Smashing!
Holly Holm gives her finest performance yet with a ten round decision over tough Terri Blair for vacant Women’s IBA belt

Ringside report and photos by Chris Cozzone

It was Holly Holm’s fight from the opening bell.

Going the ten-round distance for the first time in her career, Holm showed the crowd at Isleta Resort & Casino why she is New Mexico’s biggest female draw by not only outboxing her determined opponent, Terri Blair of Louisville, Kentucky, but by winning their several close quarter scuffles.

Normally a 130-135 pounder, Blair had taken the fight on a week’s notice to fight the taller 140-pound Holm after Denver’s Angie Poe caught a flu bug, making it a rare southpaw vs. southpaw bout.

But after just one round, the disadvantages were all Blair’s when Holm showed a foolproof plan, forcing her opponent to chase her around the ring. Blair spent the night walking into jabs and straight left hands when she got close enough, yet she never gave up.

After four rounds of trying to pressure Holm, eating that jab and left hand every time she closed the gap, Blair could do little but continually shake her head at Holm as if to say, ‘I ain’t hurt.’

“Track star! Track star!” Blair’s corner shouted at Holm, urging their fighter to find a home for her overhand left hand.

In the fifth round, Holm started to oblige Blair, stopping long enough to trade shots close quarter—but before Blair could land more than a single punch at a time, Holm would let loose with three or four-punch combination before slipping away unscathed.

Blair finally had her way in Round Six, winning her first round in dramatic fashion. It was ‘Bombs away!’ for Blair, who landed several overhand lefts that had Holm visibly wounded for the first time in the fight.

Blair, however, could not repeat her success in the 7th, when Holm outbanged her close quarter in some of the best trades in the fight.

Holm resumed control, outhustling Blair in the 8th and 9th, then edged her with a series of final slugouts in the final round.

After ten, I had it 99-91 for Holm.

Two judges had it the same, 99-91, while Judge Rosales had it much closer, 96-94. (Coincidentally, several others on that side of the ring had it that close.)

With the win, Holm bounces back from her sole loss last June to pick up her first title, the Women’s IBA Junior Welterweight championship.

“I feel awesome,” Holm said in the ring after being declared the new champ.

“Blair had a lot of power and she rang my bell in the second round. But we watched and studied a tape of her last fight. We knew that footwork and technique was going to win.”

The step-up belt should open doors for Holm who is destined for national exposure in her next match: Last nights’ winner is contracted to fight top female contender Mia St. John (38-4-2, 15 KOs) early next year on another Fresquez card at Isleta.

“Mia’s a tough fight,” Holm said. “I’ll have to come up with a different game plan.”

Holm moves to 8-1-2 (3 KOs) while Blair falls to 5-7-1 (3 KOs).

Strike Three for Heyman at middleweight!

In his third attempt to drop weight and fight at 160 pounds, Albuquerque’s “Mad” Max Heyman lost his chance to win the vacant IBA Continental Americas belt by suffering a TKO loss to Darrell Woods of St. Petersburg, Florida when his corner threw in the towel before Round Six could begin.

For the first three rounds, it was all Heyman.

Heyman won the first round on the outside, letting Woods plod after him, then peppering him with jabs and set-up rights that continually landed down the middle.

A real fight commenced in the second. Heyman stood his ground and traded toe-to-toe, coming off first, then spinning out with his jab. Woods started to land body shots but Heyman was in control.

In the 3rd, however, Heyman was already showing signs of fatigue. Letting Woods guide him into the corner, he would duke it out, still beating his opponent to the punch, but barely. By the end of the round, Woods was landing hard body shots and the fight was beginning to hit at an ‘about face.’

Heyman was visibly weary in the fourth round, letting Woods push him around and batter him with body shots.

In the 5th, it was worse. Woods opened up, slamming Heyman with several solid straight hands that had Heyman looking like he was already on his way out.

In between rounds, trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad evaluated his fighter’s condition and called it quits, giving the belt and TKO win to Woods.

On his way backstage, an exhausted Heyman muttered, “I’m f---ing dead. I couldn’t do it . . .”

“We are through at middleweight,” Muhammad said. “At 164-165, Max is strong in the gym, and takes care of guys much better than Woods. But it’s that last five pounds that kill him. He hit that wall. He’s going back to super middleweight. He can’t do this anymore.”

It was Heyman’s third fight at 160 pounds—and third loss at that weight. Earlier this year, he lost a decision to Lee Montoya; and, last year, he was knocked out by R.J. Karsten.

“The weight killed me,” said Heyman, sucking down his second bottle of water.

“I felt myself hitting that wall in the first round. I never even got started.”

Heyman, now 19-7-3, 12 KOs, was ahead on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

The new IBA Continental Americas champion, Woods, rises to 22-9, 15 KOs.

‘El Gallito’ braves, and beats, ‘Apachito’ for NABA Flyweight belt!

Against his toughest opponent yet, El Paso’s Cesar “El Gallito” Lopez validated his top ten contendership with a lopsided unanimous decision over proven Juarez veteran Alejandro “Apachito” Moreno, to snag his second NABA belt.

This time, it was for the flyweight version, Lopez’s true weight class.

While the fight did not pan out to be a high-volume barnburner, never evolving past the methodical technical bout it was, Lopez used his lightning-quick speed and skills to win round after round.

Moreno had the reach on the smaller Lopez, yet never utilized it. Letting Lopez zip in and out, like a crazed hornet, Moreno plodded forward without letting his hands go.

I had the first two rounds tentative enough to be 10-10, after which Lopez took control, changing angles on Moreno and scoring solid lead left hooks, then making Moreno miss with his counterpunches.

Lopez buzzed in and out, putting rounds in the bank, while the crowd grew restless for some toe-toe-toe. At the end of the sixth, they traded shots to close the round, but settled into the same ol’ routine in the 7th.

Finally, in the Eighth, they duked it out, but Moreno’s uninspired attacks were no match for Gallito’s hard left hooks, both up and downstairs.

The safe, tactical plan continued in the 9th and final round, giving Lopez the win with scores of 98-92 twice and 98-93.

I had it 100-92 for Lopez.

“Moreno was my toughest opponent yet and I proved I could do it,” said Lopez. “He had long arms and I had to find a way to get in there and score.

“It only gets tougher from here but I’m going to stay at 112.”

Currently, Lopez is #10 in the WBA’s ratings, but at 115, the weight at which he won his first NABA belt.

Lopez moves to 16-1-0, 4 KOs while Moreno falls to 20-16-1, 10 KOs.

Taurus ‘bulls’ through Maxime

In his Albuquerque debut, Brooklyn heavyweight Taurus “the Bull” Sykes (22-1-1, 6 KOs) knocked down Onebo Maxime (15-26, 11 KOs) three times en route to a second round TKO.

It was a predictable fight from the get-go, with Sykes bulling forward, slamming a covering-up Maxime with body shots. At the end of the round, Sykes landed his best shot, a booming body shot that put Maxime on his knees.

In the second round, body punches put Maxime down two more times, until Ref Rocky Burke called it off at 2:22.

While looking impressive, and drawing rowdy cheers from the crowd, Sykes was impressive—but it should be noted that Maxime is not exactly star quality.

In fact, it’s a mystery how he was even approved by the Arizona Boxing Commission (the Isleta Casino did not use the New Mexico State Athletic Commission, most likely due to a higher entertainment tax.) Maxine has now lost 23 of his last 24 fights. His loss to Sykes is his 11th in a row; preceded by another incredulous 12-fight losing streak.

New Mexico fans should get used to seeing Sykes as he attempts to break into the top ten heavyweight picture—he recently signed with ‘Tres Amigos’, a new management team formed by Lenny Fresquez, Guy Riordan and Danny Villaneuva.

Torres punishes Marquez in thriller!

In a six-round thriller, Belen’s Jeremiah “Jet” Torres (6-7, 1 KO) showed the crowd why he’s one of New Mexico’s most exciting fighters by punishing Colorado’s Stevie Marquez (5-4-1, 4 KOs) through six rounds for a unanimous decision win.

While Torres sought to execute a box-and-move plan in the first round, Marquez was on the attack, landing big right hands that, at one point, staggered Torres. Every time Torres stepped in to score, Marquez was there waiting for him with his big right.

Marquez faded quickly, as he often does, and in the second round, Torres had stepped up his attacks, jabbing and landing big straight right hands. At the end of the round, he’d bloodied Marquez’s nose.

Torres was overwhelming in the third round. While Marquez was waiting too long, Torres was all over him, slamming him to the body, then going upstairs with right hands. By the end of this round, Marquez looked like he’d been through a meat grinder, and was bleeding heavily from his nose and from a cut around his left eye.

Torres wowed the crowd in the fourth, beating Marquez to the punch and hammering him with more and more right hands. With so much punishment, Marquez looked like he was on his way out.

Showing his mettle, Marquez had a better round in the 5th, meaning he didn’t eat as many right hands and was able to survive while Torres outboxed him.

Marquez emptied his gas tank in the final round, but his attacks were neither, not enough to win the round, nor the fight.

At the end of six, I had it for Torres 59-55.

All three judges had similar scores, 59-54, 60-54 and 59-55, all for Torres.

McCartey wins split decision over Marquez

In the opening bout of the night, Albuquerque jr. welterweight  Dale McCarty (2-2) picked up a hard-fought split decision over lazy featherweight Andrew Marquez  (3-3-1, 2 KOs).

While he had the weight and height advantage, McCartey, still a kickboxer in transition but improving, was no match for Marquez’s boxing skills, but his busy-ness and aggression made it a close fight that could’ve gone either way.

In the first round, McCartey aggressively took the fight to Marquez—until the Colorado fighter landed his first big overhand right. Then McCartey showed a little more respect coming in.

It was McCartey’s quantity vs. Marquez’s quality in the second round. Marquez waited too long but landed the damaging blows against McCartey, who was defenseless against those timed shots.

In the third and fourth rounds, Marquez was already blowing like a whale. When he did fire, he landed crushing blows, but took too long in doing so, during which, McCartey was on the attack.

After four, I thought Marquez’s solid right hands had given him three of the four rounds, and scored it 39-37 for him.

Only one judge had it that way (Esther Lopez); the other two had it for McCartey, 39-37, giving him the split decision win.

Marquez, like brother Stevie, was a top amateur in Colorado. But you never would’ve guessed that about either one, though, in their respective fights last night. It’s the Marquez curse: either a lack of training or stage fright, that disables them in the ring.

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