Fists of frustration!
Montoya has to chase, one-handed Gomez in race
Undercard full of upsets and underdog wins

Ringside report and photos by Chris Cozzone

It was a night of frustration, with an undercard of understatement.

Last night’s “Rise to Power!” card, promoted by Fresquez Productions, at the Fairgrounds’ Ford Pavilion in Albuquerque, had local favorite Lee Montoya chasing and untangling himself from an unwilling foe in the main event, while Bloomfield’s Joe Gomez, on the verge of a thrilling knockout in the third round, had to dance and move for the remainder, and fight one-handed with a busted right.

The frustration wasn’t limited to the featured fighters, for all estimated 1,100 fans, the media and ringside officials, who should’ve been issued night-vision goggles, had a hard time seeing the action in the barely-lit ring (thus, no photos, for the second local show in two weeks.)

Several undercard fighters, too, were dealt painful setbacks while others rose to the occasion with surprising wins or performances. The undercard held the action: from Jodi Esquibel’s big, step-up win over Melissa Shaffer to Joe Cruz’s loss at the hands of Coloradoan David Marquez; and Willie Villanueva’s unimpressive win over a tremendously-improved Gabe Gonzalez, to Dale McCartey’s remarkable derailment of a returning Jacob Romero.

Victory over evasion for Montoya

“You can’t win every fight by a knockout.”

Those were the words, and the learning experience, of Duke City welter Lee Montoya after he was declared winner of a lop-sided, eight-round unanimous decision over Nueva Rosita Mexican Orlando Cantera.

Considered by most New Mexicans as the hardest, pound-for-pound puncher and, possibly, the No. 1 welter in the state (barring followers of Ray Sanchez III), Montoya had little opportunity to land his sleep-producer in the eight rounds he spent trying to track down, or unravel himself from the shorter, slippery, octopus-clinching Cantera. When he did land one of his right hand bombs, Cantera took it well.

Montoya came out fast, throwing a lightning quick jab in the first round—which he soon pocketed. Big rights followed the jab, but Montoya soon found out that most were not going to land on Cantera, who set the pace by dancing out of reach or tying up when Montoya came within two feet.

Cantera’s in-and-out motion confused Montoya in the second stanza. While Montoya might’ve edged the round with the more meaningful shots—meaning, one or two right hands, really—Cantera kept him plodding awkwardly plodding forward.

Unable to position himself for left hooks and forgetting to jab, Montoya became a one-punch fighter in the third, seeking to drop a right hand bomb, while Cantera became an eight-arm octopus, tying Montoya up whenever and wherever possible—especially after a right hand had him bouncing off the ropes onto the canvas (it was not ruled a knockdown.) By the end of the round, Montoya was losing his patience, trying to manhandle Cantera in the clinch, without success.

Cantera got braver in the third after tasting a right hand or two of Montoya’s. While zipping in and out of Montoya’s range, Cantera started to time his own right hand, scoring enough times to add to Montoya’s frustration.

The second half of the fight, rounds four through eight, fell into the same routine. After a relatively successful fourth round, Cantera settled into survival mode, tying up and tap-dancing around Montoya, who stalked, when he wasn’t prying loose from a clinch. Once or twice, Montoya had marginal success, pushing and shoving Cantera away to land a rare left hook to the ribs, but, more often than not, he had to settle for a right hand or two per round, which only found him back in Cantera’s entangling arms. Montoya increased his aggression in the later rounds—but it was his frustration that swelled at a greater rate.

While winning almost every round—losing but one on a score sheet that read 80-72 twice and 79-73—Montoya picked up the unanimous victory. Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing had it 79-73.

“I was not satisfied,” Montoya said in the ring after he was declared winner. “I was getting frustrated. I spent the rounds trying to figure him out and I didn’t do a lot of things right. It was not what I wanted.”

Montoya said he felt he was actually down a few rounds by the fifth or sixth rounds.

“I increased the aggression in the later rounds but he didn’t want to fight my fight. He was a smart fighter, I give him credit, but I’ll chalk this up to a learning experience.”

With the win, Montoya moves to 10-1, 7 KOs, winning two in a row after his first loss last summer, while Cantera falls to 8-4-2, 5 KOs.

Gomez: One-punch kayo artist to one-arm boxer

Welterweight Joe Gomez is not known for knocking out opponents—but last night, he was on the verge of putting San Antonio’s Victor Rodriguez down for the third, and most likely, last time, when his big right hand exploded—literally—on his opponent’s forehead.

In the time it took Gomez to leap back in surprise, his right hand at his side, useless now, then jump back into the fray with a cocked left hand, the Bloomfield hopeful knew his hand was unusable for the rest of the night.

It was going to be a long five rounds . . . .

The first three—well, second and third, anyway—had been thrillers. The two fighters spent the first staring at each other in a slow-dance waltz, with Gomez edging the round with his jab and a right or two and Rodriguez, doing little, if anything.

In the second, however, Gomez went to work, coming at Rodriguez and landing a big straight right hand behind a jab—a punch that got better every time he threw it. The best punch, right before the bell, snapped Rodriguez’s head to one side.

It was obvious that Gomez had been working on power, for he was all that, and more, in the third round. One big right put Rodriguez down—he made the count—and when the fight resumed, another big right scored another big knockdown.

This time, when the fight continued, Gomez pinned a groggy Rodriguez against the ropes where he unloaded on him—and that’s when the fateful right hand was thrown that, possibly, broke it.

Gomez was a one-armed fighter from that point on, yet he was still able to win nearly every round while fighting with good (finally!) balance and solid poise.

Rodriguez recovered from the knockdowns and, as the rounds progressed, pursued Gomez with increasingly effective aggression. As Gomez tired from his hit-and-move chase, Rodriguez had better fortune.

Gomez’s footwork, his superior boxing skills, his jab and occasional left that does not have the impact of his straight right, was more than enough to win the fight, but by the seventh, the maul-and-brawl attack of Rodriguez’s made it a close fight, at least, for a round-and-a-half.

By the eight, Gomez was also bleeding from a cut near his left eye, possibly the outcome of hard rights thrown by Rodriguez, but it was coast-to-the-finish from there.

At the end, the judges scored it overwhelmingly for Gomez: 80-72, 79-71 and 78-72. Fightnews/NewmMexicoBoxing had it 79-71.

“I knew it was damaged in the third when I hit him on the forehead,” said Gomez, who said his knuckles were “popping” now. “I was so close to stopping him, I felt . . . .”

“But I knew I’d lose if I didn’t stay focused. So I kept to the outside with my jab. I couldn’t get my left hook working. He gave me a good fight.”

Gomez ups his record to 8-1, 3 KOs; Rodriguez, who later said he injured his shoulder in the fight, drops to 6-6, 5 KOs.

McCartey rises to power, derails Romero

The only thing razor sharp about Jacob “Razor Sharp” Romero last night were the dozens of punches hurled at him from Dale McCartey, who was, obviously, taken too lightly while Romero’s far-superior ring stats and experience were about as helpful in the ring as his moniker.

McCartey, a kickboxer turned boxer who’s struggled in the last couple years, appears to finally have his act together, for his intelligent aggression and fast combinations shocked the fans who came out to watch Romero’s comeback turn into a third-round re-retirement.

An upset-in-the-making was evident when, in the opening half-minute, McCartey landed a left hook but put Romero down on one knee. It was a flash knockdown but the aggression hurled at Romero gave every indication of an early night.

Romero waited too long to throw anything, giving up his jab and reach while McCartey waded in and, pinning Romero against the ropes, let loose with staggering left hands.

In the second, McCartey wasted no time on Romero, this time landing body shots and left-rights while Romero sought to work his rusty, useless jab. Romero had no answer for McCartey and ate a head-snapping left-right, then a big right, before the round’s conclusion.

Again, as round three commenced, Romero allowed himself to be pinned against the ropes where McCartey went to work on him in a two-fisted attack. After too much leather and too many blows upstairs, referee Rocky Burke stepped in at :41 to stop the slaughter.

“My focus is finally down,” said a satisfied McCartey upon exiting the ring. “The plan worked. We planned to pressure him and hit him up the middle—and fight smart, not just attack, as I’ve done in the past.”

It was McCartey’s first fight in over a year—due to the death of his former trainer and martial arts guru, Bill Packer, who would’ve been proud of the progress made in his comeback under Mike Winkeljohn.

McCartey, a lightweight-to-junior-lightweight force to be reckoned with on the local scene, despite his record, evens out at 3-3, 1 KO.

Romero, who was slated to fight “Hurricane” Hector Munoz in the June 10 co-main, drops to 10-3-1, 5 KOs.

Gonzalez improves dramatically; Villanueva declines, but wins

Everyone—myself included—expected Albuquerque’s Willie Villanueva to blow right through Gabe Gonzalez.

The Alcalde fighter barely knew how to throw a punch when he made his pro debut last year against equally-unskilled Charlie Reyes.

And Villanueva? Earlier this year, the jr. lightweight hopeful from Albuquerque made the most impressive pro debut seen in years, when he was thrown in against former Mexican amateur star Cesar Holguin-Gutierrez, only to come out on top after four brawling rounds.

But last night, despite who won and who lost, it was Gonzalez who earned the props of those ringside. While Villanueva won—and rightfully so, for his big right hands made the difference—the underdog from Alcalde showed astonishing improvement, a solid chin and was perfectly at home in the ring while Villanueva fought like a marionette with his  strings cut off.

Villanueva took his time in the first, while, surprisingly, Gonzalez fired off a left or two, proving very game and crowding the longer-reaching. Big rights and one solid left won the round for Willie, but Gonzalez took it well, barely blinking with the impact.

Villanueva went down four times in the second round—but not from punches. He was pushed on one occasion; a low blow downed him another time; he fell, or was manhandled through the ropes on another; and just plain off-balance on the final occasion. Meanwhile, Gonzalez did not appear to be intentionally fouling—he was just trying to crowd Villanueva and turn the fight into a close quarter brawl. Instead, terrible balance despite an overwhelming size difference, had Villanueva all over the place.

Again, big right hands made the difference, scoring another round for Villanueva, but Gonzalez was proving a much tougher foe than expected.

Villanueva showed consistent sloppiness in the third. Unable to comfortably deal with Gonzalez’ pressure had him throwing wide punches—yet, still the more meaningful—while Gonzalez’ style had the Albuquerque fighter falling through ropes or pushed to the canvas on three more occasions.

Steady pressure had Gonzalez making the fight in the fourth—and eating big left hands from Villanueva, who should’ve loaded up on hooks early on—but in the final minute, as Villanueva started to look winded, Gonzalez nearly took the round back when he pinned Willie against the ropes with his best punches yet.

There was already talk of a rematch when the scores were announced: 40-35 twice and 39-36, all for Villanueva. Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing had it for Villanueva, 39-37.

Villanueva moves to 2-0; Gonzalez to 1-1, 1 KO.

Cruz upset by Marquez

Wearing a heart on his trunks as his legendary grandfather, Manuel “Billy Firpo” Cruz did in the ‘30s, Albuquerque’s Joe Cruz sought his third pro win last night, only to suffer his first defeat at the hands of Fort Morgan, Colorado’s David Marquez.

Marquez, brother to Stevie and Ernie, cousin to Andrew and Benjie, became the latest Colorado Marquez to venture into New Mexico—and one rare enough to go back home with a win.

That Cruz was going up against a more experienced fighter, with a solid amateur background while he lacked one, was evident in the opening round. Cruz was the aggressor, but coming in wide open let the patiently-waiting counterpunching Marquez land the meaningful shots—big right hands coming in.

Round two was all Marquez. Left hooks and left-right combos pummeled Cruz rushing in. Cruz had a marginally better third until Marquez snapped to and landed body shots. One big right to the solar plexus had Cruz in trouble but in the last 20 seconds, Cruz threw himself at Marquez in back-and-forth action.

Cruz continued to prove gutsy in the fourth, but it was Marquez’s fight from start to finish. Cruz’s wild swings were blocked and countered by sharp combinations that staggered Cruz on more than one occasion.

The bout went to the cards with scores of 39-37 across the board, all for Marquez.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to get a win in this guy’s backyard,” Marquez told the crowd, who were only too happy to boo him.

Marquez ups his stats to 3-1; Cruz falls to 2-1, 1 KO.

Esquibel steps up and beats world class Shaffer

For 106-pounder Jodi Esquibel, of Albuquerque, after her scheduled 1-7 opponent pulled out, it was fight world class contender Melissa Shaffer—8-3 to her 2-0—or not fight at all.

Esquibel chose to step up, and, ust 36 hours before the fight, Shaffer was on a plane from Seattle.

A win for Esquibel was doubtful, but she beat the odds, at least in a four-rounder, against long-distance fighter Shaffer.

Esquibel was like an angry hornet in the first round, zipping in and out of Shaffer’s range with jabs and one-twos. Shaffer, used to 10-rounders, started out too slow and did little but watch her busy opponent.

In the second, Shaffer started to loosen up, trying to time a left or a right as the busier Esquibel zipped in and out.

In the third, she had success, and was, more often than not, catching Esquibel with right hands and left-rights. Esquibel slowed down but sped up in the final frame, and was, once again, outhustling Shaffer who let the chances of a draw slip by while the local girl piled up more points for a unanimous win.

Scorecards read 40-36, 40-37 and 39-37. Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing gave Shaffer the third, scoring it 39-37 for Esquibel.

With the win Esquibel remains undefeated, now 3-0, while Shaffer suffers her fourth loss in a row, falling to 8-4, 5 KOs.

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