Holm wins world title!
Short notice Angel Martinez makes a long night for Holly Holm in clobberfest for vacant WBA welterweight belt

Ringside report and photos by Chris Cozzone

For Duke City boxing fans, a 48-hour opponent swap turned out to be a blessing in disguise for, last night at the Isleta Casino south of Albuquerque, another soldd-out crowd—the fourth in a row for Fresquez Productions at the casino—watched Holly Holm, New Mexico’s No. 1 box-office draw, outhustle and brawl with a much-tougher-than-expected Angel Martinez for the vacant WBA welterweight title.

The billboards around town, the commercials on TV, for months, had been hyping Holm’s first legitimate title fight against Lisa Holewyne. But on Wednesday, the Austin opponent skipped town due a family emergency (and, perhaps, a weight problem) and was not seen or heard from since. Just 48-hours before the fight was to go on, Fresquez secured Dallas’ Angel Martinez as a replacement.

Martinez was no stranger to Holm. The two had fought twice before, in 2003 and 2004, resulting in a win for Holm, by decision, and a brawling draw.

Last night’s fight picked up where the draw left off in ’04—but the Holly of ’06 was a much different fighter than her previous incarnations.

Footwork made all the difference last night, for Holm dazzled her hometown following by keeping Martinez at the end of her range for a majority of the rounds—until the patiently-waiting opponent closed the gap in the later rounds.

Holm wasted no time and went to work at the sound of the bell, keeping Martinez at the end of her jab and popping her with solid straight lefts while using her footwork. Martinez, admittingly unprepared for ten rounds with the short notice, paced herself, but timed big counter right hands that found their mark.

Holm utilized rare right hooks in the second, and the bout heated up as Martinez had marginally better success with her counter rights. Still, Holm retained control of the ring—for at least seven of ten rounds, it would turn out—and her irksome jab and lashing left was enough to raise a mouse under Martinez’s left eye. At the end of the round, the two went toe-to-toe in the neutral corner, four seconds past the bell.

Holm continued to put rounds in the bank in the third and fourth rounds, jabbing and landing lefts while Martinez had to settle for the occasional right. The Dallas fighter had better success in the fourth when she backed Holly into the ropes but by the end of the round, Martinez, sporting two mice now, one under each eye, was going to have to do something dramatic to turn the fight around.

Martinez turned up the pressure in the fifth and had her best round so far in the sixth—but neither round could be taken from Holm, whose big lefts scored repeatedly and whose footwork made her too elusive for the shorter Martinez, who had only an occasional but fleeting flurry to the body and those big right hand counters.

Martinez tired in the seventh, but in the final moments, she landed a big right that stumbled Holm, who might’ve been off-balance.

But in the eighth and ninth rounds, it was a different fight. Holm yielded to Martinez’s consistent pressure and took some big shots from Martinez, who finally appeared to be getting to the hometowner. Several times, Holm stood her ground and the two brawled, but it was Martinez who was giving better than getting.

Holm went back to boxing in the last round but the steady pressure—almost desperate now—from Martinez made it a toss-up round.

At the end of ten, all three judges were in agreement: 98-92 for Holm. Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing had it 97-93 for Holm.

“I knew she’d be tough,” admitted the new WBA Welterweight champion.

“She was getting that counter-right in but there was nothing that made me go ‘whew!’ or see stars. I was tired at the end, I don’t know why, and should’ve finished stronger—I knew she’d finish strong.”

Holm said Martinez was a much tougher fight than Christy Martin, who “was easier to counter with.” Martinez, was also much more “professional and respectable,” said Holm, than Martin turned out to be last year.

“It wasn’t my greatest performance, but I thought I was better than the first two times with Angel.”

Trainer Mike Winkeljohn said both fighters had improved a lot and that Holm had “done enough to smoke” her opponent, but pointed out that Martinez’s counter right hand had gotten through Holm’s defense too often.

“She [Holm] also wanted to stand and fight too much.”

Martinez saw a closer fight than the one seen by the judges, but was satisfied with her performance, given the eleventh hour call.

“Not bad for a day’s notice,” she said.

“I thought it was an awesome fight and I expected no less from Holly, although I thought it was closer. I thought I was definitely hurting her in the late rounds. If I’d had little more time to prepare, it might’ve been a much different fight.”

Holm threw out the names Lisa Holewyne (“If she shows up.”), Terri Blair or Sumya Anani as possible opponents later this year. Trainer Mike Winkeljohn says they’re more apt to stay at 140 where they can “clean up the division.”

Holm, the IBA Women’s junior welter champ since last year, picks up the better-recognized WBA world title and ups her record to 14-1-2, 5 KOs. Martinez slips to 4-2-1, 1 KO.

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Blow-through co-main for 'Hurricane'

In an eight-round co-main, Albuquerque’s “Hurricane” Hector Munoz was paired up with Phoenix’s Francisco Rios Gil, who was put in place to give Munoz a few rounds and another win, which is exactly how it went.

Gil was as game as they come, and he certainly threw his share of punches (when he wasn’t on the canvas, that is) at Munoz throughout the fight—although most of them soared through air.

Munoz stayed composed and applied short punches to Gil’s body, hoping to wear his foe down later. But ‘later’ came sooner than expected, for Gil took his first knockdown at the two-minute mark from Munoz’s body work.

Munoz went upstairs in the second, then back down in the third, flooring Gil two more times, again, from body shots. The second time, Gil pulled a Diego Corrales move, spitting out his mouthpiece but Referee Rocky Burke was having none of that—he picked up the mouthpiece and ordered Gil to fight without it until the end of the round, seven seconds later.

The awful match-up ended early in the fourth, at 1:06, when Munoz, surprise-surprise, went, once again, to the body and Gil, surprise-surprise, went down yet again. This time, the ref (and crowd) had seen enough and the fight was halted.

While the local crowd impatiently awaits a step-up fight for Munoz, he decorates his pretty record with another win, moving it to 15-1, 9 KOs.

Gil falls to 5-4, 4 KOs.

'Goose' forgets to duck

Ending a two-year absence from the ring, Albuquerque light-heavy Jose “the Goose” Ramirez returned in unimpressive fashion, flooring equally-unimpressive Texan Derek Andrews early, then following suit by ending the fight on tarred-and-feathered hindquarters in the fifth.

The first round was close, with both defense-free fighters landing whenever they wanted to. The Goose’s pressure had Andrews backing up, which gave the local fighter the round.

Showing even less defense than the first round, Andrews left himself wide open for Ramirez to bomb away at him against the ropes. A big left hook floored Andrews in the second minute, but he beat the count and the Goose left his cooked foe survive.

Reminded between rounds that he was the taller, longer-reaching fighter, Andrews came out in the third remembering to jab—it made all the difference, especially with Ramirez forgetting to throw his harder, heavier punches.

Andrews improved second by second while Ramirez wilted, throwing fewer and fewer rights. Meanwhile, Andrews jabbed and loaded up on rights until, at the end of the fourth it was two rounds apiece, but with a point lead in the Goose’s favor from the early knockdown.

Andrews continued to pull ahead in the fifth, though, until a bomb of a right hand collided with Ramirez late in the round. The Goose hit the canvas and though he made the count, Referee Russ Mora had the sense to see this Goose was cooked at 2:51—there was no need to watch Andrews carve him up.

Ramirez becomes the second early-Fresquez era fighter to fail in a comeback (the other being Jacob Romero last month) within the last four weeks. He evens out his numbers, at 10-10, 6 KOs, while Andrews, from Lewisville, Tex., ups his record to 6-2, 2 KOs.

Chavez edges McCartey in rematch

In a rematch of Duke City lightweights Cubano Julio Chavez and Dale McCartey mixed it up for the second time, with the same result. The only difference this time was, McCartey improved while Chavez appeared much the same fighter he did in 2005 when he won a decision in Hobbs.

Chavez controlled the fight in the first stanza, outboxing the stalking McCartey from the outside. McCartey waited too long to throw and Chavez’s superior slickness and speed won out. A cut from an accidental clash of heads appeared on McCartey’s left eye, but the bleeding was controlled throughout the fight.

Pressure from McCartey turned the fight around in the second and third rounds. Working behind a jab, McCartey found a home for his right and occasional left until Chavez turned the tables halfway through the third, having to duke it out with his own rights. McCartey stood his ground and had Chavez backpedaling in the final minute.

The fourth round was close, with both boxers fighting in the pocket, but with Chavez’s jab and faster rights edging the action in the second half of the round.

Chavez tired in the fifth while McCartey poured it on, but in the last round, the fight saw its best action and the two had several toe-to-toe exchanges. Both scored jarring shots, hurting one another, but the pressure from McCartey appeared to make a difference in the round—and fight.

The judges thought differently, scoring it unanimously for Chavez, 59-55 twice and 58-56.

Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing had it 58-56 for McCartey—as did the entire press section and, apparently, the crowd, who booed the decision.

Chavez improves to 6-1, 2 KOs, while McCartey, coming off a big upset win over Jacob Romero last month, tips the tally the other way, slipping to 3-4, 1 KO.

Wittle resistance for Perches in debut

In the shortest bout of the evening, Albuquerque bantamweight Sarah Perches (1-0, 1 KO) blew through Denver’s Lisa Wittle (0-2) in 40 seconds, flooring her twice before the official stoppage.

Wittle had little skill, little training and offered Perches little opposition in the blatant mismatch.

Offering herself as fodder-for-pay, Wittle went down twice from a barrage of punches from the stocky Perches before referee Russell Mora spared her further humiliation.

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