Animal's House!
Elco Garcia packs the Sky Ute Casino with a homecoming hammering of Felipe Santana

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

It’s been over two years since local favorite Elco “the Animal” Garcia headlined the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colo.; since his memorable epic war with Anthony Bartinelli—a fight still talked about in the Four Corners area.

But last night in front of a packed house of 1,100, Garcia returned to reclaim his realm with a sixth round stoppage of Mexico’s Felipe Santana. 

Unfortunately for fight fans, Santana did not have half the valor of Bartinelli, who would’ve kept on fighting if you cut his arms and legs off. Not so Santana, who quit on his stool when the going got rough, claiming his hands were hurting from having been forced to wrap way too early.

The big left hooks to his soft midsection by the stalking Garcia—blows that bounced off the walls off the walls of the Tecate Pavilion—might’ve have had something to do with it, too.

In Round One, the two combatants circled each other, until Garcia stepped into the pocket to land a series of body shots that kept Santana on his bike.

Santana decided to earn his pay in the 2nd, landing a left hook followed by a flurry to the body when Garcia stepped in. Garcia utilized the jab, focusing his power shots downstairs with an occasional straight right.

Garcia started out the 3rd sticking to the jab with nothing behind it, encouraging Santana to actually take the fight to the hometown favorite. But after Garcia resumed his body attack, mixing it up with an occasional uppercut or right hand, Santana swallowed his courage and stayed on the defensive.

Santana tried to mirror Garcia’s jab, and had marginal success, following up with a left hook that caught Garcia early on. But once again, after stepping on the pedal, Garcia’s big body shots easily squashed the rebellion and, by the midway mark, it was a domination by Garcia that did not end until Santana’s ‘no mas.’

Garcia chased the soft-bodied Santana in what would be the final round, banging to the body one after the next. The one time Santana countered—an uppercut—he was punished by a big straight right—then it was back to the body while Santana backpedaled dizzily.

That was it for Santana—he was not able, or willing, to answer the sixth round bell.

Trainer Marco Rivera spoke for Santana:

“He [Garcia] didn’t hurt us,” he said. “It wasn’t the body shots. It was having to wrap our hands two-and-a-half hours before the fight. His hands were numb. It’s very unprofessional.”

Garcia shrugged, hearing the excuse.

“Me, too,” he said, referring to the premature wrapping forced by the Southern Ute Athletic Commission. “I had to wrap at the same time.

“But I take nothing away from Santana. He came to fight. I probably wasn’t hurting him anyway, I’m a weak puncher.”

The now 18-3 (8 KOs) former WBC Intercontinental Mundo Hispano Jr. Midddle champ (vacated for lack of opportunity to defend it) has always been known for his ridiculously humble statements. In past fights, he’s said everything from “He’ll probably knock me out” to “I’m just an old man” to “I’m no good—he’ll probably beat me.”

Garcia hopes to stay busy, and hopes it won’t take another nine months to land a fight.

“I hear they’re looking for someone to fight [Joseph] Brady next week in Albuquerque. I’d probably lose, but I’d take the fight . . . .”

Santana’s pretty 11-2 (11 KOs), which proved as impressive as the string of pro debuters he fought to get there, drops to 11-3. With three straight losses out of the safety zone, he might want to return to Merida, Mexico where the pickings are easier.

'Manimal' lecture

Rene “the Manimal” Armijo is quickly learning that success in the real world fight game comes with hard-fought lessons.

Last night, last minute sub David Banks, of Portland, Oregon, showed the higher I.Q. when he gave the former participant of “The Next Great Champ” a lesson in humility by pulling off the upset with a split-D win.

If Armijo had done what his corner had implored; if he’d fought half as smart as Banks; if he’d utilized his jab, his reach, his height, he could’ve banked on a win over Banks.

But, then again, it would’ve been a boring fight.

Armijo and Banks wasted no time when the first round bell rang. They met in the center of the ring with fists-a-flying. The bigger, stronger Banks asserted authority, pressing Armijo against the ropes and banging away, while the El Pasoan backed off, then tried to establish the jab—that quickly turned the fight around, and, fighting from the perfect distance, Armijo started to land nice left hands that stole the round in the last minute.

Armijo’s blueprint for success continued in Round Two by fighting from the outside. Peppering Banks with jabs and following up with big straight lefts had Armijo finding his mark, with only the occasional counter right from Banks anything to sweat about. Not a whole lot of action in Round Two, but more than enough to ensure a ‘W’ for Armijo.

Armijo would later admit he cares too much about pleasing fans—and in Rounds Three, Four and Five, he turned a somewhat-dull fight into a crowd pleaser.

He also handed over the fight to Banks who won the next three rounds and, ultimately, the fight.

Armijo forgot about jabbing, said ‘to hell’ with safe distance, and rushed right in to trade with Banks in the opening moments of Round Three.

Every single time, Banks was waiting for him with a counter lead right that would land flush—then the two would trade, Armijo throwing more and landing less, Banks throwing less and landing more. With a bloody nose, Armijo returned to his corner where they implored him to go back to what was working earlier.

In Round Four, Armijo returned to jabbing—for a few moments, anyway. But after getting hit unexpectedly following a break (actually, it wasn’t, technically, a foul for the ref hadn’t yelled ‘Break!’ yet), Armijo got macho.

“That’s the only way you’re gonna hit me—to cheap shot me!” he yelled at Banks, coming at him.

Well, that wasn’t quite true.

Whack! A counter right hand.

Whack! The same punch.

Whack! Again.

And Whack! One more time, before Armijo realized how easy it was to be get hit by Banks’ crafty counter right hand every single time he rushed in to brawl. But continue to brawl, Armijo did—and continue to win rounds, Banks did.

Going into the final fifth round, we had it a draw, two rounds apiece.

With Armijo throwing wildly, missing or hitting forearms or gloves, Banks picked his shots—another right, another right, a left hook, landing clean. Armijo landed his best punch in the last minute, a big right hook, but it was far from enough to steal the round from the clever Banks.

The judges were split: 49-46 for Armijo (Leya), 49-46 Banks (Martinez), and 50-45 Banks (Sanchez) giving the out-of-towner the split decision victory.

Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing had it two rounds for Armijo, three for Banks, 48-47.

“I took this on four days and dropped ten pounds,” Banks said afterward. The Portland fighter, now 4-0-1, fought all his previous fights at light-heavyweight; this one was at 158—advantage Banks who was looked solid while Armijo looked slow and soft ten pounds over the weight he should be at.

“I feel good—I had myself winning three rounds. The last three.”

Later that evening, Armijo expressed his disappointment.

“I thought it could’ve gone either way, but it went his way tonight,” he said. “I could hear my trainer yelling at me to jab, and not to rush in. but, I admit, I get anxious.

“I took a gamble and lost. I guess I do care about putting on a good fight. I do care what people say. I try and fight for the people instead of fighting with more intelligence.”

Undercard

The opening scored undercard bout, and only scored undercard bout (c’mon guys, can’t we add a bout or two?) saw Durango’s Miguel Gallegos take on Amarillo pro debuter Marcus Brasher.

There’s no record padding going on at Sky Ute—local fighter or not, Gallegos was matched up tough against the much more experienced, much faster Brasher—it was only pure heart and guts that evened the score.

Both came out jabbing in Round One, then Brasher showed blinding speed, landing a left hook that widened Gallegos’ eyes. Popping his jab and setting up combinations, Brasher boxed circles around Gallegos—and also, at some point, busted up the local fave’s nose.

Gallegos came out with blood pouring out of nose in Round Two. Brasher resumed jabbing, popping away at an aggressive-but-ineffective Gallegos. But the Durango fighter wouldn’t give up, jab or no jab, speed or no speed, blood or no blood. Closing the gap on a starting-to-tire Brasher, Gallegos bombed away to the body, spraying him with blood from his nose while bashing him to the ribs. Brasher sought to hold, then fire back, but a late rally in the final ten seconds secured the round for Gallegos.

Big right hands from Gallegos, switching leftie/rightie and bombing the body did the trick in Round Three. Ignoring the occasional shot from Brasher, one or two flush on his already-broken nose, could not stop the big-hearted Gallegos who committed to the body for another round win.

The two mixed it up in the first two minutes, Gallegos pounding the body, Brasher answering back upstairs with quick combinations before tying up. In the last minute, however, Gallegos’ pressure and relentless body shots was more than enough to take the round from a dead tired Brasher.

At the end of four, Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing thought Gallegos did more than enough to win the bout three rounds to one, 39-37.

But the judges were unanimous with their identical scores of 38-38 making it a draw.

Originally, Andrew Marquez (4-3-1, 2 KOs) of Pueblo was scheduled to fight Preston Draper (0-3) of Durango. But after Draper disappeared (trouble with the law is the rumor), and a suitable opponent could not be found, so a four-round exhibition was arranged against Shawn Gallegos (15-1, 6 KOs).

Gallegos established his jab in the opening round, expertly keeping his gloves glued to the side of his head when he wasn’t punching the much-smaller Marquez, who was trying to figure out what to do.

By Round Two, he’d figured out what to do, and, while Gallegos jabbed, Marquez looked for his openings, throwing powerful overhand rights while pressing the action.

Gallegos went to work on the body in Round Three while Marquez fired the occasional big hook or body shot. The busier Gallegos took the round.

In the last round, Marquez was able to land enough overhand rights to make Gallegos glad he was wearing headgear—while the Las Vegan threw more often, firing more combinations, the quality of Marquez’s punches edged him out.

If this had not been an unscored exhibition, it would’ve resulted in a draw. Marquez showed his power and aggression while Gallegos was busier, and controlled distance.

Steady training is not only shedding away Marquez’s baby fat, but turning his fight record around, making him a dangerous fighter. He says he plans to become a junior lightweight (optimally, featherweight would be one better).

He also has an offer to fight Hector Munoz next week at Isleta but it’s unlikely for the Southern Ute Athletic Commission slaps every fighter with a mandatory seven-day suspension after every fight—win,  lose or draw, and apparently, scored fight or exhibition.

Amateur results

In the amateur portion of the card:

• Jazzma Hogue of Badoni’s stopped Andre Harrison of Shiprock in Round One. Harrison came out swinging viciously but sometime between his early assault and the two times the ref insisted on stopping the fight to wave a finger at Harrison for some minor foul or another, Hogue bided his time (about 30 second really), then quickly turned the right around with hard body shots. Soon after—seconds not minutes—Harrison sank to the ground, a tired, beaten fighter.
• Vanessa Howell of George’s Independent Boxing Gym (GIBC) won a decision over Jennifer Begay, also of GIBC. The fight was a matter of Begay’s ability to get underneath Howell’s long jabs and straight lefts, which she did in the 1st. But in Rounds Two and Three, Howell’s long reach and height edged out Begay.
• In an unscored bout Rio Rancho’s Paul Castillo, Jr. battered Steve Philbrick of Martinez’s, for a third round stoppage. Philbrick showed a huge heart, and showed no fear coming at Castillo from the opening bell, but the Rio Rancho boxer picked his shots and easily out maneuvered Philbrick, landing a solid left hook that floored Philbrick in the 3rd.
• Felicity Atencio of Bloomfield’s won by 2nd Round RSC over GIBC’s Katrina Vasquez. The fight was a toe-to-toe slugfest while it lasted, and both fighters had bloodied noses by the end of the first round. Vasquez tired quicker, however, and in the 2nd, after too many shots from Atencio that snapped her foe’s head back, the fight was stopped.
• In an exhibition bout, Danny Martinez of Farmington put a beating on Blaine House of GIBC. House showed heart but Martinez was way too fast and skilled to make things interesting.

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