A show of force:
Holm and Martinez stop opponents at Isleta

Ringside report by Chris Cozzone & Abraham Gallegos
Photos by Chris Cozzone

“HOLL-LLEE! HOLL-LLEE!” sang the packed house last night at Isleta Casino as Holly Holm’s fists banged out an accompanying melody on the head and body of opponent Lisa Lewis for eight punishing rounds.

Unable, or unwilling, to answer the 9th round bell, Lewis had her first loss by TKO in 19 fights while Holm made the first defense of her IBA Women’s jr. welter belt.

The card, promoted by Fresquez Productions, might’ve had a couple predictable fights, but there was plenty of action and a surprise or two during the course of the night.

Rightfully so, nobody anticipated an upset in the main event, for “Li’l Warrior” Lewis was just that—too “li’l” for big Holly.

Lewis had also taken the fight on four days notice, and had replaced undefeated Giselle Salandy, who’d replaced Layla McCarter. Despite fighting a division north of her norm, Lewis was in shape—one week prior she’d fought Melissa Fiorentino, dropping a four-round decision.

Fiorentino, however, had weighed in at 126, and was 5’1 to Lewis’ 5’5. Holm, on the other hand was a solid, 5’8” 140-pound fighting machine who never took a break as she punished Lewis round after round.

Holm came out in the first frame with her jab, followed by a straight left as Lewis walked into it, with gloves up. As the shorter, slower opponent, Lewis’ plan was simple: walk Holm down, cut the ring off, and force her to fight on the inside. It was a sound plan, but the first time the two exchanged shots up close, it was painfully apparent to Lewis that she was outgunned. Holm landed almost at will in the First, mostly on the outside, but bending over to mix up her lefts with right hooks to Lewis’ squat body.

Lewis was able to trap Holm on the ropes in the 2nd, but the outcome was the same: she was battered away with a flurry of punches. Holm really set the pace in the second round, landing crisp straight lefts and throwing right/left combos.

With Lewis following Holm around the ring like a walking punching bag, Holm opened up with yet more big lefts, sometimes on the inside, sometimes on the outside, but always landing on Lewis, who wisely kept her gloves glued to her face.

Holm continued to box circles around the straightforward Lewis in Round Four, spinning out from the ropes with flurries, and peppering her with right-lefts on the outside.

Lewis landed a nice right hand in the 5th, Holm, unfazed, answered back with a variety of punches, turning this fight into a sparring session.

Finally, in Round Six and Seven, Lewis went for broke, desperately crowding Holm and landing solid right hands—but always one at a time, for Holm did not give her time to land another, countering with yet more combinations. A mouse under Lewis’ left eye appeared in the 6th, and blood trickled out of her nose in the 7th—Holm sustained giving Lewis a steady diet of leather.

Lewis came out for Round Eight spent, and Holm, sensing she could save herself a couple rounds of exertion, went to town on Lewis. Landing straight left after straight left, set up by her jab, she put on a clinic.

In between rounds Lewis called it quits, and had, for the first time in 19 bouts, a loss by TKO.

“I couldn’t get off,” Lewis, now 7-12 (3 KOs) said afterward. “My punching was just not there. I’ve fought big girls before, but this was not my night. I’m disappointed.”

Lewis said it wasn’t the punishment she was receiving from Holm that had her saying ‘no mas’, but her eyes.

“I couldn’t see,” she said. “My eyes were too watery.”

In Holm’s corner, it was the hands trainer Mike Winkeljohn was worried about.

“Mr. Winkeljohn kept asking me how my hands were,” Holm said in the ring after being declared the winner.

“’My hands are fine,’ I kept telling him, although I was getting tired hitting her.

“She was very aggressive, and she was strong. She landed a right on my eardrum in the sixth round and I’m still foggy from that one.”

Showing more dimension every time she fights, Holm ups her record to 10-1-2 (4 KOs).

Holm says she is eager to continue stepping up the opposition.

“I’d like to get a couple more fights, then take on Sumya Anani.”

Anani, along with Lucia Rijker and Christy Martin, who fight in July, are the top three junior welters in women’s boxing.

“We’d like to get a shot at the winner of Rijker-Martin,” said Winkeljohn. “We just need a couple more step-up fights.”

Martinez raises respect by flooring Sandoval in return

In the co-main event, and the best performance of the night, Albuquerque’s David “Finito” Martinez thrilled the crowd and stilled his critics when he spilled his opponent onto the canvas with a one-punch left hook to the body in the fourth round.

No one ever accused Martinez of being a knockout machine. It was understood, that with just two knockouts in 13 fights, the former WBC World Youth Super Flyweight champ was going to have to rely on speed and skill to win distance fight after distance fight—especially so, when he announced that he was moving up in weight.

Drying out to 115, he said, made him too weak. Skeptics said his power would diminish that much more.

But last night, Martinez took a huge risk by moving up to 125 pounds to take on a full-fledged featherweight. Martinez’s opponent, Marco Antonio Sandoval of Guadalajara, Mexico, was a full head taller; and he’d won all of his eight wins by knockout; all at 126.

Despite dwarfing Martinez, he never had a chance.

Martinez came out circling Sandoval, throwing his jab, then stepping into the pocket to throw a right-left combo. Sandoval gave the round away, too tight and tentative to open up, while Martinez, bouncing on his toes, went to work, setting up his right behind a jab.

when Martinez opened up the second round with a left hook upstairs. Sandoval started to move forward on Martinez, who controlled the bout from the outside, stepping away after jabbing the taller man, and fighting the fight he needs to fight without getting macho by trading close quarters.

But in Round Three, everything changed.

Martinez opened up with another left hook, but this time Sandoval countered with a right hand that landed. Martinez threw back and the two collided, Sandoval’s elbow somehow grazing the back of Martinez’s head.

Within seconds, a cut opened up and blood started streaming down Martinez’s back and chest. After a brief break for the ringside doc to okay the cut, the fight resumed—furiously.

Sandoval, who was also marked now with a mouse under his left eye, came out Martinez with guns-a-blazing, forcing him to trade in the pocket. The sight of blood, however, had an equally stirring effect on Martinez, and he obliged Sandoval for a series of phone booth exchanges. But while Sandoval threw blindly, Martinez, fueled by machismo, did not throw out technique as he traded, eating one shot for every four he landed. Never mind the blood: when the bell rang, it was Sandoval who walked back to his corner a bit demoralized.

Martinez continued a skillful assault in the fourth round, jabbing and throwing his right and winning the outside fight, then stepping in close to give Sandoval a taste of his left hook on the inside while trading. Giving more than getting, Martinez was slowly breaking down Sandoval. Then, in the last minute, Martinez let loose with a left hook to Sandoval’s ribs that dropped the featherweight to the canvas like a ton of bricks.

While Martinez shouted his triumph to the roaring crowd, Sandoval was counted out by Referee Rocky Burke at 2:32, giving Martinez his first true knockout and only third win by stoppage.

Martinez rises to 13-0-1, 3 KOs; Sandoval drops to 8-5, 8 KOs.

Martinez showed the crowd that he was more than a technician, and that moving up from 115 pounds doesn’t necessarily mean losing power.

“We’ve been training to sit down on my punches,” Martinez said afterward. “I thank my mittman, Sergio Chavez, for all his help—we’ve been working on that body shot.

“I guess something worked. I’ve been telling everyone how weak I’ve been drying out to 115 pounds. Fighting heavier means fighting stronger. I’m going to fight at 118-122 now, but I’ll win my first world title at bantamweight. Give me a year.”

Trainer/uncle Ray Lopez says he’d like to see Martinez fight a few more times between 118-120, though, before fighting top ten contenders, let alone a world champion.

“He’s only 22—we got plenty of time.”

Martinez will return on the July 29 card at Isleta.

Heyman max'd out? Draws with Castillo

The question on everyone’s mind in the local scene has been, has Max Heyman maxed out his potential for boxing?

In the last two years, Heyman has had a stop-and-go career, and has not been able to do much better than beat easy opponents (or a down-and-out, unenthusiastic Joseph Brady, who is quickly becoming one of those so-called “easy opponents.”)

After last night’s eight-round draw with Panama’s Darmell Castillo, it may be time for Heyman to rethink his chosen sport.

It was a typical Heyman fight—Heyman as seen in the last couple years, not Heyman in his heyday, pre-2003: Heyman starting out well, outboxing and winning early rounds, then fading midway, languishing on the ropes and giving the fight away.

Same thing happened in last night’s bout against Castillo.

Heyman came out jabbing in the first, establishing rhythm and landing a big left hook on a tentative Castillo.

Round Two opened up with a big head butt—something that would continually reoccur during the fight, with Heyman getting the worst of it. Castillo started to come forward, and landed a harmless left hand, but Heyman retained control, jabbing and landing big right hands.

In the third round, Heyman kept to his jab, but did not follow up with much more. Meanwhile, Castillo was starting to warm up—in the next round, he turned the fight around, forcing Heyman to trade shots when he wasn’t striving to hit-and-move. Shots to the body started to slow Heyman down—but waiting on the ropes for Castillo only encouraged the Panamanian to up his onslaught.

Round Five was all Castillo. Languishing on the ropes, Heyman might’ve thought he was slipping and blocking, but Castillo was landing big shots that thudded against body and elbows, giving the impression that he had his man hurt. Pure aggression gave the round to Castillo.

Castillo continued his attack in the 6th, backing Heyman up with shots to the body and head. Heyman tried to re-establish his jab but was on the run for most of the round, when he wasn’t pressed tight against the ropes.

Castillo went to work on Heyman’s body in the 7th, and landed right hands upstairs. Again, Heyman could do little more than defend on the ropes. Another round for Castillo.

In the final round, the action opened up with another headbutt—a cut over Heyman’s left eye immediately started to redden, then bleed. Heyman was somewhat dazed by the impact, but tried to return to a hit-and-move routine. Huge right hands by Castillo prevented Heyman from doing much of anything.

At the end of eight rounds, Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing had a no-brainer win for Castillo, 77-75.

Two of three judges differed in opinion, scoring it even at 76-76 (Gant and Saiz), making it a majority draw. Judge Burke had it 77-75 for Castillo.

While trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad told Heyman he had it a draw, Heyman thought he did enough to win:

“I thought I won the fight,” he said backstage. “It might’ve looked bad when I was against the ropes, but he wasn’t landing all that well. I was slipping and blocking shots.

“I thought I did enough to win.”

Heyman moves his record to 20-7-4, 12 KOs, and Castillo, to 10-8-1, 6 KOs.

Munoz stops 2-small Soto in 4

In the only bad match of the night, Albuquerque’s Hector Munoz proved too big for overblown featherweight Orlando Soto of Juarez, stopping him in the fourth round.

The size advantage was evident when Ref Burke paired them up for instructions before the first bell—it got worse when the round began.

Munoz came out jabbing, jabbing and jabbing, then incorporating his right behind the jab, causing a welt to show on Soto’s left eye. Soto was game, however, and tried to take the fight to Munoz, occasionally landing big rights that Munoz easily absorbed.

Munoz could easily have sleepwalked a win in this fight by jabbing on the outside, but in the 2nd, he moved inside to cause more damage. In the opening moments of the 2nd, he landed big body shots to Soto’s soft midsection, then followed up with one-two’s upstairs. A nice uppercut from Soto landed, but was counted with a hard right from Munoz, who retained control.

Both fighters came out swinging in the third round, but Munoz was back to jabbing, with hard rights behind it. For most of Round Four, it was the same, with Munoz backing up Soto. Despite two warnings for low blows, Munoz committed his punches to Soto’s body—and it paid off later in the round. After softening up Soto, Munoz landed a right-left combo that put Soto on the canvas.

The ref stopped the bout at 2:59.

Munoz, now 11-1, 7 KOs, returns on July 29.

Soto ‘earns’ his ninth straight loss, dropping, always dropping, to 6-11-1, 2 KOs.

Esquibel too keen for green “Mean” Doreen

In the opening bout of the night, Albuquerque’s Jody Esquibel won her pro debut by stopping a game Doreen Hilton of Denver at 1:39 of the second round.

In Round One, Esquibel was all over the always-game Hilton, who scruffily tried to answer back with wide, winging shots—until a big right hand had her sitting on the canvas. She was up at eight but Esquibel expertly applied the pressure, landing right hands at will for an easy 10-8 round.

Fired up, Esquibel took off for Hilton at the sound of the second round bell, landing a solid body punch, then following up with three big right hands in a row. Still game, but confused and outmatched, Hilton tried to return fire but after another big right from Esquibel landed, referee Russell Mora stepped in to stop the slaughter at 1:39.

Hilton, short on skills, shows a big heart, falling to 0-3.

Entering the pro ranks with 1-0, 1 KO, Esquibel is going to be someone to keep an eye on.

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Quote of the Night: Lee Montoya was at hand to announce his July 29th return to the ring. When ring announcer Henry Tafoya commented that Montoya had “come out of nowhere,” Lee gave him the crazies, telling him and the crowd, “Nowhere? I come from the barrio, homes!”

Other fighters in attendance include IFBA Super Bantam champ Jackie Chavez; Vicente Garcia, who helped out the out-of-town corner; and Monica Lovato.

Upcoming bouts: Isleta Casino and Fresquez Productions will be back in action on July 29th when WBA Fedlatin Welter champ Lee Montoya (8-0, 6 KOs) defends his belt against Mexico’s Freddie Hernandez (17-1, 14 KOs). In the co-main, Cuauhtemoc Vargas (13-0-1, 9 Kos) will take on former WBC Youth champ Idelfonso Martinez (13-5, 10 KOs). David Martinez and Hector Munoz are on the undercard, as is Joe Cruz (1-0, 1 KO).

On the same night, ten miles north at UNM’s The Pit, Johnny Tapia (55-4-2, 28 KOs) will fight for his sixth world title against IBF Super Bantamweight champ Israel Vazquez (38-3, 27 KOs). The co-main and undercard will be announced shortly.

Bonus Pics

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