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 Spills, cheap thrills and over-the-hills in Espanola!
Locals clean up card
Ringside
report and photos by
chris cozzone
It was the ancients vs. young guns and game out-of-towners vs. favored locals, with plenty of spills, cheap thrills and over-the-hills last night in Espanola at the Espanola Valley High School Gym on the debut “Showdown!” card of Heavy Hitting Promotions, hosted in conjunction with North Star of Roswell.
After a late start, the show opened up with its most explosive and dramatic fight, between pro debut welters Joe Cruz and Brandon Buchanon, setting a standard that could not be met by the following six bouts. In fact, the bouts went from great to good to just plain bad.
In the opener, Cruz of Albuquerque showed the crowd what he was made of after Colorado Springs’ Buchanon came out with murder in his eyes and a load of pop in his right hand. Within the first half minute, he floored Cruz with a right hand. Cruz beat the count but was in survival mode for nearly two minutes, holding on and trying to keep away from right hand after right hand, with an occasional uppercut that landed inside.
A second knockdown was inevitable for Cruz—but with less than 30 seconds to go, he came out from beneath the covers and started wailing on Buchanon, who fell back against the ropes covering up. The crowd roared their approval as the bell sounded.
You never would’ve known Cruz had been in trouble in the opening round, for he came out with a vengeance, loading up on rights on a suddenly-tired Buchanon. Now it was Buchanon in survival mode while Cruz bombed away, eventually putting him down for the count at 1:38.
Bout #2 was another four-rounder between pro debuters. This time it was bantamweight Beto Perez of Santa Fe vs. Esli Dominguez of Espanola.
Dominguez showed his inexperience but came out strong, taking the fight to Perez, who weathered the early storm and waited for his moment to open up. It didn’t take long—by the two-minute mark right hands had floored Dominguez twice, giving Perez the TKO win at 2:12.
 The third bout, between lightweights Julio Chavez of Albuquerque, and Colbert “the Pittbull” Losoya of Las Cruces, was supposed to be the fight of the night, but either Chavez had discovered his punching power or Losoya was in sorry shape.
Losoya was the aggressor in the opening minute but Chavez quickly turned the fight around, surprising the crowd by putting Losoya down—twice—with body shots. Despite his corner’s insistence to back up and jab, he kept coming forward, into the waiting Chavez’s quick hands.
Round Two was a much better round for Losoya, who mauled and brawled Chavez for most of the round. Chavez took the round off, and appeared tired, but after two minutes, woke up and went to work. The first right hand from Chavez to Losoya’s body, not an especially hard punch, either, forced the Pittbull to his knees, this time for the count.
With the loss Losoya continues to lose with a record of 4-6 (1 KO) while Chavez remains one of the few undefeated fighters in New Mexico, rising to 5-0, 2 KOs.
Las Vegas’ Shawn Gallegos was up next, matched up in a sparring session bout with game veteran Julian Romero—it would be the single distance fight of the night.
As always, Romero came to fight, but, as always, he did just enough to lose. From Round One, he plodded forward while Gallegos pelted him with quick combinations, then moved away. The younger Gallegos’ speed and height were no match for Romero, who, unable to land his loopy overhands, resorted to coming in with his head and blowing snot at Gallegos, who had no choice but to back up in disgust. It all served to throw Gallegos off his game plan—and it worked, for in the sixth round, Romero won his first round and was beginning to connect.
Romero actually staggered Gallegos in the 7th with a right and then, again, in the 8th, this time with a left hook. Gallegos, though, kept moving, jabbing and covering up, while he coasted to a unanimous win with scores of 80-73, 78-74 and 79-73.
Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing had it 78-74 for Gallegos, who gets his fifth tune-up in a row.
Romero falls further to 7-45-2, 3 KOs.
Speaking of tune-up, that’s what Vicente Garcia got, too, although his fight with ancient veteran Benjie Marquez was one of the most entertaining bouts of the night.
Marquez had five years of pro boxing before Garcia had even been born—but neither his experience nor his ten pound weight advantage could win him a round before the fight was stopped after Marquez threw his best shot.
Garcia was here to play—but so was Marquez.
Much like Gallegos’ early rounds with Romero, Garcia peppered Marquez with lightning-quick combinations while moving around the ring, letting the feisty old man pursue him. At the end of the second round, Marquez saw his opening—after the bell rang, of course—and went at the youngster with overhands. The ref had to break them up but most of us figured there’d be no more playing around for Garcia now.
Nope.
Garcia kept Marquez in the fight, and their most vicious exchanges had nothing to do with punches and everything to do with hip-thrusting showboating that kept the crowd cheering and laughing.
 Round Four was a repeat, showboating and Garcia having a good time, until Marquez saw his opening, and threw his best shot. Unfortunately, the shot, a wild uppercut, thrown well after the bell signaled the end of Round Four, landed flush on referee Tony Rosales’ chin.
Ref Rosales didn’t hesitate and signaled the fight over, declaring Garcia winner by DQ.
“What happened?” Marquez asked Rosales, after parading around the ring sticking his tongue out at the crowd.
“’What happened?’
You hit me!” was Rosales’ response.
Garcia moves to 6-1, 4 KOs while Marquez, who just can’t learn from all that experience, heads back into suspension with a record of 28-34-3, 12 KOs.
“I’m just getting started!” says the 44-year-old fighter. “You’ll be seeing me again!”
Probably not in New Mexico, according to the Commission.
The tone of the show went from comic to heartbreaking with the next match.
Another old veteran, Sergio Vela had no time for fun and games when he went up against speedster Joaquin Zamora.
In fact, he had no time for punching, either.
It was an awful fight, and Vela might’ve thrown just one punch before Zamora, working in and out, pummeled him with a combination that put him down. Down he went, not once, but twice, before he retired himself at 2:52 of the first round.
Zamora bounces back from his loss to Elco Garcia last November, rising to 6-2, 5 KOs while Vela should, hopefully, retire now at 14-9-3, 8 KOs.
In the final fight of the night, local favorite Monica Lovato scored her first knockout win by stopping game-but-overmatched pro debuter Doreen Hilton of Denver.
What Hilton lacked in skills, she had in heart and from the opening bell, she took the fight to Lovato, landing several shots. Lovato covered up a bit, found her footing and then unleashed her own shots, putting Hilton down.
To minimize the damage, Hilton’s corner threw in the towel and the fight was stopped at 1:52, much to Lovato’s disgust.
The local hopeful moves to 3-1, 1 KO.
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