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ROMERO WINS IBA BELT
Victory is vague as Danny goes distance with Trinidad Mendoza
for trinket title
text and
photos by chris cozzone
Itís been
nearly six years since Danny Romero has been a world champion.
But after
last night, Romero can, once again, call himself one.
Technically,
anyway.
And
barely.
After
winning a difficult (and close) 12-round unanimous decision over
Trinidad Mendoza at Sandia Casino, Romero has earned himself the
title of ìIBA Superbantamweight World Champion.î
At times,
he fought like the Romero of Olde, who went in there to crush
the enemy; the ìKid Dynamiteî who won a world title at the age
of 21; the powerhouse who crushed Harold Grey for his 2nd
world title; the warrior who fought brilliantly against Vuyani
Bungu for what shouldíve been his 3rd world
title.
For most
of last nightsí fight, that ìRomero the Destroyerî was nowhere
to be seen.
Romero
began like his old self, a serious aggressor who went right
to work on Mendoza. For the first two rounds, Mendoza stayed on
the outside, fending off left hooks and body shots scoring but
occasionally.
Mendoza
metamorphosized into a monster in the 3rd round.
Refusing to be driven backward, he matched Romeroís aggression
and the two went toe-to-toe. Only Mendoza gave better than he
got and late in the round, a right hand appeared to stun Romero.
It was
Romeroís turn to metamorphosize. He came out for the 4th
round refusing to mix it up with Mendoza. Fighting on the
retreat, he began a puzzling counterpunching game that would
last five rounds. Now the aggressor, Mendoza tried to hunt him
down to swap punches, but Romero continued to back up and score
with the occasional counterpunch.
ìWhatís he
doing?î
Thatís
what most of us were saying ringside. Had Danny Romero been hurt
in the 3rd? Why wasnít he trading punches with
Mendoza?
The 4th
and 5th were close but Romero started to settle into
his less-than-exciting game in the 6th and 7th
although the ever-pressing Mendoza would occasionally land
something serious.
While
Romero was playing it safe, he was also making it difficult to
score the rounds. Those who favored aggressive fighters pressing
the attack couldíve given these rounds to Mendoza; those who
liked cleaner-scoring boxers wouldíve given Romero the edge.
Murky
scoring or no, the rounds started to repeat so by the 8th,
the puzzled crowd began to boo heavily. The crowdís irritation
broke in the final moments of the 8th when Romero
stood his ground and traded heavily with Mendoza in the best
exchange of the fight thus far. Romero landed a hard left hook
that had Mendoza answering back after the bell sounded.
That bit
of war mustíve shaken some of the rust off Romeroís buried
battle rage because he came out for the 9th a
different fighter.
Finally!
Romero and
Mendoza looked like Siamese twins in the 9th and 10th;
joined at the foreheads and battering each other from start to
finish. With Mendoza pressed up against the ropes, Romero
hammered away at his body. Although he finished the round with
his nose bleeding, Romero was smiling at the end of the round
and the crowd finally started to cheer.
The 10th
was another solid round for Romero who landed his best shotóa
left hookóduring the final moments.
The
toe-to-toe action took a break in the 11th and final
round, when Romero went back and forth between trading and
retreating. Romeroís counterpunching was enough to win the 11th
although the 12th couldíve gone either way when
Mendoza tried to finish strong.
After 12
rounds, the judges were varied in scores, but agreed upon for
the winner. The scores ranged from a very close 115-114 to
116-112 to a puzzling 117-111, all for Romero. I had it 115-113
for Romero.
Romero,
now 43-5-1 (38 KOís), adds another belt to his collection while
Mendoza, who loses with each step-up in competition, falls to
19-5-2 (14 KOís).
ìI was off
tonight,î Romero admitted after the fight. ìI was a bit rusty
and decided to box a little. But what matters is Iím a world
champion again.î
While the
Romero camp and the general public, who know little about boxing
and get their news from the late-night local news, may now call
Romero a 3-time world champion, most of those in the boxing
world will only recognize Romeroís first two belts as legitimate
world titles.
In a sport
bogged down with dozens of titleholders and ìworld championsî
trying to stay afloat in the muck of alphabet soup, the IBA is
considered a minor title. It might be as pretty as the WBO, WBC
and IBF belts, but itís nowhere as prestigious and virtually
unrecognized as an actual world title belt by most boxing
aficionados.
In the
real world, itís just another trinket.
Danny
Romero has, himself, said it best in the past: ìItís not what
you win, but who you fight, that makes you a champion.î
For
Romero, who proved himself one of the best in the world in the
ë90s, his biggest tests are yet to come if heís going to show
the world that heís still the man.
Aztec
Warrior Wins Again
With just
eight bouts under his belt, Cuauhtemoc ìthe Aztec Warriorî
Vargas was originally slated to fight former world champion
Francisco Tejedoróthe man Danny Romero defeated for his first
world title in 1995. After Tejedor could not gain enough weight
to meet Vargas at featherweight, Vargas was matched against the
durable Jaime Orrantia from Lakeside, CA.
In 17
bouts, Orrantia has never been stopped. Heís also one of those
few fighters who will not make you look good.
While
Vargas was able to do the impossible and look good against
Orrantia, he was still not able to put his man down in the eight
rounds they went at it.
Orrantia
took the first round by outhustling the slow-starting Vargas who
was beginning to warm up by the end with left hooks up and
downstairs.
The 2nd
was close: Orrantiaís workrate vs. Vargasí harder shots and
constant pressure. Always moving forward, Vargas started to land
his short hooks and an occasional right.
In the 3rd
and 4th, Orrantia, sick of moving backward, made it a
phone booth fight and the two blasted away at each other. But
with each passing round, Vargas upped his punch rate and he
started to wear down Orrantia.
By the 6th,
Vargas was hitting the iron-chinned Orrantia with right hand
bombs and solid left hooks that wouldíve flattened anyone else.
Still, Orrantia refused to back down and he gave a fight through
the 8th.
At the
end, scorecards all read for Vargas: 78-74 twice and 77-75.
Just 18
years old, Vargas is a monster to keep an eye on. He moves to
9-0 (7 KOís) while Orrantia falls to 10-5-3 (3 KOís).
Diablo
Beats the Devil Out of Velasquez
In the
opening bout of the night, El Pasoís Alex ìEl Diabloî Becerra
took out a normally-sturdy Heriberto Velasquez in less than four
rounds.
While
Denverís Velasquez always comes to fight, and is always solid
(he went the distance with Cuauhtemoc Vargas last year), he
lacks in skills, throwing wide and sloppy. But what he lacks in
speed and tact, he makes up for in heart and chin.
Last
night, neither mattered when he stepped into the ring against
Becerra.
In the 1st,
Becerra let Velasquez walk right on in before hitting him with
crisp combinations. Halfway through, both fighters landed left
hooksóboth fighters went down. While it looked like Becerra
mightíve slipped (he popped back up like a jack-in-the-box
immediately afterward), it was obvious that this was not the
case for Velasquez who was visibly damaged goods afterward.
Velasquez
made the count and survived the round on the retreat.
In the 2nd,
a wide left hook momentarily halted Becerraís attack but the El
Pasoan took the round landing clean shots against a battered and
bleeding Velasquez.
The fight
couldíve been stopped anytime after. The 3rd was
brutal. Once again, Becerra dropped Velasquez and while he
survivedóbarelyóhe was continually pummeled pillar to post.
The
slaughter continued in the 4th until Velasquezís
corner threw in the towel at 1:44.
Becerra,
who is looking at a possible WBC World Youth title fight in the
Fall, rises to 14-2 (5 KOís); Velasquez plummets to 4-17-2 (2
KOís).
Guereca
Gets Win
Following
the televised portion of the card, Becerra stablemate from El
Paso Bernardo Guereca took on Cozumel, MXís Jorge Espinoza in a
four-rounder.
Guereca
last fought at 154, and came close to finishing off Vernon Payne
earlier this year (before the fight was stopped on a cut
awarding Payne a lucky technical decision.) Last night, Guereca
was a lean, mean 140óhe proved himself a monster, at least for
two rounds.
The 6í4î
Espinoza had a ridiculous height and reach advantage that could
not be put to use. Guereca threw himself forward, closing the
distance and landing left hand bombs. By the end of the 1st,
Espinoza had tasted canvas twice.
Guereca
continued to brutalize Espinoza, this time with big right hands,
coming close to another knockdown in the 2nd.
But in the
3rd, Guereca came out lifeless. Finally able to land
and jab, Espinoza went to work while Guereca sought to tie
upóthat only earned him a point off for holding. Then after a
slip, Guerecaís luck continued to run out when the ref counted
it a knockdown, making it a 10-7 round for Espinoza.
Still
tired, Guereca dug deep for any remaining energy, going
toe-to-toe with a now-rejuvenated Espinoza, making it a close
round.
At the end
of four, scorecards read 36 even; 37-35 and 37-36, giving
Guereca the majority decision win. I had it 37-35 for Guereca.
Now
campaigning at 140, Guereca is 7-3-1 (1 KO); Espinoza is 6-5.
Jaramillo
Massacres Mimi
Albuquerqueís Stephanie ìGolden Girlî Jaramillo picked up an
easy win against last-minute sub Mimi Palfy from Rapid City, WY.
It was
Palfyís pro debutóa bad move for someone who was up against
Jaramilloís skills and amateur experience. While she was able to
land a few shots, Palfy was hopelessly outmatched by the
aggressive Jaramillo who took her time and blasted her helpless
opponent with combinations.
The fight
was stopped at 3:00 of the 1st when the corner threw
in the towel after Palfy, pinned against the ropes, shook her
head ìno masî after Jaramillo gave her a pummeling.
Jaramillo
moves to 3-0 (2 KOís).
Castillo
Outhustles Martinez
In a
four-round exhibition, El Pasoís Oscar ìXicanitoî Castillo (1-0)
outboxed a frustrated James Martinez (1-0, 1 KO). Martinez, who
outweighed Castillo by 15 pounds, could not get close enough to
land; and when he did, it was blocked by Castilloís gloves.
Staying on the outside, Castillo put on a bit of a clinic,
jabbing and throwing Martinez off his straight-on approach.
Martinez
was originally scheduled to fight Eric Tolliver, who broke his
nose a couple days before; he was, then, slated to rematch
Lawrence Burrel, whose car broke down on the way to Albuquerque
on the day of the weigh-in.
Castillo
returns to action June 21 in Roswell when he takes on Colbert
ìthe Pitbullî Losoya.
Attack of
the Grasshoppers
Too bad,
the casino could not charge them admission . . . .
Outnumbering the embarrassingly low turnout at Sandia Casino by
at least 3-to-1 were the grasshoppers. The swarm started to
appear near the end of Romero vs. Mendoza and by the end of the
nightóthree bouts lateróthe canvas had become a battlefield
littered with the corpses of hundreds; and spotted with the
ichor of their dead or dying.
If theyíd
been locusts, you could call it a bad omen for Sandia. Isleta
Casino has pulled the plug on pugilism; Santa Ana has, at least,
backed off for the time being. Is Sandia next?
Stay tuned
. . . .
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