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No Champ in
Roswell
Bray vs. Enriquez a No-Contest
De Los Santos Ekes Out Contested Win
Ringside
report by Ricardo Trujillo
Photos by Chris Cozzone
A rowdy crowd
of 1,400 packed the Roswell High School gym last night to watch
the eagerly-anticipated third pro fight promoted by North Star
Productions.
In the main event, for the New
Mexico State light heavyweight championship, undefeated Jason
“the Shark” Bray of Albuquerque took on former Mexican light
heavy champ Gustavo “La Parka” Enriquez. The fight did not live
up to expectations after a deep laceration suffered by Enriquez
near his left eye forced a no contest to be rendered. The cut
was ruled as caused by an unintentional headbutt, and prompted
the ring doctor to stop the fight and ref Rocky Burke to halt
the proceedings at the conclusion of the second round.
The much
bigger (181 to Bray’s 169 at fight time) and harder-punching
Enriquez was aggressive, but Bray showed discipline, keeping his
distance and controlling the pocket for the fight’s duration.
In the first
round, Bray clearly the aggressor, backed up Enriquez with his
straight right jab and left crosses. In the last minute, Bray
rocked “La Parka” back with a hard straight left in what would
be the best punch of the fight. Enriquez began to bleed heavily
from the punch , but it was ruled an unintentional clash of
heads and in the second, after much clinching between the two,
the fight was stopped.
“Louie Burke
showed me how to fight a southpaw and sparring with Austin Trout
prepared me well,” said Enriquez, who trains in Las Cruces but
resides in Juarez.
But not well
enough—Enriquez could not deal with Bray’s movement and accurate
jab.
Bray said
afterward that he heard the “pop” of Enriquez’s skin breaking
after landing his left hand—the punch that caused the
laceration, he says.
 De
Los Santos goes to school
Hometown favorite Jeremy De Los
Santos (3-0, 1 KO) fought his toughest test to date, winning a
unanimous decision over grizzled veteran Juan Aranday from
Torreon,
Mexico.
Extended and languishing on the
ropes for most of the fight, it became an obvious learning
experience for the Roswell hopeful who trains under legendary
trainer Tony Ayala, Sr. in San Antonio, Texas.
Tough hombre Aranday, now 8-41, has
been in with the best of them. Against De Los Santos, Aranday
was there to school the youngster, slipping, dipping and sliding
his way to what I thought was a victory. He simply had too much
experience for De Los Santos.
For much of
the fight, De Los Santos was implored by his trainer to “get off
the fu**ing ropes.” Unable to keep the right distance from
Aranday and fight in the center of the ring where he was winning
the exchanges, De Los Santos let Aranday dictate the fight.
Body shots
from De Los Santos won him the first round, and in the fourth,
boxing in the center of the ring gave him yet another round.
On my card, I
had De Los Santos needing the final round to get, at least, a
draw, but the final stanza was all Aranday. The
cleaner-harder-punching veteran had his best round in the sixth,
taking the fight to De Los Santos, who showed a huge heart.
At the end of
six, I had Aranday the clear winner, 58-57 (the 5th
being a 10-10 round).
The judges
had seen an entirely different fight.
Scores of
59-56, 59-57 and 58-56 had De Los Santos the winner by unanimous
decision.
The crowd
reacted with a chorus of boos from all sides of the arena.
“It was robbery of the highest
order,” said a disconsolate Aranday who took the fight on 48
hours notice. “What do you have to do to win? Just look at his
face . . . .”
De Los Santos ended the fight with
a large black and blue welt under his left eye.
“I’ve got a lot to learn and all
these fights are tests for me,” said De Los Santos, who gave
himself a “C” for his performance.
“I’d rather have ten fights like
this than ten first round knockouts. I’m trying to become a
contender and I’m not going to do it fighting easy opponents.”
Trainer Tony Ayala was satisfied
with his pupil’s performance.
“A lot of
media people cater to the Duvas and bring their fighters records
up,” he said after the fight. “I don’t go to the Olympics and
buy fighters—I make fighters.”
Needless to
say, Aranday demanded a rematch.
North Star Productions and trainer
Ayala promised one—look for De Los Santos vs. Aranday II as the
main event on the next
Roswell
card.
Gonzalez
topples King
In the
opening bout of the night, Las Cruces’ Jaime “Kid Poison”
Gonzalez (1-3) knocked out Albuquerque’s Andre “Buzzsaw” King
(1-3) in a very spirited bout, while it lasted.
In the first
round, Gonzales went left-hook crazy, winning easily over a game
King. Midway through the round, referee Lorenzo Saiz ruled a
trip a knockdown, making it 10-8 round.
It was all
academic, though, for in the second frame, at 1:56 Gonzalez
caught King with a beautiful inside right uppercut—the single
best punch of the entire card.
King dropped
to the canvas in a heap and the ref quickly called it off as the
medical team, headed Dr. Reynaldo Martinez, reacted to the
fighter’s distress.
Gonzalez gets
his first win as a pro. His trainer, Joe Hidalgo, beamed at his
fighters success.
“A left hook
to the body and right uppercut to the chin is what we worked on
in the gym,” he said.
Chavez is
back!
In a very
entertaining female bout, Albuquerque’s Jackie Chavez (6-0, 3
KOs) won a unanimous decision over a game and willing Leanne
Villareal (0-1) with scores of 39-37 twice and 39-38. I had it
39-38.
Chavez showed
some ring rust and made it harder for herself by fighting
“small” throughout most of the fight. When she boxed, though,
she controlled the fight.
In the 4th,
Chavez began to bleed profusely from her nose and swallowed
blood in gulps, but was able to keep her composure to finish
strong.
Marquez tames the Pittbull
In the final
undercard bout, Fort Morgan, CO’s Stevie Marquez (3-2, 3 KOs) beat Las
Cruces’ Colbert “the Pittbull” Losoya (2-4, 1 KO) with a second
round knockout.
In the first,
Losoya erred by keeping his distance from Marquez. Low-budget,
winged punches from the outside permitted Marquez to dictate
pace and space.
In the second
round, Losoya continued to follow Marquez around in the ring and
after catching a solid, straight right hand, crumbled to the
canvas in delayed motion.
Ref Rocky
Burke reached the count of ten and, once gain, the well-prepared
medical team rushed into the ring, knocked the pen light from
the doctor’s hand.
Wide punches
proved easier to see and pick off for Marquez, who claimed his
first win in his first ring appearance in over a year.
“I’m still
the best in Colorado,” said an ecstatic Marquez.
# # #
Results:
Jason "the Shark" Bray (5-0, 2 KOs) NO CONTEST Gustavo
“La Parka” Enriquez (11-4, 8 KOs)
New Mexico State Light Heavyweight Belt
Jeremy De Los Santos (3-0, 1 KO) UD 6 Juan Aranday
(8-41)
Steve Marquez (3-2, 2 KOs) KO 2 Colbert “the Pittbull”
Losoya (2-4, 1 KO)
Jackie Chavez (6-0, 3 KOs) UD 4 Leanne Villareal (0-1)
Jaime "Kid Poison" Gonzalez (1-2) TKO 2 Andre "Buzzsaw"
King (1-3)
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