Gallegos Defeats Aragon
Local prospect wins 8-round unanimous for NM state lightweight belt

Report and photos by Chris Cozzone

The crowd was sparse and the tiny 16-foot ring dimly lit, but there was no lack of action last night at the Robertson High School in Las Vegas, New Mexico when local prospect Shawn “the Educator” Gallegos prevailed in an eight-round thriller over Moriarty slugger Tommy Aragon for the newly-created New Mexico state lightweight belt.

Making a break from the Albuquerque casino scene, Fresquez Productions went light on purses and hype, and heavier on making solid matches on the five-bout card. It was the first Las Vegas fight card in two years, since near-contender Frankie Archuleta made a homecoming return in June 2001.

The main event was the long-awaited showdown between Gallegos and Aragon—a match that had been made and cancelled more than once. Two years ago at Sky City Casino, Aragon was actually laced up when he was forced to pull out due to chest pains. Last night, there was nothing holding him back.

While the 22-year-old Gallegos had the advantage of youth, speed and a hometown crowd, the phone booth of a ring favored the 39-year-old brawler. Plus, Aragon did not come along—he brought with him a solid following that did not mix well with Gallegos’ hometown buddies. Security had their hands full keeping the peace in the audience and the fighting where it belonged—in the ring.

Aragon commanded the early rounds. While Gallegos struggled to find a rhythm to deal with the aggressive Aragon, Tommy was making it difficult for the hometowner to stay on the outside. Aragon’s loopy overhand lefts won him the 1^st and his plan to maul and brawl Gallegos on the ropes gave him the 2^nd.

In the 3^rd, Aragon’s left hand bombs and keeping the hometown favorite on the run continued to keep him ahead, up until the middle of the round when Gallegos finally popped into mode and took over. Finally going toe-to-toe, Gallegos landed solid right hands and hooks that made it a close round to score.

Gallegos turned the fight around in the 4^th, opening up the round with a clean, solid right hand that momentarily stopped Aragon in his tracks. Outhustling from the outside, Gallegos landed another clean right then, soon after, flurried to Aragon’s body with a hook and right uppercut that had Aragon on his knees, clutching his privates.

Aragon’s corner screamed “Foul!” but ref Larry Chavez ruled it a knockdown and preceded to count. Aragon was up at 9, a bit wobbly-legged and the fight resumed.

Foul or legit knockdown, Aragon bounced back in the 5^th frame. With Gallegos trying to outpoint from the outside, Aragon loaded up on lefts, enough to give him the round, at least in my eyes.

Gallegos outhustled Aragon in the 6^th, his chin holding out to a couple bombs landed by Aragon.

In between the 6^th and 7^th, a scuffle broke out in Aragon’s corner between trainer Mike Winkeljohn and the guy who assisted the ring card girls into the ring. Instead of using a neutral corner, which is standard operating procedure, the girls entered from the blue corner, oftentimes disrupting the flow between rounds. Irritated, Winkeljohn told the guy to use another corner; he responded unkindly and before you knew it, security and cornermen were dragging the guy away. (Not a wise matchup: pudgy ring card guy vs. a former world kickboxing champion.)

Gallegos mixed it up more in the final two rounds, occasionally taking the fight to Aragon and landing furious punches that had Aragon backed up against the ropes. A vicious body attack on Aragon sealed the 7^th for Gallegos; and Aragon’s lack of activity gave Gallegos the final round.

At the end, my scores tallied a win for Gallegos, 77-74, although it would’ve been 77-75 if the 4^th round knockdown had been ruled a foul. The fight was closer than the three judges had it: 78-74, 79-73 and a mystifying 80-72.

Gallegos, now 9-1 (5 KOs), becomes the official New Mexico state lightweight champion and received a temporary belt until the real one could be produced.

“I had trouble waking up until the third round,” Gallegos said after the fight. “After that, it was simple boxing. I beat him fair and square and he tried to fight dirty.”

During the fight, he’d complained several times that Aragon was holding—while Aragon’s corner had grumbled about Gallegos pushing down on Aragon’s head when they’d clinched.

“In the 4^th, I hit him with a right uppercut on the belly—it was a legitimate knockdown.”

Gallegos also said he was never hurt by Aragon.

“He hits hard but he couldn’t land cleanly. I was never hurt, unless you count the times he hit me with his head.”

The scene in the Aragon locker room wasn’t pretty. While Aragon sat on a bench, grimacing in pain and holding a disfigured left elbow, members of his team (his brothers, actually) were outraged.

“Look at him—not one mark on him!”

“That wasn’t a knockdown! He got hit right in the nuts, dude!”

“He was scared of you, Tommy! He ran all night!”

“They got laws for robbery where I come from!”

Aragon tried to calm his brothers down, yelling, “Stop it! It’s over—it was fun.”

Unlike his brothers, who continued to scream bloody robbery, Aragon said he thought Gallegos had “probably beaten him” in a close fight, but that he’d known from the beginning that if it went the distance, he would probably not get a decision in Las Vegas.

He also said that, in the 2^nd, he’d injured his elbow.

 “I had one hand for the whole fight,” he said. “I think I fractured my elbow.”

Needless to say, Aragon would like a rematch.

“We want a rematch in Albuquerque!” his brothers demand. “Anywhere but here.”

Although he drops to 7-5-1 (5 KOs), the Moriarty slugger remains one of New Mexico’s most exciting fighters.

Gallito gains win over Garcia

The scheduled six-rounder between El Paso’s Cesar “El Gallito” Lopez and Santa Fe’s Bryan Garcia had the potential for a classic war. It would’ve been, too, if not for two factors that made it exciting only in spots: Garcia, always an exciting fighter, did not commit to punches; and Lopez, due to an injured hand in the 2^nd, did not throw non-stop like he usually does.

It was classic “El Gallito” action in the 1^st and 2^nd. Lopez wasted no time getting busy and went to work on Garcia, who was not busy enough to counter Gallito’s crazy uppercuts and double left hooks to the body. Garcia did better in the 2^nd, but only tap-tap-tapped his punches against a tight defense by Lopez.

Lopez slowed down in the 2^nd, letting Garcia launch an attack, and only occasionally opening up with explosive attacks that would push Garcia back. It was enough to win the round for Lopez—but not in the 4^th and 5^th.

It looked like Lopez was playing rope-a-dope. He would let Garcia take control and while showing a solid gloves-up defense, Garcia was racking up pitter-patter points. Once in a while, he’d open up with a brief combo, but Garcia was now winning rounds. In fact, at one point, Lopez, with his back against the ropes, did not fire back for a full minute, at which point, the ref warned him to throw or he’d stop the fight—Lopez fired back and moved out of range.

In the last frame, Lopez had his best round, letting his hands go and keeping Garcia on the move.

I had it 4 rounds to 2 for Lopez. Judges scored it, 58-56, 59-55 and 60-54, all for Lopez who gets moves up to 11-1 (4 KOs). Garcia falls to 6-7 (2 KOs).

Lopez said he’d busted up his left hand in the second round.

“It was left hook on the top of his head. It hurt to use that hand after that.

“But not to take anything away from Garcia—it was a good fight.”

Vargas beats on Bernal in mismatch

In what would have otherwise been a perfect fight card, the last-minute match between Mexico City’s Cuauhtemoc “the Aztec Warrior” Vargas and Denver’s Omar Bernal was a solid stink bomb.

Vargas, a slow starter, took his time running Bernal down in the 1^st. While Bernal, to his credit, threw several right hands that landed clean, Vargas barely noticed them as he tried to keep his guy in one place instead of running.

The running continued in the 2^nd until Vargas started to cut Bernal off and load up. It didn’t last long after that. At :53, Bernal took a knee, just as a white towel sailed into the ring and the ref waved it off.

Bernal, now 0-3, had no business being in the ring against a solid prospect like Vargas, who rises to 10-0 (8 KOs). The Aztec Warrior, originally scheduled to fight Heriberto Velasquez (4-14), should be fighting other monsters—guys like Jhonny Gonzalez or Daniel Ponce de Leon.

Guereca takes Torres in close one

In the best fight of the night, El Paso’s Bernardo Guereca and Albuquerque’s Jeremiah “Jet” Torres mixed it up for four solid rounds.

Guereca was on the prowl from the start, while Torres stayed out of range when he wasn’t countering with furious flurries that made it a tough one to score. While Guereca landed the better shots in the 1^st, I thought Torres’ edged him out in the number of punches.

Torres was on his way to taking the 2^nd in the same fashion but in the last minute, Guereca unloaded an assault that had Torres hanging on. Back-and-forth action continued on until the bell sounded: Torres landed a left hook that had Guereca faltering, then a straight left from Guereca turned the tables again. Round to Guereca.

Guereca carried the lead for the first half of the 3^rd, keeping Torres moving and landing good power shots. But he started to tire and Torres, well-conditioned, started to fight as an aggressor, landing more than enough straight right hands to give him the round.

Torres did not press Guereca enough in the last round and Guereca, visibly tired, landed the heavier blows, taking the round.

At the end of four, I had it 38-even, two rounds apiece. One judge agreed, the other two had it for Guereca, 39-37.

Guereca raises his record to 8-4-1; Torres, who is looking at a potentially-explosive rematch with Colbert Losoya in September, evens out at 4-4.

Finally! Felter gets a win

It’s taken seven fights, but B.J. Felter has finally won a fight.

In the opening bout, Felter took on Denver’s Elisha Olivas in a four-rounder.

In the 1^st, Olivas was the busier fighter, jabbing at Felter, throwing occasional rights and keeping Felter moving around. Taking too long to launch her own attack, Felter fought on the defense, but did land a solid right hand at the end of the round.

Felter turned things around in the 2^nd. While Olivas was pestering her with lesser-but-busier shots, Felter started to open up, landing fierce counter shots that gave her the round.

While Felter’s earsplitting bombs made an impression, Olivas’ workrate should’ve given her the 3^rd. The 4^th was a repeat of the 3^rd: Felter’s meaningful punches vs. Olivas’ sheer number of punches. All things being equal, Olivas did control the tempo of the fight, giving her, I thought, the slight edge.

I had it 39-37 for Olivas but only one judge had it that way. The other two had it 39-37 for Felter, giving her a first win at 1-6. Olivas falls to 1-4-1.

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