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FLAWED FOES FLATTENED!
Valdez, Rodriguez, Michel Score 1st Round Kayos
Torres Upsets Connally; Chavez, Cruz Win Decisions
Ringside
report by Ricardo Trujillo
Photos by Chris Cozzone
Last night
at the Camel Rock Casino, professional boxing returned to
Northern New Mexico.
In what
can only be described as a stretch for starved boxing fans up
north, at least on three of the six bouts, favorites won over
out-matched and out-gunned opponents.
In the
first bout of the evening, hard luck case Monica Michel won her
first match as a pro by dispatching Brittney Conan with a big
right hand. Conan hit the canvas and a well-prepared towel came
flying in from the blue corner signifying, “Enough is enough.”
The end came at :31 seconds of round number one.
The second
bout of the evening showed more female boxing; this one was, at
least, more competitive, with Terri Cruz, the “Li’l Terror” from
Denver going the distance with B.J. Felter in a fairly
entertaining four rounder. Although Felter could not get close
to do any significant damage to Cruz, she showed a lot of heart
despite a gargoyle-like swelling under her left eye. Cruz used
her jab to keep Felter away and won 40-36 on all cards. Felter
drops to 0-6 on her birthday, what can you say? B.J. loves to
fight.
In the
most entertaining fight of the night, 0-2 Arturo Torres, now
1-2, showed up and out-hustled a counter-punching Mike Connally,
now 1-1, winning a majority decision 40-36, 38-38 and 39-37. In
the first stanza, Connally, who was a celebrated amateur
champion trained by Ray Sanchez II, landed a clean left hook that rocked Torres, but he
did not press his advantage and ended up losing the round by
being outworked. Torres listened to his corner and out-slugged
the tight “Tyke” from Albuquerque.
After the
fight, trainer Luis Chavez praised his prospect: “Arturo is more
forceful in his training now. We want rematches with [David]
Martinez and [Heriberto] Velasquez,” referring to Torres’ two
losses. Torres will now campaign at 122 lbs.
Next up,
was Cuban expatriate Julio Chavez, who raised his record to 2-0
with a convincing unanimous decision over pro debuter Jose Luis
Burgos. Although Chavez is very raw, he showed potential and
could make noise locally in the lightweight division.
Heavyweights were up next. David Rodriguez from El Paso crushed
0-5 40-year old Ricky Lynn Jefferson with a left hook to the
body and chopping right to the head—good night Irene!
Jefferson,
who arrived without a corner was hitting the mitts in the
dressing room with Freddie Esquibel, who described him as
“getting tired while warming up.” Esquibel also called the fight
a “mismatch.”
Rodriquez’s trainer, Louie Burke was pleased with his prospect’s
work and said, “That left hook came through again, and David
made some fans tonight.”
The main
event was next.
Espanola
native Tony “the Warrior” Valdez body punched rookie Matthew
Salazar into submission at 2:47 of the first round. Salazar, who
looked like he had never been in the ring before, didn’t put up
much of a fight and nearly threw up from a left hook to the
stomach. Valdez is a definite prospect, but needs to fight more
competitive opponents.
While
three of the fights were farcical, overall, the Holmes brothers
put on a good show should be commended for creating a boxing
scene in Northern New Mexico.
# # #
Cozzone's Notes:
Tony Valdez (5-1,
5 KO's) KO 1 Matthew Salazar (0-1): Always an exciting fighter but
never enough time to showcase his stuff with opponents like Salazar
or, like his first two fights, Jose Martinez. Salazar fought like
he'd laced up for the first time.
David Rodriguez (10-0, 10 KO's) KO 1 Ricky Jefferson (0-5):
Like Valdez, Rodriguez has way too much skill and power to be
fighting 0-4 fighters. It's time to fight someone who will last past
the first round.
Julio Chavez (2-0, 1 KO) UD 4 Jose Luis Burgos (0-1):
Chavez is still green but has potential. Burgos was durable, and a
good fight for Chavez at this stage of the game.
Arturo Torres (1-2) MD 4 Mike Connally (1-1):
Grit wins over skill . . . Connally was a great amateur but needs to
get busy in the ring. Still, was a close fight, and I had it 3
rounds to 1 for Torres due to his workrate.
Terri Cruz (6-3) UD 4 B.J. Felter (0-5):
Felter is looking better than ever but Cruz was too skilled to let
B.J. get her first win. Cruz was a bit rusty at first but if she
stays in the gym, could give Adriana Delgado a good fight.
Monica Michel (1-3-3) KO 1
Brittany Conan (0-3): Monica gets her first win. Although deserving
of an easy fight, and a 'W' for her record, this "fight" was
comical. Conan's people had the white towel ready before she even
went down. |
