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April 3, 2004 – San Felipe’s Casino Hollywood – Fresquez
Productions, Inc.
 Risky
Business!
Montoya’s gamble pays off with split decision win over Heyman in
8-round war for state middleweight belt
Ringside
report by Chris Cozzone and Ricardo Trujillo
photos by cozzone
Lee Montoya took the biggest risk of his career when he leapt up
three weight classes on five days notice to lock horns with the
bigger, more experienced “Mad” Max Heyman.
All week long, people were calling him crazy—but Montoya was
bent on gambling it all away in an effort to define himself as
the baddest man in New Mexico.
Last night at San Felipe’s Casino Hollywood, Montoya hit the
jackpot.
In what will probably be New Mexico’s “Fight of the Year,”
Montoya managed to edge Heyman for an eight-round spilt decision
win after a bloody, dramatic battle for the vacant state
middlweight belt.
There might have only been 800 fans present, but their cheers
filled the empty seats on the Fresquez-promoted card. While the
turnout was disappointing, the main event was from from it; and
something New Mexico fight fans will be talking about for a long
time.
Originally, Joseph Brady was slated to face Heyman, but after
pulling out due to personal reasons, matchmakers scrambled to
find a suitable opponent. Late Monday night, Montoya stepped up
to the plate and the fight was on.
Montoya’s stamina and weight was in question—but his
sledgehammer fists were the possible equalizer. While the weight
issue was ruled out when both fighters stepped on the scales at
156, Montoya appeared on the edge of exhaustion during the
fight, yet somehow drew strength to not only go the distance but
turn the fight around for the win, proving the only thing bigger
than his fists was his heart.
Heyman swept the early rounds, frustrating Montoya with an
outside attack and a solid, steady jab. Montoya sought to brawl
but other than a hard right to the body in the 1st, Heyman won
easy.
By the second, Montoya was already looking tired and it had all
the appearances of an early night for Heyman, who was putting on
a clinic and landing solid right hands.
Early night? Wrong.
“Appearances are deceiving” would become a common theme in this
fight.
Montoya might’ve looked like a tiring fighter, with his mouth
with his mouth wide open, but he did not fight like one.
In Round Three, Montoya abandoned his attempts to land behind a
jab, opting to slug his way in. It worked, too—Montoya’s attacks
had Heyman bouncing against the ropes where Montoya pounded him
to the head with the hardest punches of the fight so far. Heyman
obliged Montoya, losing his first round.
In the fourth round, Montoya, breathing hard, tried to score
with one hard punch at a time but Heyman, resuming control,
fought back faster and harder. Defending himself well from
Montoya’s spurts of activity, Heyman landed his best
punches—clean right hands—that had Montoya shaking his head as
if to say, “You ain’t hurtin‘ me.“
But they looked as if they were—and Montoya looked like he was
on the downside now.
 Heyman’s trainer, former world champ Eddie Mustafa Muhammad,
thought so, too.
“He’s a dead man!” Muhammad yelled between rounds. “He’s dead!
Go out there and finish him! Kill
'im!“
Again: appearances are deceiving.
Instead of finishing off a “dead man,” Heyman became one
himself.
Round Five was a crucial round. This fight was no longer in
Heyman’s pocket, but up for grabs.
Heyman abandoned his telephone pole jab, abandoned his effective
outside attack mode, and instead, opted for reckless
abandonment, going toe-to-toe, head-to-head, and punch-for-punch
against a suddenly-alive Montoya.
Making the mistake of fighting close quarters, Heyman paid for
it, first, with a badly bleeding nose and then, by letting
Montoya turn the tide of the fight by winning the round.
After the 5th, we had it 3-2 for Heyman.
Round Six was the best round of the night. Montoya was forcing
Heyman to fight. Unable to keep the action in the center of the
ring, Heyman was languishing on the ropes where Montoya was in
control. Halfway through the round, Montoya backed Heyman up in
the neutral corner where he went to work on him, pounding him
down into a crouch with heavyhanded blows. Heyman fell back and
sat on the lower rope, at which point, referee Al Martinez
stepped in, ruling it a knockdown.
The Montoya-friendly crowd erupted in cheers while Heyman stood
up, unhurt, with his arms outstretched to complain.
“That’s no knockdown!” Muhammad shouted into the ring at
Martinez, who finished his count and resumed the action.
With one minute left in the round, Heyman came alive again but
by now, Montoya had sealed the round with a damaging 10-8 score.
Both fighters looked shot in the seventh round, yet neither
backed down. Montoya was huffing and puffing but Heyman had lost
his legs and was no longer attempting to hit and move. Both
fighters traded close quarters, two zombies fighting on sheer
instinct. The round was up for grabs, creating tremendous drama
going into the eighth and final round.
 With the fight so close, the winner of the final round should be
declared winner.
Drawing strength from some hidden reservoir, Montoya punished
Heyman in the 8th with a body attack, slowing his plodding pace
down to a crawl. With his head down, Montoya was looking for a
knockout, disabling Heyman from mounting his own final rally.
At the end of eight, NewMexicoBoxing.com and Fightnews.com had
it 76-75 for Montoya.
The judges had a split decision: 77-74 for Montoya, 76-75 for
Heyman, and a bewildering 79-72 for Montoya.
Montoya, the new state middleweight champion rises to 6-0 (5
KOs) while Heyman suffers his second straight loss, dropping to
17-6-4 (10 KOs).
Eddie Mustafa Muhammad was fuming in the dressing room
afterwards:
“That judge who scored it 79-72? That was ridiculous . . .
ridiculous. At worst, the fight was a draw. But to score it
79-72? That was asinine.”
The other disputed call was the knockdown in the 6th round.
“That was no knockdown,” said Heyman. “He pushed me into the
second rope—I wasn’t hit at all, so I was very surprised when
the ref called it a knockdown.”
Montoya said he wasn’t sure about the knockdown but that “I felt
he was hurt when he sat on the ropes.”
Both fighters thought they’d done enough to edge the other for a
win.
“I thought I legitimately won five rounds,” was Heyman’s
assessment. “I landed the cleaner shots. He was the aggressor
for most of the fight but wasn’t landing as effectively as I was
on the inside.”
Montoya thought differently.
“I had to fight hard,” he said. “I knew Max was hard and was
conditioned. I knew I had to put pressure on him. It came
through. I used my jab—I’m not the best jabber but I’m not the
worst. It gave me an edge. Still, I couldn’t just jump on him.
He is a dangerous fighter and has knockout punches.
“Max heyman hits hard, really hard, but my conditioning became a
major factor.“
Heyman’s downfall was overtraining. Even people familiar with
Heyman barely recognized him from the fighter they’d seen in
previous outings. Part of it could’ve been the shaved head and
goatee he was sporting, but nobody would argue that he’d lost a
tremendous amount of lean body tissue coming down from his old
lightheavyweight days.
Montoya, on the other hand, looked like the bigger fighter,
despite coming up from his fighting weight of 140. He was solid
at 156, whereas Heyman was emaciated at that same weight.
“He
should never have come in that light,” said trainer Muhammad.
“Max was 160 when he left Las Vegas last week. I wanted him at
160 but he overdid it when he came here to get acclimitatized.“
“I
think I just dipped too low in weight,” said Heyman. “I wasn’t
effected by anything he was landing, but my body was not
reacting the way it should react. I started feeling fatigued
after the 4th or 5th round. Lee did a great job, though.“
Ironically, most thought Montoya would be the one to get
fatigued—and during the fight, he certainly looked as if
he was.
“Everybody thought I took this fight last minute but I’d been in
the gym working hard on conditioning.“
At 34 years old, Montoya is on the fast track. His management
and training team, Eric and Pat Holmes, plan to move him quickly
up the ladder, with no time to waste on grooming. Their new
mantra is “Whoever, wherever, whenever,” and they are seeking a
shot at Ray Sanchez III but doubt the possibililties that it
will ever happen.
“I don’t want to say any names,” says Montoya. “I’m not a cocky
person, but I’ll fight whoever. I fight at 140 and welterweight
but I’ll take on anyone.”
The
question, though, is not going to be who Montoya is willing to
fight, but who, out there, is willing to take on Montoya.
Guereca
gets best of Yguado for state welter belt
Some would argue it was just heating up when it was stopped.
Others would say it was just about over anyway, when El Paso’s
Bernardo “Marrrito” Guereca was handed the vacant state
welterweight belt by a third round TKO over Albuquerque’s
Fernando Yguado.
Guereca came out aggressive in the first, commiting to the body
and winning the round when Yguado opened up, unleashing his own
body attack that earned him both distance and a bit of respect
from Guereca. It made an even round, one up for grabs, making
the fight a potential barnburner.
Guereca came out head down and throwing overhand punches, going
for his easiest target—Yguado’s head. Unprepared, Yguado went on
the defense while “Marrito” continued to hammer away until he
had Yguado down against the ropes for the first official
knockdown.
Again, Guereca went to work while Yguado tried to surive, going
down a second time from a barrage of punches. This time, ref
Larry Chavez did not rule it a knockdown.
On his back up, Yguado’s head collided with the referee’s,
opening up a vicious gash over Chavez’s left eye. But the ref
showed his toughness by ignoring it until the break.
As the bell sounded, a right hand from Guereca crashed against
Yguado’s head, sending him stumbling into his corner.
In between rounds, a bit of tag team reffing had Al Martinez
stepping into the ring to sub for the injured Chavez.
As the third round bell rang, it was looking like an early night
for Guereca—although those who have seen Yguado fight before
know enough not to count him out. On several occassions, he has
come back from the dead, and all it takes from the “Body
Snatcher” is a shot or two to the ribs to change the course.
But Yguado never got the chance. Guereca came out hungry in the
third frame, looking to eat Yguado up and spit him out. Bouncing
big rights and lefts off Yguado’s head had ref Martinez stepping
in to wave it off.
The crowd erupted in boos and Yguado’s corner voiced their
complaints but it was futile: Guereca, the new state
welterweight champion, was showing his biceps to the crowd,
celebrating his victory.
“It was stopped too early,” Yguado said backstage. “But it was
my fault. I’m used to taking punches like that. I’ve been warned
that it looks bad, but I do that all the time in the gym.“
Trainer Sammy Kidd also said it was way too early: “Things were
just about to heat up and he never gave Yguado a chance.“
Martinez did not regret the stoppage. “He was taking too many
shots,” he said.
“I kept trying to work on his body but the ref kept separating
us,” said Yguado, now 5-5 (5 KOs). “I thought I’d get him
eventually.“
Guereca, now 11-4-1 (2 KOs) thought the stoppage was right on
time.
“He was definitely hurt,” he said.
Guereca would like another shot at Vernon Payne, should the
undefeated jr. middleweight ever return to the ring.
“In the meantime, I’ll keep going up and up,” he says. “Take it
one step at a time.“
Unfortunately, for Guereca, he could be facing Lee Montoya later
this year, as a clause in Montoya’s contract guaranteed him the
winner of Guereca vs. Yguado.
Undercard results
In the opening bout of the night, light heavyweight Jason
Cordova (2-0, 2 KOs) scored a fourth round TKO over solid Denver
pro debuter Allen Medina.
Cordova started out strong but held back halfway through the
first, yet still won the round, punctuating it by rocking Medina
with a straight end at the round’s completion.
Both fighters tired in the second, but Cordova’s occassional
flurries and better shots gave him the round. Medina switched up
but fighting southpaw did not deter Cordova who had him wincing
with his bulldozing, two-fisted attack.
Medina rallied in the third, nearly winning the round until
Cordova stole it in the last 30 seconds, sending the Colorado
fighter back to his corner with sea legs.
Cordova went for the finish in the 4th, and it was
over after Medina sagged to the canvas with his guns blazing.
After the ringside doctor assessed Medina, it was over at 1:23.
“He did a good job,” trainer and ring legend Bobby Foster said
of his fighter after the match. “We just got to get in better
shape—this guy was tougher than we thought he’d be.”
For his protégé‘s next fight, Foster said he’d like to take on
his former pupil, and Cordova’s former sparring partner, Jason
Bray.
“We’d like get that Bray for the light heavy championship of New
Mexico,” he said. “We’d like to get him but I doubt he’d take
it, though.”
In a four round junior welterweight bout, Albuquerque’s Dale
McCartey (1-2) tallied his first win with a majority decision
over Oscar “Xicanito” Castillo (1-3) from El Paso.
Castillo was reluctant to do little more than push, hold and
grab his opponent. His lack of action turned this fight into a
sleeper, despite aggressor McCartey’s best efforts to pump up
the action.
Castillo’s best round was the third when he finally let his
hands go and dropped McCartey with a right hand. The knockdown
was ruled a slip but the favor was returned when Castillo was
dropped—again, a slip was ruled.
By being the aggressor and throwing more punches, McCartey
sealed his win in the 4th with scores of 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38.
Castillo will take time out to clear his head and re-evaluate
his decision to fight.
“I didn’t do it tonight,” he said. “No excuses.“
Gaining his first win, McCartey was satisfied, but admitted he
was hurt when
he
went down in
the
third.
In the best undercard fight, pro debuter Crystal Hickerson
dished it out to a game Martha (Orozco) Deitchman over four
rounds.
Deitchman has improved much since her two losses to Holly Holm,
but her poor defense gave her yet another ‘L’ on her 0-5 record.
Through four rounds, she ate too many right hands from Hickerson
while she pushed her own punches. Hickerson kept her attack
simple, jab and hit with the right, which landed nearly every
time she threw it.
In the third round, Hickerson floored Dietchman with an inside
left hook, and punctuated a 10-8 round with a striaght right at
the sound of the bell, sending her foe back to her corner on
spaghetti legs.
Dietchman came back in the final round, though, showing a bit of
fire to a tiring Hickerson.
At the end of four, scorecards read 39-36 twice, and 40-35, all
for Hickerson.
In a six-round sleeper, Ft. Morgan, Colorado’s Steve Marquez
(4-2-1, 2 KOs) and Albuquerque’s Al Salinas (3-1-1, 3 KOs)
fought a majority draw.
The crowd grew restless during the fight while neither fighter
mounted a consistent attack. Marquez spent the time waiting and
baiting but Sallnas wasn’t biting, making it a dull six rounds
with both fighters just enough to lose—and neither doing
anything to win.
Scorecards had a majority draw with 57-even, twice, and 58-56
for Salinas.
“I think I did enough to take the decision,” Salinas said about
his first six-round fight. “It was my third fight back after a
14-year layoff, but I thought I won. Next time, though, I have
to have more faith in my stamina and throw more punches.”
Fighting for the third time in a month, Marquez had been on a
two-knockout winning streak over New Mexicans.
“I apologize for my performance,” he said afterward. “I usually
put on a good show but I just got tired tonight.”
Governor Richardson was among the notables attending the fight.
“I don’t think I’ve missed a fight since I became elected
governor,” he said.
“Boxing is a good, healthy sport and the New Mexico Boxing
Commission is doing a good job. My hope for the future is that
New Mexico can be the site for major championship televised
fights.”
# # #
Quick Scorecard
Lee Montoya
(6-0, 5 KOs) Split Decision 8 Max Heyman (17-6-4, 10 KOs)
Wins vacant N.M. state middleweight belt
Bernardo Guereca (11-4-1, 2 KOs) TKO 3 Fernando
Yguado (5-5, 5 KOs)
Wins vacant N.M. state welterweight belt
Steve Marquez (4-2-1, 2 KOs) DRAW Al
Salinas (3-1-1, 2 KOs)
Dale McCartey (1-2) UD 4 Oscar Castillo
(1-3)
Crystal Hickerson (1-0) UD 4 Martha (Orozco)
Deitchman (0-5)
Jason Cordova (2-0, 2 KOs) TKO 4 Allen Medina
(0-1) |
