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text & photos by chris cozzone The
Santa Ana Star Casino launched their first boxing venture last night in
Bernalillo, NM with a six-bout card that included a WBC Youth title fight.
In a boxing-friendly venue that could take the lead for fights in New
Mexico, a thousand fans—a third of the arena’s capacity—showed up to
watch the debut card promoted by the casino in association with Richard
Steele, Hall-of-Fame ref-turned-matchmaker & promoter. The matches were even, the atmosphere animated, and the fights had plenty-o-action. In addition, the seating at the Events Center cannot be matched in NM, and the lighting is the best I've yet to see in 5 years of shooting boxing. The only upgrade that could be made would be to boost local talent on the card. The
card was also not without the usual behind-the-scenes troubles that almost
always plague boxing promoters. The
co-main originally featured lightweight contender Calvin “Strictly
Business” Davis. But when Davis arrived in Albuquerque the day before,
on the day of the weigh-ins, the FBI were there to greet the 23-1 fighter.
Davis appears down for the count now, as G-men are holding him on
suspicion of a countless number of charges of the cocaine distribution
variety. “Strictly Business” indeed . . . . The
New Mexico State Athletic Commission saved the day by suspending the
“Indefinite Suspension” of common Mexican opponent Juan Aranday (now
3-40-1), okaying him to make the trip from Juarez to fill in for Davis.
Aranday last fought in NM on March 23rd, while on a previous
suspension that was to expire one day later. But, the Commission let him
slide . . .
Aranday
stepped in for Davis in a ten-rounder against Jesse Gutierrez and the
co-main was downgraded to the undercard; a six-round women’s lightweight
bout between Jessica Rakoczy and Gloria Ramirez was upped to co-main. Another
bout that was added last-minute, then subtracted last-minute, was the pro
debut of Albuquerque born ‘n’ raised David Martinez, Jr. The 4-time
national amateur star trained by Danny Romero, Sr. was matched up against
Aranday’s buddy from Mexico, Jose Martinez, who also fought on the March
23rd card here in New Mexico where, KO’d in the 1st
by Tony Valdez, he fell to 0-9 and should’ve joined Aranday on the
Suspension List. But since then, Martinez has been able to fall even
farther. By the time the Commission had his FightFax, the day of the
fight, Martinez was 0-11. Needless to day, the fight was scratched.
Martinez has been promised a place on the next Santa Ana card at the end
of May. While
Martinez missed his pro debut, Jason Bray did not—and Bray did it in
impressive fashion.
As
expected, Abeyta tried to sucker Bray into a brawl. Bray kept his head and
moved away, popping Abeyta with a stiff jab and hard right hand. Abeyta
moved forward and Bray decided, what the hell?, let’s slug it out. Abeyta
was no match for the taller, more powerful Bray. Bray duked it out and
before you could yell at him to 'Get outta there!' and use his boxing
skills and superior reach, Bray had landed a bomb of a right hand that
dropped poor Ed to the canvas. Abeyta
was either not able to get up by the count of 10, or he wanted no more of
Jason Bray; the pro debuter had racked up his first win by knockout. At
164, Bray is built like his trainer, Foster. He also has all the
attributes: he’ll probably tower over most of his opponents; and he’s
got plenty of power in a springy jab and hard right hand. Keep an eye on
the kid . . . .
Not
used to the arid climate, as indicated by her static-plagued hair, Lovell
tried to catch the more aggressive Felter coming in. Felter was in
control—until a right hand nearly had her down near the end of the
round. Although unable to finish Felter, Lovell stole the round. The
fight should’ve been over in the 2nd, but wasn’t. In the
first minute, Lovell landed her right hand again. This time, Felter did
go down—hard. She made it up by the count of ten but was visibly
wobbly and the ref let it go; also not noticing trainer Irene Garcia
perched on the apron, white towel in hand. Despite
being nearly dead on her feet, Felter met Lovell’s finish-off attack
with her own assault, landing vicious uppercuts that snapped Lovell’s
head back. Having
recovered, Felter went to work in the 3rd and 4th,
taking back the fight and outhustling Lovell. Although both rounds had
brutal exchanges, the best moment was in the 4th when
Lovell’s breast cup popped out. Both fighters and ref Al Martinez stared
down in disbelief, trying to figure out from whence it came. The crowd
started laughing, then cheering as the cup was put back and the fighters
resumed battle. At
the end of 4, all three judges saw it for Lovell: 38-37 and 39-37 twice. I
had it 38-37 for Lovell, with the 2nd 10-8 round making the
difference.
Round
One was close, with Royal having the edge by being busier. It was a sloppy
round that had Cox rushing in like a mad imp trying to land, and Royal
standing firm trying to land his own shots. Round
Two saw Cox land a couple good left hooks, which ended up being his
downfall. One such punch landed against Royal’s head, which only served
to anger Royal. The “King" decreed his vengeance, landing a
monstrous left hook that dumped Cox to the canvas for the count. Cox’s
body tried to return to the fight but his head was gone and the doctors
came on in to make sure he was okay. The
Juan Aranday fight was next, against Castroville, TX’s Jesse “James”
Gutierrez. Demoted from co-main to just a ten-round undercard fight,
Aranday vs. Gutierrez would’ve been a “so-what?” fight . . . if
Aranday wasn’t so familiar to New Mexican fight fans. Aranday
may be from Juarez, Mexico, but he fights so much in New Mexico, he might
as well be a hometowner. Hell, he gets more fights in New Mexico than most
of the local talent who scramble around looking for spots on cards. As
a hometowner is how the crowd reacted to Aranday, cheering the Mexican
Marlboro Man on throughout ten ugly rounds against the poor out-of-towner
Gutierrez who struggled to handle Aranday’s evil ways. The
fight was somewhat close, but shouldn’t have been. Had Gutierrez stayed
on the outside and boxed, he would’ve walked away with a shutout
decision against the Mexican. But he only did that in spurts. The rest of
the time was a pushing, shoving, elbowing and holding sucker-punch match. The
crowd was amused, at least, especially when Aranday would wave his gloves
up and beckon Gutierrez to, “Come on in and fight me like a hombre!”
. . . which Gutierrez would
do. Then the two would tie up: Aranday would lock in one of Gutierrez’s
gloves and only when he was ready, release him and fire off a wily left
hook. Gutierrez, more concerned about head butts, fell for it, over and
over. But Gutierrez had a few tricks of his own. He would try to work
angles up close, yanking on the arm locked in under Aranday’s shoulder.
When that didn’t work, he would push down on Aranday or rabbit punch him
whenever possible. Both
fighters had their hands full, but it was referee Russell Mora who had to
work the hardest in the ring. Mora showed plenty of stamina and strength
in ten rounds, struggling time and time again to break up the two
fighters, then continually warning them not to elbow, sucker punch, rabbit
punch or shove. I suppose Aranday and Gutierrez got so used to the
warnings in ten long rounds, they were desensitized by Mora's warnings by
the end of the fight. At
the end of 10, all three judges had it for the Texan: 96-94, 97-93 and
98-92. As expected, Gutierrez was booed heavily while Aranday enjoyed his
new, adoring fans.
Rakoczy
did what she had to do, winning most rounds by staying on the outside,
pawing her jab and landing her occasional one-two’s. Ramirez did . ..
well Ramirez didn’t do much. She waited and waited and waited to launch
an attack, to the extreme displeasure of the booing crowd. It was only in
the final round that she let her hands go, but by then it was too little,
too late. All
three judges gave it to Rakoczy, 59-55, which is how I had it.
Rodriguez
was fully expected to win this one. The wily, baby-faced 20-year-old
Juarez veteran (whose record ranges from 14-6 to 25-6-1, depending on
whether you believe in FightFax or Boxing-Records.com; and whether you
discount all the unrecorded fights in Mexico) has been looking sharp in
his last half-dozen fights.
Just
as the bell sounded, Martinez’s glove was cutting through the air toward
Rodriguez’s head. Before the ref could step in between, Martinez had
landed a punch that nearly dropped Rodriguez. The Juarez veteran stumbled
back to his corner, looking lost and forlorn. Could
be, the corner had not seen the extent of the damage done—Rodriguez’s
back had been turned to them—for there was no sense of urgency to
recover Rodriguez and he stumbled out in the 2nd, trying to
squeeze the cobwebs out of his head.
What’s
next for Santa Ana? Look for yet another card at the end of May with Danny
Romero as the main event. # # #
Quick Results Jesse
“the Spoiler” Gutierrez
17-6
UD 10
Juan Aranday
3-32-3, 1 KO Francis
“the King” Royal
6-3,
5 KO's
KO 2
Tony Cox
2-4, 2 KO's Lisa
Lovell
2-4
UD 4
B.J. Felter
0-5 Jessica
Rakoczy
10-0,
2 KO's
UD 6
Gloria Ramirez 8-11-3, 2 KO's Jason Bray 1-0, 1 KO KO 1 "Dangerous" Ed Abeyta 1-4 QUESTIONS, COMMENTS? EMAIL US |
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© 2002 by New Mexico Boxing.com |
until
they found out that the rugged veteran had further flouted their rules and
regulations by taking a fight in Monterrey, Mexico seven days before (a
3rd Round TKO loss which should've put him on yet another suspension
list.) He was slapped with an “indefinitely suspended” status, until, of
course, the other day when he was called in to replace to Davis for what
is probably the biggest payday of his life: $3,000, making the
Commission’s suspension-turned-$250-fine a trivial thing. 
Bray
opened up the action at Santa Ana in a 4-rounder that promised to be THE
fight of the night. Bray was up against “Dangerous” Ed Abeyta, known
for his wildman slugging tactics in the ring. Bray, a solid amateur
fighter who’s trained by Boxing Legend and former Undisputed
LightHeavyweight King Bob Foster, was facing quite a test for a pro
debuter in taking on Abeyta, but he proved himself full of heart and
power.
Up
next on the card was a 4-round women’s lightweight bout between
Albuquerque’s B.J. Felter, who was coming off a long layoff, and Las
Vegas’ Lisa Lovell. The bout ended up being the best fight of the night.
Albuquerque
heavyweight and former national Toughman champ Francis “the King”
Royal was up next, taking on blown-up cruiserweight, Compton-born Tony Cox
in a 4-rounder.
The
co-main event was up next: a solid six-round women’s lightweight bout
between undefeated Las Vegan Jessica Rakoczy and Sunland Park, NM’s
Gloria Ramirez . . . at least it was supposed to be solid. It ended
up the one snoozer on the card. 
After
six rounds of unanimated action, the crowd was more than ready for the
main event title fight between Juarez’s Julian “Baby” Rodriguez and
Laredo, TX’s Idelfonso Martinez. 
In
Round One, things were looking “Baby’s” way, too. Martinez left
himself open and Rodriguez took advantage, landing both upstairs and down.
It was Rodriguez’s round—until the bell rang, that is. 
Martinez
did not fail to notice, and he went to war. He was able to land a
combination that had Rodriguez down. The ref counted to 8 and Rodriguez,
on the brink, was sent back out. Another left hook from Martinez and
Rodriguez was done. Ref Rocky Burke stopped the action and Martinez became
the new WBC Youth Bantamweight champ.