Fur Flies at Sky City!
Solid night of bouts with big wins for Lovato, Zamora; Lopez-Montoya heat up the packed house

Ringside report & photos by Chris Cozzone

In what is definitely going to be a candidate for “Fight Card of the Year” in New Mexico, Romero Promotions packed in a full house at Sky City Casino in Acoma Saturday night with a six-bout, all-action show that had more than its share of upsets, near-upsets, knockdowns and knockouts.

Spurred on by cash bonuses for the winners, fighters, matched up even, gave the fans their money’s worth while giving the slowly-diminishing local scene a chance of revitalization.

A world title fight for Espanola’s Monica “Li’l Miss Dynamite” Lovato is on the horizon, possibly here in New Mexico, with her hard-fought, payback win over Julie Rubalcava for the vacant NABF super flyweight belt, in last night’s main event.

Rubalcava, however, responsible for Lovato’s sole loss from a four-rounder back in 2004, was no easy foe. Despite coming off a lay-off of over two years and weighing in light, 112 to Lovato’s 115, Rubalcava seemed to have Lovato’s ticket from the opening bell.

Lovato went right to work as aggressor, but her efforts were discouraged by Rubalcava’s lightning-fast counter punches—big overhand right hands and a left hook or two—that landed right on target. Backing off, Lovato tried to work her jab, but even her jabs were bested by the much-shorter, much-smaller Rubalcava, a natural leftie fighting rightie.

The second round was much closer, with Lovato starting to land her straight lefts behind a jab, but her sheer aggression were offset by Rubalcava’s uncanny accuracy, and the round might’ve been stolen with a toe-to-toe flurry by Rubalcava, who had Lovato on the ropes in the final five seconds.

Lovato’s first convincing round was the third. Not able to win a war of jabs, Lovato pocketed her set-up shots and was most effective boring in with lead lefts. Rubalcava’s fast counter-punches kept her in the game but the Espanolan’s aggression and sheer size made the difference.

Rubalcava’s better boxing game won out in the fourth. Landing an increasing number of stiff jabs and outspeeding Lovato with blazing counter-combinations gave her the round. Lovato struck back in the fifth, a razor-thin, close round that pitted Lovato’s big left hands against the more numerous cleaner shots of Rubalcava—stiff jabs and surprising left hooks that came out from nowhere. Despite edging the round, Lovato ended it with a bloody face.

Rubalcava’s hooks and overhand rights against Lovato’s aggression and stronger lefts made the sixth a toss-up. But again, the California fighter’s flurry in the final ten seconds had her stealing—or sealing—the round.

Lovato was strong in the seventh—finally, she was started to utilize an uppercut and, once or twice, a rare body shot. The two mixed it up in the best action yet, at the end of the round. With the crowd on its feet, Lovato continued to throw herself forward at Rubalcava through the final round,  landing straight lefts. Again, Rubalcava sought to steal the round in the closing moments, in a final flurry, but Lovato did not give ground.

After the eight, the judges, all local New Mexicans, scored it surprisingly one-sided for Lovato, 79-73 twice and 78-74.

Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing saw a much closer fight, scoring it four rounds apiece at 76-76, but with at least two rounds a toss-up.

“I thought it was a close fight,” Lovato, now 9-1 (4 KOs) admitted in the ring. “She’s a great fighter and I knew it was going to be tough, just like the first one was.

“But I wanted this fight bad. I fought my heart out. When I tried to box, I knew I wasn’t getting off, but when my corner told me to, ‘just fight her,’ I was effective. If she wants a rematch, I’ll give her one.”

Back in the dressing room, Rubalcava, losing for the first time and now 4-1 (1 KO), was disappointed in what she thought was a bit of home cooking in the scorecards.

“I’d call it a draw,” she said. “I knew there’d be a little bit of hometown going on. But I’d love to fight her again—anywhere but here. I’ll fight her in California or in Las Vegas.”

Zamora survives, then dominates Estupinan

In the co-main event, Luna-born Socorro fighter Joaquin Zamora survived a frightening first round only to dominate Juarez’s Nelson “Bufalo” Estupinan (12-4, 9 KOs) over the next nine rounds to win the vacant WBC’s USNBC welterweight trinket by lop-sided unanimous decision.

That Estupinan could punch was evident when, halfway through the opening stanza, he landed a huge overhand right that dropped Zamora to the canvas like a Hefty bag of wet laundry. Showing a heart in equal size to Estupinan’s punch, Zamora, the left side of his face bearing the reddened welt of Estupinan’s fist, beat the count and somehow survived.

The fight went downhill from there—but for Estupinan, not Zamora.

With each passing round, Zamora’s punch output increased, just as Estupinan’s dwindled. Zamora’s aggression intensified—as Estupinan’s diminished.

A cautious Zamora won the second on his jab, and tagging Estupinan with a straight left as the Juarez brawler rushed forward. By the end of the round, Estupinan hopped aboard his bike, as if trying to lure Zamora in.

After two or three or five rounds of retreat, however, Estupinan no longer had the look of someone trying to bait his opponent, but someone hoping to survive a distance fight—especially after a big left hand from Zamora had Estupinan tasting the canvas halfway through the third heat, and a zipping left in the fourth opened up a cut near Estupinan’s left eye.

Rounds five and six and seven and eight and nine and ten were repeat rounds, Estupinan retreating, losing round after round as Zamora bore in, too fast for the Juarez pug. In the tenth, Estupinan, unable to land one single right hand since the opening stanza, hit the floor again, another left lead, securing a no-brainer points win for Zamora at the end of ten.

Scorecards were the same on everyone’s cards: 98-89.

“He caught me with a good one,” admitted Zamora, now 13-2-1 (10 KOs). “I was cold going in and susceptible, but I wasn’t hurt. I got right into my game plan with smart boxing and precision punching. I wasn’t worried at all. I was careful at first, didn’t want to get caught again, but I threw harder as the fight wore on.

“This is a first belt for me and I’m proud to have the title.”

After the fight, Estupinan was nursing an obviously-damaged right hand.

“I fractured my hand in the first round,” Estupinan, 12-4 (9 KOs), explained his lack of action following his knockdown of Zamora.

“It was that knockdown punch. After that, I spent the whole time concentrating on my hand. I couldn’t throw it after that."

The reluctant heavyweight

Coming after the Montoya-Lopez fight, any bout would look like a slow-motion bout, but the four-round heavyweight bout between Chicago transplant Felix Abner (2-1, 1 KO), who suffered his first pro loss by split decision to Dallas debuter Kirby Lee Gillespie (1-0), was a disappointment for reasons more than its slower pace.

Looming over his opponent, with size and strength and reach in his favor, not to mention former world light-heavyweight king Bobby Foster in his corner, Abner did absolutely nothing but throw half-hearted jabs until the final three seconds against Gillespie.

Gillespie did little in the first, but seeing his intimidating opponent so shy, started to warm up and take over the fight. It didn’t take much: a couple of rights won him the second—that’s all it took—followed by a few decent jabs in the third and fourth, with another right or two or three.

Abner, it seemed, did not throw a power punch until the third, and he missed, at that. In the fourth, it was marginally better, but they continued to miss, and/or land on Gillespie’s arms. Finally, with three seconds go to, Abner remembered he was supposed to fight and, finally let his hands go, with Gillespie on the ropes. By then, it was too late.

With scores of 39-37 and 40-36, and a shocking 37-39 (for Abner!), Gillespie was declared the winner.

Lopez & Montoya heat up the house in blazing four-rounder

With the pro debut of Socorro’s Adrian Lopez, a hard-hitting, pro-style banger from the amateur ranks, New Mexico hoped to get a new, hot-blooded prospect.

Instead, New Mexico got two.

Pro debuting Gabe Montoya, of Santa Fe, an MMA-fighter everyone assumed was merely going to supply Lopez a welcome-to-the-pros ‘W’ proved everyone wrong, stunning Lopez, physically in the first, while stunning local fight fans who were turning to one another to ask, “Who is this Montoya guy?”

Both debuters brought their share of the crowd; Lopez, perhaps a bigger chunk, showing that in his three years’ absence from the ring, he has not been forgotten.

This fight will also not be forgotten anytime soon, for the four-rounder was not only the best action seen all night, but should be remembered at the end of the year for a candidate of the year’s best.

In the first, Lopez came out jabbing, looking to land a straight right—but it was a big right from Montoya that had the crowd collectively gasping. After a minute’s action, Lopez walked right into a blazing right hand that had him staggering backward, bloodied and obviously hurt. Montoya rushed forward but Lopez, showing his experience—something close to 100 amateur fights with Montoya only 15—tied up, survived, then fought back bravely. Though the aggressor, it was Montoya’s faster hand speed and countering that earned him the round—not to mention a near-knockout punch.

The action in the second round never let up. Determined to take back the fight, Lopez came out and starting to throw that trademark Mexican left hook he was famous for in the amateurs. Boring in at a retreating Montoya, he took back the fight but the game Santa Fean willingly mixed it up with him at the round’s end, not only taking those lefts well but scoring big with rights of his own that had Lopez’s face continually bloody and swollen.

Round three was close. Lopez scaled down his aggression while Montoya upped his punch output, using his reach and scoring with jabs and rights while Lopez sought to close the gap with his left hook.  There was no such thing as a gap in the fourth and final round, for both fighters slammed away close quarters, Montoya landing cleaner punches while Lopez threw more shots.

The judges were split in their verdicts: Bagshaw had it 39-37 for Montoya while both Sanchez and Gant scored it a draw, 38-38.

FN/NMB, too, saw it even, two rounds apiece, at 38-38.

“I’m not satisfied,” said Montoya backstage, entering the pro ranks at 0-0-1. “I’m confident in my power and felt I showed enough to win.”

Montoya’s cornermen, however, were celebrating the draw—they’d entered the fight a huge underdog and succeeded in drawing with a former top amateur.

Lopez, also 0-0-1, looked as though he’d lost the fight, backstage.

“He was pretty tough,” he admitted. “I knew it was going to be rough, but I should’ve boxed more instead of rush in. I was a little bit rusty.”

Draw or no draw, both Lopez and Montoya have the skill to be this year’s top debuters.

Cano-Lovato: Somebody's 'O' must go ...

In what was a battle of unwon, blown-up welters fighting at middleweight—with one guy not too bad, the other one, not too good (and that one, winning)—Albuquerque’s Jesse Lovato (1-1) made up for skill with heart over Las Cruces’ Tony Cano (0-3) in an entertaining four-rounder.

It was on-the-job training for Lovato, who got increasingly better with each round against the better-skilled-but-less-willing Cano.

In the first, Lovato paid rushing in with Cano tagging him with right hooks. The second was closer, but Lovato’s body shots making the difference. Continued aggression from Lovato wore at Cano in the third, and right hands started to find their mark. In the fourth, it was Cano’s smarter punches but lesser output losing out to Lovato’s willingness to mix it that had two of three judges giving him the verdict.

Judge Bagshaw had it for Cano, 39-37 while both Perez had it going Lovato’s way, 39-37 and 40-36.

FN/NMB scored it 39-37 for Lovato.

Dave goes Proa

In the opening bout of the night, hard-hitting Duke City super bantamweight David Proa (1-0, 1 KO), in his pro debut, scored a first round knockout, with one second to spare, over Steve Losoya (1-4) of Las Cruces.

Bringing a hefty crowd from Albuquerque, Proa was outboxed for the majority of the round by the southpaw Losoya, who worked behind a jab to set up his left while making Proa pay coming in. With each landing punch, Losoya’s confidence grew—as did his carelessness.

By the third minute, Proa had done enough studying and rushed in at Losoya, closing the gap and closing the show with a bomb of a right hand that floored Losoya. The Las Crucen beat the count on wobbly legs but was in no shape to continue; he stumbled toward his corner as Referee Tony Rosales waved the fight off.

“I had to study him for the first round,” said Proa, who was 42-2 (30 KOs) as an amateur. “Then I rushed in and put him out.

“It feels great to be pro."

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