Punching 'Panda' nearly conquers Campas!

Ringside report by Ricardo Trujillo and Chris Cozzone
photos by cozzone

On paper, 13-1 Andres “Panda” Pacheco should’ve been easy pickings for an 88-fight veteran and former world champion like Luis “Yory Boy” Campas.

But those of us in the Southwest familiar with the fighter from Pueblo, Colo. knew Campas was in for a war.

Pacheco nearly walked away with an upset win last in El Paso, Texas at the Don Haskins Center on a Telefutura-televised Top Rank card—and had it not been for a sixth round knockdown, Campas would’ve suffered his seventh defeat.

Campas showed his experience in the opening stanza, letting his lefts do the talking. Except for a solid one-two at the end of the round, Pacheco fought on the defense.

Having had a taste of Campas, Pacheco went to work in the 2nd. Keeping his elbows in, Pacheco started to utilize a lazy jab backed up with solid right hands, giving the impression that this was not going to be an easy win, let alone a short night, for Yory Boy.

In the 3rd, Campas came out with more conviction but the busier Pacheco outslugged him.

Just when Campas took back the lead in the 4th, Pacheco made the round difficult to score by unleashing combinations off the rope.

Round Five was Pacheco’s. The Pueblo powerhouse beat Campas to the punch, playing switch hitter and scoring the better shots. By now, both had tasted each other’s power, but the former champ’s face was beginning to swell and he was breathing harder.

Round Six was the most pivotal round of the fight.

After two minutes of walking down Campas, taking his patented left hooks to the body but returning fire with smashing rights to the former champ’s face, Pacheco was suddenly staggered by a short inside left hook. A second left hook floored a squared-up Pacheco, who was up before eight but noticeably hurt. Pacheco survived the round, ending it by spreading his arms wide to inform Campas that he wasn’t going anywhere.

There was no round off of recovery for Pacheco in the 7th; he and Campas fought a phone booth slugfest for much of the round. Still not 100%, Pacheco showed great heart but Campas edged the round.

Campas retained his slight lead in the 8th, but was unable to hurt the game Pacheco again.

Round Nine was all Pacheco again. Refusing to be intimidated, Pacheco steamrolled forward, taking the play away from Campas, and battering him to the face with more rights.

Round Ten was up for grabs, with the crowd in a frenzy. Knowing he needed to win the final round, Campas heavily stormed Pacheco in the middle portion, snapping his head back with lefts and rights. Pacheco bounced back in the last minute, but Campas had edged the round.

Our scorecard read 96-94 for Campas.

The judges were split: 95-94 Pacheco, 95-94 Campas and 96-95 Campas.

“I don’t think it was a split decision,” an unsatisfied Campas said after the fight. “I think I won the fight.

“He never hurt me and his were all little rabbit punches.”

When asked about the sixth round knockdown, Campas, now 83-6 (69 KOs) replied:

“He should not have gotten up, not after the way I hit him.”

Pacheco knew the knockdown had made the difference.

“I was squared up and that’s why I went down,” said Pacheco, now 13-2 (9 KOs). “It changed the judges’ minds.

“But I tried my best. I had his ass. I was catching him all night with my right. I’m coming back and I don’t care who they put in front of me."

Semi-main: Contreras hammers out win over Burse

In the semi-main, Eleazer Contreras (24-4-2, 9 KOs) of Bakersfield, Calif. played it safe and controlled Las Vegas’ Mark Burse (11-8-1, 7 KOs) over eight rounds for a unanimous win.

Burse did not do much in the first, letting Contreras come to him with single-but-hard left hook body shots.

With neither fighter willing to get close, range and distance dictated, giving Contreras the round by boxing on the outside.

Contreras continued to hammer those left hooks, in the 3rd, which brought little out of Burse but smiles and head shaking, indicating he wasn’t hurt, but probably was.

In the fourth frame, Burse tried to come forward and fight in the pocket, but paid everytime. However, if this was a grinning contest, he would be the one up by four rounds.

In the 5th, A slightly busier Burse tried to lure the elusive Contreras into a trap but did not show enough pop to hurt him.

Round Six was a different story. Finally able to engage Contreras, Burse pounded his foe against the ropes with a hard right, finally winning a round.

Conteras regained control in the 7th. Albeit tiring, he circled and jabbed Burse for yet another round.

In the final round, Contreras came out firing with conviction, looking to close the show against a bleeding and battered Burse. Although on the verge, he was unable to stop him, and had to settle for the unanimous.

All three judges had it for Contreras: 79-73 x2 and a mysterious 79-71.

“I knew nothing about this guy,” Contreras said about Burse, a last minute opponent. “I took what was open. My plan was to go to the body and outbox him. I know I can do better but was happy with my performance.”

Conteras says he would like another shot at Juan Diaz (“I was robbed,” he said) and after that, Jose Luis Castillo.

Lopez avenges sole loss to Reyes; picks upt Texas belt

Avenging the sole loss on his record, NABA and New Mexico state superflyweight champion Cesar “El Gallito” Lopez (14-1, 4 KOs) of El Paso added the Miller Lite Texas superflyweight belt to his collection with a split decision win over Fidencio Reyes (7-2-1, 2 KOs) of Dallas, Texas.

The hometown hopeful tried to establish his jab in the 1st but did not follow through, making it easier for Reyes to stand firm and counterpunch. However, Reyes, the bigger foe at 115 pounds, did not take full advantage of the openings and Lopez edged him with those jabs.

In the 2nd, a wardrobe malfunction had the ref calling time in order to lower Reyes’ trunks from his chest. When the fight resumed, Lopez’s busier pace controlling the space over a still-tentative Reyes gave him the round.

Lopez continued to fight from a distance, choosing to grab and smother Reyes on the inside, making a dull fight. Unable to launch an effective attack, Reyes gave up the round.

In the fourth frame, the tide started to swing. Prepared now for Lopez, Reyes was able to close the gap and land his punches effectively.

Round Five came down to a choice of styles: Reyes’ more accurate but less than busy counterpunching to Lopez’s higher output but wild and wide swinging.

The 6th was all Reyes. His clean, hard body punches had Lopez backing up. A left to the body early had Lopez wincing.

Lopez came out determined in the 7th, taking the fight to Reyes but not landing as clean, mostly on the arms and shoulder.

In the final round, Reyes chased a bobbing and weaving Lopez around the ring but was unable to cut him off.

At the end of eight rounds, both the judges and the writers were split: Trujillo had it 77-75 for Lopez while Cozzone had it dead even, 76-76.

Judges had it 78-74 Reyes, 77-75 Lopez and 78-74 Lopez.

Lopez seemed happy with his performance.

“I did good tonight. I stuck to my game plan. He was taller, but I was still able to uppercut him.”

Lopez says the game plan includes a world title shot within 18 months.

Rodriguez pounds another patsy

In the walkout bout of the night, unbeaten heavyweight David "Nino" Rodriguez (16-0, 16 KOs) pounded down the pudgy Cruz Quintana (10-2, 8 KOs) in a sad mismatch.

Quintana, 5'10" tall and 5'10" wide, was game but was no match for the 6'4" heavy-handed powerhouse from El Paso. A left hook to the body at the one minute mark dropped Quintana to the canvas like a sack of wet laundry. He made the count, and came at Rodriguez, but was soon pounded down again with a barrage of lefts and rights against the ropes. Quintana sagged to the canvas and the ref called it quits with the official closing time of 2:07.

Opening bouts

In the opening bout of the night, Dallas, Texas superfeatherweight Albert Rodriguez (4-0, 4 KOs) remained undefeated with a 2nd round TKO over Joel Ortega (1-2-1, 1 KO) of Laredo, Texas.

The southpaw Ortega started strong in the first, landing a clean hard left cross to the body. Pushing the fight, he won the round.

But in the second, Rodriguez had weathered the storm and was able to turn things around in a furiously-paced fight. Pinning Ortega against the ropes, he battered him into submission, forcing Ref Burke to halt the proceedings at 1:07.

The second fight of the night had lanky heavyweight Dominique Alexander (7-1, 4 KOs) beat up a poorly-matched Shawn Dismuke (0-3-1).

A half-hook/half-uppercut and it was 'Goodnight, Irene' for Dismuke at 1:17 of the 1st.

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