Heyman wins on fouls, McClain fouls on win
Plenty of suspense on Santa Ana - Romero show

Ringside report and photos by Chris Cozzone

A careful study of Danny Romero Productions’ debut card at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Bernalillo, NM, would’ve chilled any hardcore fight fan. But, instead, the eight billed mills ended up thrilling the estimated 2,000 that nearly filled the venue most agree is still, physically, the hottest spot in the state for boxing.

The majority of the eight bouts of “Fight Night at the Star,” with its late subs and lopsided win-loss stats for out-of-town opponents, spoke of what should have been predictable outcomes. What wasn’t so predictable was the rollercoaster ride the hometown team forced you to endure while they battled their way to well-earned wins.

For Albuquerque’s Max Heyman, it was a war against the unexpected—fouls galore—while, for Rio Rancho’s Sean McClain, after five-plus years out of action, the 37-year-old cruiserweight had a war against time, rust . . . and restraint.

Durango’s Elco Garcia and Rockford, Illinois’ Talmadge Griffis had textbook opponents, guaranteed ‘W’s for the books, but Duke City prospect Matthew Esquibel and debuter Danny Lopez ran into trouble. Two more coin-flipping bouts opened and closed the undercard with non-stop action.

Need to Win vs. Kneed to Win

After two losses as a road warrior, Duke City light-heavyweight “Mad” Max Heyman desperately needed a win.

Enter Ernesto Zamora, overblown junior middleweight of Sonora, Mexico; who’d lost five out of six, with his single win, a split decision over an 0-5 fighter; who’d fought as low as 154 two years ago.

Should’ve been easy—actually, Heyman, by staying outside the pocket and tying up close quarters—had an easy time of Zamora, until the Huatobampo pug got ugly.

Max’s mad rushes at Zamora had him cruising through the first three rounds. Jabs and occasional one-twos on the outside scored the first for Heyman while Zamora, unable to deal with these methods, sought to fight on the inside, only to find himself tied up by Heyman.

Zamora had better luck in the second, landing several uppercuts on Heyman and, midway through the second heat, trapping the smiling, that-all-you-got? Heyman on the ropes with a body and head attack. The rest—more than enough to win the rounds—was Heyman, rushing in, rushing out, clinching when close and piling up the points while referee Rocky Burke found himself warning Zamora, with increasing frequency,  to watch the lows blows, elbows and head scrapes while in close.

Then, in the fourth, Zamora, annoyed beyond belief with being tied up, and having to deal with the hometowner bent halfway to the floor with no easy target besides the back of his head, lost two points for fouls—for hitting on a break, and a low blow. Zamora tried for a time to behave—about 25 seconds—before he shoved Heyman, bent over, to the mat, then, on his way past his kneeled opponent, jolted Heyman with his knee.

That was it for Ref Burke, who waved the fight over and DQ’d Zamora on the spot.

Despite winning every round, Heyman, now 22-9-4 (13 KOs), wasn’t thrilled with his performance.

“I could’ve done better,” he said. “I felt I was forced to do a lot of holding, because I didn’t know what to expect from this guy. He was throwing elbows in close.

“I also didn’t get enough sparring for this fight, so I didn’t feel like I was able to get my rhythm or was in the best of shape. He was wide open and I’m disappointed I didn’t take him out.”

Zamora picks up another loss, dropping to 14-10 (11 KOs).

Garcia batters St. Pierre

In the co-main event, Elco “The Animal” Garcia, of Ignacio, Colo., beat up a game-but-shopworn Cabien St. Pierre, of Las Vegas, Nev., stopping him in the fourth.

Towering over the 38-year-old, soft-bodied foe, Garcia, coming off three big-name opponents, all on TV, had a relatively easy time with the Jesse Reid-trained fighter, starting slow with the jab and picking up the pace with each round.

Garcia boxed through the first round, jabbing at the smaller St. Pierre who sought to land overhand haymakers and a flying-left hook or two. By the end of the round, Garcia, fighting at range, had his right hand measured, and, in the second, he employed it skillfully. Though game, St. Pierre was punished by big rights from Garcia.

Round three was a repeat, only the punishment increased from Garcia. By the fourth, Garcia was pouring it on St. Pierre until a big right hand floored St. Pierre. While he was being counted out, trainer Jesse Reid through in the towel, at 2:25.

Garcia ups his record to 19-6 (9 KOs) while St. Pierre, 8-20 (3 KOs), continues to fall.

McClain Returns on Shaky Ground

After a five-and-a-half year hiatus, “Irish” Sean McClain, of Rio Rancho, fighting as a cruiser after little luck as a heavyweight, and fighting with more than a little “luck of the Irish,” escaping, first, a near-knockdown, then a loss by disqualification after hitting his opponent when down, returned to the ring with a win.

The opponent, secured in the 11th hour and violating weight regulations by pitting a 195-pound cruiserweight against a 232-pound heavyweight, was the rotund Vernon “Thunder” Woodward, of Shawnee, Okla., who’d dropped seven straight bouts, six by kayo.

In the opening moments, however, lightning struck when “Thunder” Woodward blasted McClain with a bolt-outta-the-blue right hand. The thunderstruck McClain danced backward on legs made of popsicle sticks as Woodward, no doubt disbelieving his borrowed Irish luck, threw another bomb with every ounce of his fleshy mass behind it.

McClain, somehow, survived, striving to embrace the portly opponent like a long-lost brother. Taking several more shots, McClain not only weathered the thunderstorm, but cleared the clouds in his head, and started to jab his way back to earth.

By the end of the frightful round, McClain was mixing up his jabs with a straight right to the belly of Woodward, a dangerous punch that left him exposed for precious milliseconds, when McClain’s glove, and half of his arm, disappeared into the folds and adipose of Woodward’s swollen tummy.

Having survived the worst of it, McClain came out recovered in the second, while “Thunder,” spent with the effort of what would’ve been a miraculous gift from the gods above, now appeared spent.

McClain finished the job, exacting vengeance on his would-be upsetter, landing enough big rights to send Woodward downward on all fours. Only, McClain didn’t stop there, landing one final right hand while the portly one was down.

Referee Tony Rosales could’ve—maybe should’ve—DQ’d McClain; at the very least, he should’ve zapped him with a two-point foul. Instead, McClain got the 'shame-on-you' finger wave—don’t do that—while Woodward was given the count, of which he made.

The fight resumed but not for long—McClain was all over Woodward until he put up down again and Ref Rosales stepped in to stop the slaughter at 1:20.

“He came to fight and got me good,” said McClain, now 23-8-1 (23 KOs).

“I didn’t mean to hit him while down—to me, he looked like he was still going down when I landed the second shot.”

McClain’s trainer, Richie Masciotti, didn’t like the way the first round went.

“He showed a lot of ring rust, but he listened to his corner and recuperated. That guy’s too big—Sean will never fight another heavyweight.”

Woodward drops to 7-18 (7 KOs).

 ‘Two Guns’ Needs Just One

Fighting a last-week sub, former heavyweight Talmadge “Two Guns” Griffis, of Rockford, IL and Colorado Springs, CO, continued his invasion into the cruiserweight ranks by dominating the misnamed “Baby Tyson,” James Brock, of Los Angeles, who entered the ring having lost six in a row.

The fight went as expected.

Brock was dropped twice, although after the initial tumble, he leapt to his feet after the fight resumed and gave Griffis everything he had.

It wasn’t much, though.

A couple haymakers landed—Griffis might’ve blinked with the impact, before resuming his careful destruction of Brock. A few punches later, Brock was down for the count, although, at the sound of “Ten!” he leapt up with dramatic flare, as if ready to fight again, then acted slighted, as if the ref had counted too quickly.

The KO came at 2:26.

Brock drops his awful record to 12-39-3 (4 KOs) while Griffis  picks up his second win as a cruiser, improving to 24-6-3 (16 KOs).

Undercard: Lopez overmatched in debut

In what was a reverse mismatch, Albuquerque jr. welter Danny Lopez not only had the misfortune of facing an experienced 9-3 Mexican in his pro debut, but gave up ten pounds in doing so.

Sonora, Mexico’s Juan Humberto Corral, 150 on the scales compared to Lopez’s 140 (which was also overlooked by the Santa Ana Athletic Commission), might be listed as 1-3 by FightFax, but according to Boxrec.com, he was 9-3 going into the ring. Although the tribal commission felt all they needed was paper proof by FightFax, Boxrec’s free, online stats might’ve, at least, thrown up a red flag that Corral-Lopez was not only an unfair match, but a dangerous one.

One might’ve simply asked Corral or his cornermen. This writer did so, between rounds one and two:

“What’s your fighter’s record?” was asked.

“He’s nine and three,” was the answer.

And so Lopez made his debut against a 12-bout veteran and, despite one knockdown and losing every round on two judges’ cards, showed himself a tough, willing scrapper.

Corral’s experience and superior ring generalship showed early, as he pressed the action and landed the better shots on Lopez. In the second, Lopez was floored—though it looked more like a push than a true knockdown—but he gamely fought on, trying to establish a counter-punching strategy against Corral, who was landing big rights and taking his time with the green-but-game debuter.

Waiting too long to throw—and his one, sometimes, two-punch counters not effective enough—Lopez endured more hard rights from Corral in the third, but had his best round in the final heat, but still not doing enough to win, at least on two cards.

The judges had it ranging from 40-35, twice, and 39-36, all for Corral.

With the win, Corral ups his actual record to 10-3 (7 KOs)—or, if you blindly insist on the erroneous FightFax stats, 2-3; while Lopez enters the pro game with several lessons learned, at 0-1.

Cisneros punches way to debut win

In the second prelim, a battle of Duke City middleweights, Freddie Cisneros (1-0) won his pro debut over always-improving, always-game Jesse Lovato (1-2, 1 KO).

It was a matter of quantity vs. quality—Cisneros’ much-harder-but-less-thrown punches up against Lovato’s much-busier-but-less-damaging shots.

That Cisneros’ punches have pop was evidence in round one. Coming out composed, Cisneros met Lovato in the center of the ring where they swapped shots. A one-two from Cisneros snapped Lovato’s head back and, less than a minute later, put him down on the canvas. Lovato kept his composure, rested on one knee until the count of nine to clear his head, and weathered the remainder of the round dominated by Cisneros.

Cisneros came out for the second looking already winded, and Lovato got to work as the aggressor, outlanding Cisneros two- or three-to-one. Unfortunately, Lovato’s punches had little steam and it was the occasional big right by Cisneros, and a big flurry in the final ten seconds, that could’ve stole him the round.

Again, in the third, Lovato, the aggressor but one wide open to hit, lost his volume to Cisneros’ less-but-weightier wallops, almost all dead-on right hands with a left hook or two. In the final round, Cisneros stepped up the pace and the two went-to-toe. Lovato, while certainly game, was on the receiving end, more often than not, his head snapping back more than once.

After four, judges ranged from a shutout for Cisneros, 40-35, to closer scores of 39-36 and 38-37.

NMB/FN had it 39-36 for Cisneros, giving round two to Lovato.

Esquibel thrills after spill

Receiving the second highest ovation—second to McClain—as he made his way to the ring, 19-year-old Duke City jr. lightweight Matthew “Papitas” Esquibel took on what should’ve been a piece-of-cake win over 0-6, 36-year-old Juarez foe, Joel Padilla.

But Padilla, never mind outweighing Esquibel nearly six pounds, turned out to be the toughest 0-6 fighter ever to fight in Albuquerque.

Round one was a tentative one, with Esquibel picking up the round by working his jab and throwing an occasional right hand. Then, in the second, after another 15-20 seconds of the same, the cheering crowd was hushed when Padilla shocked the house by putting Esquibel on the seat of his shorts with a big right hand.

Some later, said Esquibel’s foot had been stepped on, but trip or not, Padilla had connected with a punch and the referee proceeded to administer the count.

Esquibel looked more embarrassed than hurt, and when the fight continued, the soft-spoken, always-respectful boxer showed a frenzied animal side—instant Jekyll to Hyde. “Papitas” launched himself at Padilla and, in the next minute-and-a-half, Esquibel might’ve broken the punches-thrown-per-round record, for he banged away at Padilla, trapped against the ropes, with every punch known to pugilism until the Mexican, too, had tasted canvas from a blazing bombardment of body shots.

But Padilla not only survived the count, but hammered back at Esquibel in a toe-to-toe battle to finish the round.

After such a round, the two appeared exhausted in the third, and both, taking a respite, Esquibel picked away at Padilla with peppering jabs and rights. In the fourth, the two were back to war, Esquibel’s big body bombs earning him the round, but Padilla not without a comeback, landing several clean, sneaky uppercuts on the hometown kid.

Scoring on the ten-point must system, the two knockdowns in the second canceling each other, Esquibel picked up the unanimous decision with shutout scores of 40-36 on all three judges’ cards.

Esquibel improves his stats to 5-0 (3 KOs) while Padilla plummets to 0-7.

Sparmates battle for debut win

In a battle of minimumweight female debuters from Albuquerque, and sparring partners, Sonya “Hotshot” Gurule (1-0) outpointed Suzanna Garvin (0-1) for a split decision win.

By jabbing and throwing straight lefts, aggressive southpaw Gurule picked up the first while Garvin waited too long. Garvin picked up the pace in the second, making it a fight but it was Gurule’s straighter, faster punches making the impression.

Garvin closed the gap in the third, making it a close fight and pressing forward—but Gurule continued to edge with her cleaner shots. In the final round, it was more of the same but Garvin might’ve stolen the round on some cards in the final moments with her best shots of the night—clean, straight right hands.

The judges disagreed, two scoring for Gurule, 39-37 twice, while the third somehow had it for Garvin, 39-37. NMB/FN had it 39-37 for Gurule.

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