Campos should've gotten the hint: make Olivas pay coming in and
don't try to fight going backward. Round 3 was a better round
but Olivas' aggression and flawless footwork continued to give
him the fight. Campas got better as the fight wore on, but still
not enough to steal a round. Unanimous decision went to Olivas.
'Frog' Gets Squashed
--Ricardo Trujillo
In a 130 pound affair, Jorge Reyna took care of business with a
left hook to the chops of Daniel “La Rana” Molina. The "Frog"
got squashed at 2:18 of the first round in a scheduled six
rounder--making it the first one not to go the distance. The
more polished Reyna might be someone to watch out for in the
Mexican boxing scene.
'Bellavista' Beats 'Maromerito'
--chris cozzone
Just once in his career, I'd like to see Jose Juan "Maromerito"
Mendez fight in his natural weight class--probably around
118-122. This time, in a rematch originally won by the tough
cholo veteran, Mendez was fighting as a lightweight. The 1st saw
Mendez turn the fight into a brawl; Armando "Bellavista" Bosques,
a natural lightweight and the (very much) taller of the two,
gave way to Mendez, throwing all his advantages out the window
to brawl--giving the round away. In the 2nd, he continued to
cooperate, losing the close quarter brawling. Finally, in the
3rd, Bellavista started to use his reach and height, staying on
the outside and outboxing Mendez, who continually rushed in with
his head, elbows and fists. Bellavista usually responded by
shoving the shorter man way. In the 4th, Mendez was slowing down
and Bellavista picking up. By now, he was measuring his right
hands and realizing that whenever Mendez bullied his way in
close, he was wide open for a short left hook. The busier
fighter for the duration, Bosques started to control the action
and in the 7th, tried to go for the knockout. Toward the end of
the round, he got too macho and tried to go toe-to-toe with
Mendez, who'd saved up a bit of juice for a last chance brawl.
Bellavista stuck to plan in the final round, outboxing Mendez on
the outside and securing the fight. Scorecards read 78-74, 78-72
and 74-73, all for Bosques.
Co-Main Event:
"El Poli" Down in One with a Slap to the Solar Plexus
--Ricardo Trujillo
The co-main was next. Juarez Police Officer Miguel Angel “El
Poli” Alarcon was vanquished to the canvas by a solar plexus
shot from the pudgy Arturo “Frankie” Rodriguez at :45 of the
first round. “El Poli” never got on track, and writhed in pain
from the shot to the gut. |
