Holm crushes Couch’s ‘Revolution’
Martinez wins unpopular decision over Flores; Munoz stops Marquez with unpopular stoppage

Ringside report and photos by Chris Cozzone

While she could not put British boxing pioneer Jane Couch to bed, Holly Holm certainly proved she could move the furniture around in her dominating ten-round decision victory last night at Isleta Casino outside of Albuquerque.

The Fresquez Productions card, billed as “Revolution,” was a far cry from an insurrection, and more like a campus demonstration when Holm, far larger, stronger and faster, outboxed her game foe while defending her IBA Women’s junior welterweight belt.

The biggest question on everyone’s mind was not so much whether Holm would defeat Couch, but if she could carry a fifth straight sell-out show when up against high school and Lobo football, not to mention the State Fair. The answer to that was, both, yes and no, for while not selling out the venue, a near-capacity crowd of 2,500 showed up to cheer on New Mexico’s No. 1 draw.

Couch coasted during the first four or five rounds, while Holm, pleasing the fans by keeping in one place, played the aggressor, willing to duke it out with the shorter, crouching Couch.

The opening bout was a tactical one, with both fighters feeling each other out until the final minute when Holm started to land a snappy left hand on Couch. The lefts continued to score in the second and third; her big power punches gave the impression that Holm was too big, too strong for Couch, who sought to counterpunch, sometimes successfully, but not often enough.

In the fourth, the two mixed it up. While Holm continued to put rounds in the bank, Couch started to land a sneaky counter right hand. Success was short-lived for, Holm, willing to stand in front of her opponent, and trade, continued to land the bigger, hard shots—and not just the straight left; Holm started to throw in uppercuts and hard right hooks that found their mark.

Holm’s reign over the rebellious Couch took on a dominating edge in the sixth, but in the seventh, Couch had her best round yet—might’ve even won a round, if it weren’t for late flurries by Holm. Couch landed nicely-timed rights for the first minute, but Holm, barely batting an eye at the assault, stood her ground and bombed back with heavier shots.

Couch, too, took her punishment well, despite withstanding shots that snapped her head back on more than one occasion. At the end of the eighth, Couch retaliated with her best shots yet—straight rights—but Holm, again, on solid ground, showed little, or no, damage.

Holm continued to not only outbox, but outslug Couch in the ninth, making it look easy, and in the final round, stepped up the pace yet again with the fight’s best action, closing the show by taking the fight to Couch, hammering her with big lefts while Couch sought to finish up with right hands of her own. Couch finished the fight bleeding from a deep cut over her left eye—the result of an accidental clash of heads.

All three judges were in agreement, scoring the bout a shutout for Holm, 100-90. Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing (FN/NMB) saw two rounds close to going Couch’s way, but with Holm stealing it with thunderous lefts, resulting in a shutout for the hometowner.

“She’s tough,” Holm, now 15-1-2 (5 KOs), admitted in the ring after she was announced winner. “Her crouch made it hard, and I was hitting her on top of head all night. I could’ve followed up on punches more, and I wanted to move around more, but her punches didn’t hurt at all.”

Holm agreed with the judges, thinking she’d won every round.

Back in Couch’s dressing room, there was little agreement.

“I think it was close,” said the former five-time world champ, who slips to 27-9 (9 KOs). “I was slipping and blocking a lot of her punches. She had no power and I was never hurt at all.

“She was all ‘one-two tippy top. Her style is very amateur—all that jumping up and down. It doesn’t suit the professional game.”

Trainer Tex Woodward was in agreement: “Jane lost the fight, but the fight was much closer than the score showed.”

Martinez wins fight, loses crowd

In one of two co-main events, an eight-round at super bantamweight, Albuquerque’s David “Finito” Martinez, coming off a hard loss to Bernard Dunne in Ireland early summer, struggled but overcame by outboxing, the aggression of Dominican Felix Flores.

In theme with last week’s Barrera vs. Juarez card on HBO, Martinez either boxed or ran, depending on who you talk to, but the Albuquerque hopeful definitely closed the show in the last round, only to be rewarded with heavy booing from the crowd when he was awarded the win.

Martinez won the first with his jab, popping away from the outside, while Flores, squat and beefy southpaw, tried to bore in and land his unorthodox right hook.

Those bombs of Flores’ landed throughout the second—big hooks and an uppercut that snapped Martinez’ head back twice. By the end of the second, Martinez, slightly staggered, looked to be in trouble.

That’s when the running—or boxing—began. Fighting from a safe distance, Martinez popped away from his bicycle for the next few rounds, outjabbing a frustrated Flores who could no longer find a home for that big right hook.

Halfway through the fourth round, referee Russ Mora called a time-out—“My time,” he told the ringside officials, as he broke the action to tie his shoe. The unexpected break in the action brought no jeers from the crowd, for there was little going on anyway.

The chase continued in the fifth until the two-minute mark when Martinez, to everyone’s surprise, stopped moving and allowed Flores to bomb away with as many punches (most blocked) as he could unload in 45 seconds. It made the round close.

Martinez tightened up his game plan in the seventh, boxing more than running, and starting to measure his right hand. The tediousness ended in the eighth, however, when Martinez picked it up and tried power on for size. Finally having figured out Flores’ game, Martinez unloaded his right that, in the last minute, nearly put Flores down. Flores survived, fought back and, in the best action of the bout, the two traded heavily, Martinez giving better than receiving.

At the end of eight, the judges were split: Burke and Garcia scored it for 78-74, which is how FN/NMB had it; while Lopez saw it even, 76-76.

“I’d rather win ugly than lose,” said Martinez, now 16-2-1 (3 KOs). “I can’t look good in every fight. The guy was awkward, but it was a good experience.

“A few more seconds, I think I could’ve stopped him.”

Flores drops to 13-7-1 (11 KOs), losing seven in a row now.

'Hurricane' breezes through Marquez

In the second eight-round co-main, this one at welterweight, “Hurricane” Hector Munoz, of Albuquerque, took care of Stevie Marquez, of Fort Morgan, Colo., with a third round stoppage that many thought was halted prematurely.

Munoz came out jabbing, taking the fight to Marquez, who, while waiting too long, kept his head wide open for Munoz’s right hand shots. It was more of the same in the second stanza—Munoz outhustling Marquez—although Marquez turned up the heat in the last minute, landing overhand rights that tested Munoz’s chin (he passed).

Marquez came out swinging in the third round, bombing Munoz with lefts and rights and giving the impression that this fight was about to drastically change. But Munoz, taking the shots well, maneuvered Marquez into a neutral corner and the two traded, Munoz landing most of the shots—until referee Rocky Burke leapt between the two and stopped the action at 1:42.

Marquez, angry with the stoppage, threw a kick at the air while Munoz returned to his corner, the winner.

“I wasn’t hurt!” Marquez shouted. “That was bull---.”

Ref Burke later said he’d stopped the bout because there were too many unanswered punches—Marquez just wasn’t doing anything.

“I knew I’d knock him out,” said Munoz, now 16-1 (10 KOs), who was 161 the night of the fight.

Munoz, going through a divorce, had pulled out a week before the fight, but promoter Fresquez was able to convince him to stay in the fight and renegotiated the contract weight from 145 to 149.

“I showed I can beat these type of guys,” said Munoz of Marquez, who was considered a 50/50 fight for him.

“I want a name next. I’ll fight either Peterson (Lamont or Anthony) or Chavez, Jr. on the road. I’m ready to step up again.”

Marquez drops to 7-9-1, 6 KOs.

Vargas beats up Aguila

In an eight-round super bantamweight feature fight, Mexico City’s Cuauhtemoc “The Aztec Warrior” Vargas (15-1-1, 10 KOs) ended a year’s layoff—since his TKO loss to Tomas Villa—with a one-sided win over Sergio Aguila (26-17-1, 16 KOs) of Ocotlan, Mexico, who also ended a layoff—but of five years.

Simply put, Vargas was a human punching machine while Aguila’s role was that of a human punching bag.

Through six rounds, Vargas proved too young, too fast, too busy and too aggressive for the slow-moving-but-game Aguila. The older Mexican was an easy target and the punishment shifted from early round head shots to mid-round body blows that had Aguila going down in the fourth.

Landing very few and eating too much leather, Aguila took a beating of body blows in the fifth; was allowed a breather by Vargas in the sixth; and was put down for the count in the seventh, at 1:20.

Gomez nets win over 'Jet'

In a six-round welterweight bout, Bloomfield’s Joe “Ironman” Gomez (9-1, 3 KOs)—seemingly cured of last year’s jaw injury against Vicente Garcia, this year’s hand injury from his summer bout, and the bad balance that had him tasting canvas early on his career—outboxed the always-game Jeremiah “Jet” Torres (7-13-1, 1 KO).

Round one was slow, with Gomez jabbing and landing straight rights while Torres cooperated by staying at the end of his reach. In the second, Torres closed the distance, enough to land a right that gave Gomez a mouse under one eye, but it was Gomez all the way, controlling the fight and calling the shots from a measured distance.

Torres made it a fight in the third, landing a big left hook but Gomez took it well, and bombed back with hooks and straight rights of his own.

The reach and height made it an easy fight for Gomez, but Torres gave it his best shot in the second half of the fight, having the most success in the final round when he kept on top of the taller Gomez. Keeping his composure, the Bloomfield hopeful stayed true to plan and popped away, scoring unanimously on the scorecards.

The scores ranged from 60-54 to 59-55 to 58-56. FN/NMB had it 59-55.

“He gave me a couple good shots,” Gomez admitted. “I wanted to test my hand and it feels good—I also wanted to go to his body more but he was short and doing so left me open to his left hooks.

“I’m ready for whatever comes next.”

Madrid edges McCartey

The biggest surprise of the night was the tough-fought six-round jr. welter bout between Carlos Madrid (8-2, 2 KOs) of El Paso and the much-improved Dale McCartey (3-5, 1 KO) of Albuquerque.

On paper, it was supposed to be a walk-through for Madrid; and even those in the know, who knew McCartey was more than game, figured a gimme win for Madrid—but no one expected a close fight.

Madrid showed his superior skills in the first round, bombing McCartey early with a straight right that put him on the canvas. McCartey made count, somewhat groggy, and Madrid, no killer in the ring, let him survive.

McCartey showed his improvement from that point on, no longer coming in blind like he used to do, but jabbing his way in, counterpunching a technically better counterpuncher, and finding a home for his left hooks and straight rights.

Madrid had McCartey paying when he came near, but in the second, it was McCartey’s busy-ness that warranted him winning his first round.

Madrid was more aggressive in the third and took back the fight with his straighter punches and harder shots, but in the fourth, the momentum swung back McCartey’s way. Big left hooks from McCartey edged him the round.

Round five was also close, but McCartey slowed his advances while Madrid scored with big rights. In the sixth and final round, McCartey, bleeding from his nose, simply outhustled Madrid, who waited too long to fire back.

On the FN/NMB scorecard, it was three rounds apiece, but with the knockdown in the first making the difference for Madrid: 57-56.

Scores were split: 57-56 and 58-55 for Madrid; and 57-56 for McCartey.

Ortiz DQ'd, Villanueva wins

In a bizarre opening bout, Albuquerque junior lightweight Willie Villanueva (3-0), both lucky and not, picked up his third win when opponent Jesse Ortiz (3-8-2, 1 KO) was disqualified for hitting him while down.

Villanueva kept the fight to the outside in the first two rounds, awkwardly tagging Ortiz with jabs and an occasional right while moving at top speed around the ring. Unable to cut the ring off, Ortiz plodded after him and it wasn’t until the third round, when he finally connected.

It’s unclear whether the left hand that put Villanueva on the canvas was a legitimate knockdown or if it was a push or a fall from being off-balance—there was no time to discern—for, while Villanueva was on all fours, Ortiz threw a second left hand that slammed the fallen fighter face down on the canvas.

It took several minutes for Villanueva to recover, let alone recognize anyone around him. Meanwhile, referee Rocky Burke, with the official time of 1:31, awarded the win to Villanueva by DQ.

Bonus photos

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