Woe for Whitley:
Judges whisk away win
Kirino Garcia draws with Derrick Whitley, NABO Light Heavy title remains vacant

Ringside report by Ricardo Trujillo and Chris Cozzone
photos by cozzone

It could’ve been worse for Derrick “Double Impact” Whitley.

He could’ve come to Juarez, defeated hometown hero Kirino Garcia, like he did, and been sent home with a loss instead of the draw the judges reluctantly gave him.

In that regard, Whitley received as much of a gift in his draw as Garcia did, last night at the Poliforo Juan Gabriel in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

In a rematch for the vacant NABO Light Heavyweight belt, Garcia looked to hammer out a decisive victory this time around, unlike the close and controversial decision that was awarded to him last year against Whitley.

Unfortunately, the rematch turned out even more controversial.

Looking as unimpressive as he was impressive, in his last bout—a strong knockout win over crosstown rival Arturo “Licenciado” Rivera—Garcia let Whitley control the action (but not the scorecards) through a dozen rounds.

The first six rounds were close, three rounds apiece.

The southpaw Whitley spent his time circling Garcia, counterpunching, jabbing and occasionally landing something meaningful. Garcia, uninspired, plodded after Whitley, stealing two or three of the rounds with hard right hands that were, for the most part, few and far between.

Whitley’s running would end in the Seventh after the ref gave him a warning, reminding him that this was a fight, not a track meet.

Whitley obliged, to everyone’s relief, surprising everyone by fighting Garcia toe-to-toe—and actually winning more convincingly, keeping the fight in the center of the ring and holding his ground against Garcia.

In the seventh round, a very relaxed Whitley kept Garcia at bay with his right jab, keeping him off track.

In the 8th, he stood in front of Garcia, ducking and slipping while countering with his best shots yet.

As the rounds wore on, Whitley began to win more and more decisively, until Garcia poured it on in the final two rounds.

Round 11 was the best round of the fight, with many heated exchanges but Whitley’s jab, bloodying Garcia, making the difference.

Garcia stepped it up another notch in the final round, taking the fight to Whitley who might’ve been doing enough to win the exchanges—but not enough to win the round, at least in Juarez.

At the end of 12, Fightnews.com had it for Whitley, 116-112.

While one judge had it right, at 116-112, “Double Impact” received a double whammy from two of the judges, who both saw it 114-114, making it a majority draw.

“This was no draw,” Whitley was steaming after the announcement—so much that he had to be restrained by his handlers.

“I won that fight. I took off time from my job and they told me to come out and win—I fought my hardest to defeat him.

“In the first four, five rounds, I was outboxing him. I waited to the later rounds and then I was flat-footed, banging with him.”

Ducking cups of beer and spinning bottlecaps, Whitley continued:

“The first time we fought, I took him lightly, and there was controversy. This time, the whole world knows I won. They thought he would beat me because of the first time. This time, I showed him I was the better fighter.

“His own people know I beat him—that’s why they’re throwing stuff at him.”

Mirroring their hero Garcia, even the crowd was less enthusiastic than they normally are, and while most of the fans had started filing out in the last round, a few lingered long enough to hurl water bottles and cups of beer into the ring.

“I felt sluggish tonight,” said Garcia. “Not myself.

“I don’t know what the future holds, I did everything I could.”

As far as a third fight goes, Garcia shook his head:

“I don’t want to fight him again.”

Whitley said he’d be open for it—as long as it wasn’t in Juarez.

Who's the leader of the pack?

Miguel Roman might want to consider changing his nickname—from “Mickey Mouse” to “Mighty Mouse.”

But then again, maybe not—his ever-growing pack of fans would have to learn a new song.

Roman’s ring entrance:

The scene is something straight out of the pages of a William Burroughs book—Juarez is a disturbing place to be when 3,000 people are singing “Who’s the leader of the pack that’s made for you and me . . . .

“M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E . . . .”

Never mind the blaring music, there is something equally disconcerting about watching a featherweight-sized upright mouse making his way to the ring, in full Mickey regalia, down to the bow tie and the slightly-off-kilter-from-the-Disney-make Mexican version Mickey Mouse mask.

But 17-year-old Roman might be the future of Juarez; at the very least, he could be the next big star for promoter Promociones del Pueblo.

In his last outing, Roman replaced David “Tacubayo” Murillo as the new young star of Juarez, stopping him in the 9th round.

This time around, he took another flying leap by taking on 68-fight veteran Cuauhtemoc “Famosito” Gomez.

It was a risky move, and nearly turned into a mousetrap for “Mickey”, after Gomez came close to upsetting the young prospect with a 2nd round knockdown.

Despite his experience, Gomez was at a disadvantage to the much bigger, faster, younger Roman. He spent the first round on the defense, trying to look for a window of opportunity.

It came soon after when, in the 2nd, Gomez, coming out of a clinch, landed a short left hook that dropped Roman to the canvas for the first time in his career.

Roman made the count, getting up at 5, and made it to the end of the sound of the bell, soon after.

At the opening of Round Three, the officials graciously gave Roman an extra 10-15 seconds of recovery time, as they could not hustle him up from his stool. When the round truly began, Roman fell into a survival mode that would last the next two rounds.

Gomez went on the attack while Roman sought to clinch and occasionally fire back with a single punch at a time, just as often getting rocked by one of Gomez’s ripping shots to the body or overhand rights.

Roman’s senses returned in the 5th, and he took over, taking the fight to Gomez who was forced to retreat. Coming forward, Roman battered away at Gomez with right leads. Gomez tried to answer back with body shots, which only earned him two points for fouling in the 6th and 8th, one of which looked questionable, the other not.

By the 7th, this fight had turned into a mouth-watering slugfest. But with each round, Gomez aged ten years, while Roman grew in stature, hammering Gomez’s face with hard punches.

Despite the damage, and the blood from cuts around his eyes, Gomez refused to go down. It would take a mallet to put him down—

Or a compassionate corner.

In the Ninth, Roman went for the kill, heaving lefts and rights, and forcing Gomez to the ropes. Gomez’s father, “Famoso”, hurled a bloody white towel into the ring, but it was kicked away by the less-compassionate referee the first time. Twenty seconds later, a second towel was acknowledged and the ref stopped the near-massacre at 1:38.

 “I hit him with my right all night long and he didn’t know what to do about it,” Roman said after the fight.

“He did hurt me in Round Two with a left hook, but I’m in great shape and you saw I got right up.”

‘El Chocolate’ candy for Valdez

In another big step-up, Adrian “Gallero” Valdez showed the crowd that he’s more than a fancy dancer in the ring by destroying the very-durable Hector “El Chocolate” Marquez in the third round.

In Round One, Marquez came out looking to spank the youngster Valdez by stalking the taller, elusive southpaw around the ring. Valdez remained careful, circling to his left and right.

Marquez put another round in the bank after the 2nd, landing a solid left hook that lifted Valdez’s right foot off the canvas. But Valdez weathered Marquez’s storm, and started to find his openings by counterpunching by the end of the round.

It didn’t take Valdez long to, both, launch, and finish, his game plan.

In the third frame, Marquez walked into a clean right hook that flattened him to the canvas for the count of 10 at 1:35.

After a brief silence the stunned crowd cheered their approval.

“This fight was about my future,” Valdez said after.

“I only want to be impressive. I knew he would be motivated because of his record, but I took care of business.”

Valdez has now scored two big knockouts over durable, world-class fighters; in his last outing, he knocked out former world champ Cesar “Cobrita” Soto.

“I want to bring a world championship fight to Juarez,” says Valdez, now 16-3-3, 9 KOs. “I’ll fight any featherweight in the world.”

Marquez, now 28-13, 21 KOs, had but one comment:

Undercard

In the opening bout, Martin “Azteca” Avila won his pro debut with a four-round decision over Roberto Tiseno (4-4).

The second bout saw Luis Enrique “Apache” Moreno (1-1) suffer his first loss, and knockdown, to Oscar Olivas (3-2),

In the third match, Nelson Estupinan (10-0, 8 KOs) proved too big and strong for overblown jr. welter, and professional survivor, Julian Romero (7-44-2, 2 KOs).

Castro vs. Bosquez
	Estupinan vs. Romero
	<--- Moreno vs. Olivas Avila vs. Triseno --->

Bonus pics!

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