“King" Kirino KO'd

Ringside report by Ricardo Trujillo

Boxing is a difficult thing to walk away from.

But Kirino Garcia, who walks into the ring with the song “El Rey” (The King), may have seen his last main event as an idol of the people of Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico.

Friday night at the Poliforo Juan Gabriel in Juarez, a new sheriff was elected when Juarez fighter Gustavo “La Parka” Enriquez defeated Garcia by TKO in the second round.

After losing his first 18 bouts, Garcia came back from the “meat wagon” to become a ranked contender. But on Friday, or should I say Saturday morning, because the fight did not start until 2:06 am, Garcia was soundly defeated. Kirino went down three times in the second, the first from a vicious straight right to the temple that had Garcia reeling, the next knockdown was a wicked right uppercut and the last, a left hook to the liver that paralyzed him as the ref waved it off at 2:30. It was clear from the first round that Enriquez was the better man. Both weighed 179, but Enriquez towered over Garcia at 6-foot-3. In the first, “La Parka” established range and distance peppering Garcia with punishing jabs and straight rights.

Garcia tried in vane to engage Enriquez in the pocket but to no avail.

Enriquez gets the biggest win of his career and uses Garcia as a stepping-stone.

“I owe everything to Louie Burke (Enriquez’s trainer), he taught me balance, and how to sit down on my punches.” Said a jubilant “La Parka” after the fight. Burke said, “This kid works hard, he would come to Las Cruces four times a week to train, he did everything we practiced.” Oswaldo Kuchle, Garcia’s promoter, said it’s time for Garcia to retire. “I have an option for a rematch but I will not exercise it, I will encourage Kirino to retire.”

Garcia drops to 37-26-3 and Enriquez improves to 14-4-1.

Mickey Mouse turns Mighty Mouse . . . Again 

Miguel “Mickey” Roman’s stock continues to rise as he scored a dominating KO win in round five over Mexico City veteran Oscar Arciniega. Roman pressed the fight for all five rounds but found Arciniega an elusive target in the first two rounds. Roman walked down Arciniega in the last three finally dropping the grizzled veteran twice in the fifth, the last for the full ten count. Roman is hungry, fast and hard punching, but he is in a rough division at 122. After the fight he said, “I got off to a slow start, but I knew it would only be a matter of time before I wore him down.” Felipe de la Torre, Roman’s trainer was happy with his charge stating, “We started slow because Oscar has so much experience, a KO was our plan, we just needed to figure him out.” Roman ups his record to 8-0, 6 KOs, while Arciniega falls to 32-21-2.

Pitalua Pounds Estupinan Stupid

World-class junior welterweight Antonio Pitalua picks apart and hammers Nelson “Bufalo” Estupinan into submission at 2:00 of round six of a scheduled ten rounder. With the TKO, Pitalua has reeled off eight straight wins since losing to Arnulfo Castillo in 2002. From the opening bell it was clear Pitalua’s experience and wile were too much for the undefeated Estupinan who had fought far less capable opponents. The convincing win started with Pitalua’s compact style and snapping jab. By the second round Estupinan was finding a modicum of range, but getting close to Pitalua is dangerous. That’s what Pitalua wanted. He catches Estupinan with a right cross along the ropes and down goes “the buffalo” but it is ruled a slip. Still the same, the fight is slipping away from Estupinan. Pitalua is picking his shots well dictating on the inside and the outside. It’s a whitewash. By the third and fourth, Pitalua is literally chasing Estupinan around the ring trying to force a fight. Estupinan is staying out of range and running out of tomorrows. In the fifth, Estupinan is cut above the left eye from a right cross and he looks every bit the broken down fighter. In the sixth and last round Pitalua is deducted a point for a low blow without a warning, this enrages him and he takes it out on Estupinan. A barrage of punches to the body of Estupinan and he crumbles to the canvas. The ref calls a halt to the proceedings at 2:00. After the fight a delighted Antonio Pitalua said, “I’ll fight anybody they put in front of me, I’m scheduled to fight Donald Camarena at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada July 23rd.” That should be a war! Pitalua moves up to 40-3 34 KO’s, and Estupinan loses for the first time to go to11-1.

“Gallero” Eats “Garras”

Adrian “Gallero” Valdez didn’t knock out Marcelino “Garras” Lechuga, but it sure felt good to win after coming off a tough TKO loss to Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero last April 1st. Valdez came out with his normal routine of fighting game cocks, which was actually a better fight than the first two rounds of this scheduled ten rounder. Both fighters were tentative in the opening stanzas and it drew jeers from the large crowd in attendance.

Early in the third frame, a left cross to the body of Lechuga forces him to take a knee. After catching his breath, he rises at eight and circles away from the southpaw’s left hand. In the last minute “Garras” gets brave and moves into “Gallero’s” wheelhouse and cracks him with a right that rocks Valdez back, and the crowd roars its collective approval because now  we have a fight on our hands. But alas, the pace slows in the middle rounds. Maybe it’s because Valdez is fighting at his heaviest weight in more than two years, 129 pounds. By the eighth and ninth Valdez is controlling the action with his right jab, but “Garras” is not letting up. Lechuga has Valdez backing up late in the ninth and begins to slip punches in on the taller Valdez to the body and head by staying on Valdez’s chest. In the tenth round, Lechuga continues his assault and deposits Valdez on the seat of his pants with a picture perfect left hook. He’s looking for the KO but Valdez holds on to finish the round. Final tallies 98-89 across the board for Valdez who moves to 17-4-3 and Lechuga moves to 7-4-1. I caught up with Valdez and he said he hurt his left hand when knocked down Lechuga in the third. “I wanted to look impressive but my hand hurt (he did show me his swollen knuckle) that guy has a hard head.” He went to say, “This night I went down and I don’t like the floor, I’m going back down to 122 and I’ll fight anybody.” How about “Mickey” Roman?

Sluggish Slugger Doesn’t Impress

Javier “Terry” Castro sleepwalked his way to an unimpressive TKO win over winless Ruben Zamora at 1:00 of the eight and final round. Castro had KOed his previous 3 opponents in the first round. It was not going to happen tonight. Huffing and puffing after the first round he showed no snap or power until he just wore down Zamora in the final round. I thought fireworks were going to happen, but no 4th of July tonight. The crowd grew frustrated with Castro and chants for Zamora emanated from the pro Castro crowd, which only conflicted the young boxer. After the lackluster performance Castro said, “Yes, I was tired the entire bout, Its back to the gym to work on endurance.” Castro now has four knockouts in four wins and Zamora is still winless at 0-2-2.

Undercard:

Oscar Olivas outpoints game Alex Avedano, who had to take three to get one in. Final scorecards read 60-55, 60-53 and 58-56.

Martin Avila TKOs Ivan Molina at 2:44 of the fourth in a bout completely dominated by Avila.

Erik Linares wins his pro debut over Ernesto Cervantes by TKO at 2:48 of the second round.

Another great promotion by Oswaldo Kuchle. These fights can be seen Saturday June 3rd at 11:00 pm on channel 5, XEJ-TV in Juarez and El Paso according to General Manager Rafael Fitzmaurice Meneses.