Lovato, Zamora rise to new heights at Sky City!
Romero show another series of wars

Ringside report by Chris Cozzone and Felix Chavez
Photos by Chris Cozzone

There may be several reasons why one wouldn’t want to drive out to Acoma to see a Sky City boxing card—the price of gas, the venue, with its low ceilings and wretched lighting is not the most conducive to staging such an event, the road construction in I-40 is a drag, and hell, there was a fight in town the night before—but the motivation that brought a house-packing crowd of 700 or so to last night’s Juan Romero Promotions was well worth the trip.

The fights are, simply, the best in town—actually, out of town—for the Duke City area.

If you want wars, Sky City’s got ‘em.

Last night’s card—the third one this year, thus far—was no exception.

Not only did the card help solidify WBC No. 1 and current NABF super flyweight champ Monica Lovato’s claim as a major force in the 115-pound division, or WBC No. 8 contender Joaquin Zamora as the leading welterweight in the state of New Mexico, if not the Southwest, by virtue of his wins over tough opponents, but the six-bout card heralded the debut of two youngsters with big, local box-office potential and the advancement of a rising Santa Fean.

If there was a downside, worse than the traffic to and fro the casino, it was the judging on two of the prelim bouts—hands down, the worst seen this year.

The judging in the main event, however, was closer to the mark and, at least, reflected a razor-thin battle between two world class fighters.

At first, Espanola’s Monica Lovato was slated to fight undefeated Melinda Cooper (18-0, 14 KOs) of Las Vegas, but at the three-week mark, she pulled out and was replaced by Mexico City’s Mariana Juarez, a proven former champ seeking a return to the ring after  a two-year layoff.

Ring rust was nowhere to be found last night, for, in their 10-round bout for the vacant IBA bantamweight title,  she gave Lovato all she could handle.

Juarez, weighing in at 111 to Lovato’s 116, no doubt, 115 minus the sweats, (did we mention this was for a 118-pound bantamweight title?), established an early lead in the first rounds. Lovato, usually a slow starter, proved otherwise this time around, although a successful counter-punching aggression did not fall into place until round three. In the meantime, Juarez’s straight-forward aggression and heat-seeking missile of a straight right hand found its mark enough times to warrant the first two stanzas.

Lovato had her figured out in the third, however, and the fight turned into a series of heated exchanges of the mauling, brawling variety. Lovato rough-handled Juarez, neutralizing her right hand and matching the Mexican’s straight-forward movement, in the third. In round four, the Espanola southpaw started to find a home for her big left hands.

The fifth was close, Juarez’s relentless aggression an even match for Lovato’s rapid counter-punching combinations that, more often than not, took place against the ropes. On appearance, the heated exchanges against the ropes tended to paint Juarez in a better light than Lovato, who still landed heavily before taking the fight to the center of the ring. 

“If she’s smiling, you’re winning!” shouted Lovato’s cornermen—and it proved true, for every time Lovato connected with a big shot, Juarez would grin, sometimes shaking her head.

By round six, Lovato, too, was smiling, for she had control of the round and was increasingly moving forward with aggression rather than wait to counter Juarez, who was unable to land that right with the success she had in the early rounds. Still aggressive, but somewhat neutralized, Juarez lost both battles—the inside exchanges and mauling, plus the outside jabbing with Lovato’s big left hands—to the Espanolan.

Juarez’s frustration was evident in the eighth when she resorted to a foul here and there, but the blazing exchanges started to turn the fight back around.

Lovato took a breather in the ninth while Juarez loaded up on left hooks, taking the round, but in the final chapter, despite a ruthless attempt to close the show, Lovato finished strong, matching Juarez’s pressure with clean left hands and superior footwork.

The scorecards, while reflecting a close fight, were all over the place, ranging from 96-94 Lovato (Perez), to 97-93 Juarez (Gant) and 98-92 Lovato (Tellez).

Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing scored it 96-94 Lovato, with some of the rounds so close, it could’ve easily been 96-94 either way, or even a draw.

“It was a great fight, a tough fight,” said Lovato, 11-1, 4 KOs, adding another belt to her collection. “I took it one round at a time, knowing she was going to be my toughest fight.

“When Melinda Cooper pulled out, in my mind, I knew Mariana was going to be a much tougher fight. But I thought I did good. I started earlier than I did in my last couple of fights, and I gave myself six out of the ten rounds.”

Lovato, No. 1 in the WBC, hopes to get a shot at champion Ana Marie Torres.

“I want the WBC belt,” Lovato said. “This is my biggest win yet, but there’s more to come.”

With the split decision loss, Juarez dropped her record to 14-5-3, 8 KOs. —Chris Cozzone

Zamora shows his stuff!

In what some ringside observers said might have been his best showing ever as a pro, Socorro’s Joaquin Zamora improved to 15-2-1 (10 KOs), with a workmanlike unanimous decision win against Jose Bermejo, 7-4-2 (6 KOs), of San Jose, Cal., in a 10-round welterweight affair.

Even the judges were able to score correctly, handing out scores of 100-89 (twice) and 99-90, to Zamora who used his southpaw style to frustrate Bermejo.

Zamora started strong, landing several straight lefts in the first few rounds. In round two, a three-punch combination, which was capped by a straight hard left, put Bermejo down.

It was much of the same for the remaining rounds.

Bermejo had his moments, such as round eight when he got Zamora on the ropes and landed a flurry of punches, but Zamora was able to keep the fight in the center of the ring for much of the night where he outboxed the California fighter. Even when Zamora was forced to the ropes, he was able to fight effectively and block much of Bermejo's attack.

"I can be a boxer or a brawler," Zamora said.

"I had a good game plan tonight. I used my left effectively. My opponent has a good punch and I had to keep him from getting me in trouble. I was happy with my performance."

Zamora, who is ranked No. 8 by the WBC, hopes to land a big fight in his next outing.

"My goal is a world title, I just want to win," Zamora said. "I'd like to keep moving forward."

When asked if he'd like a fight with Albuquerque welterweight Ray Sanchez III, who won his fight on Friday night at Isleta Casino and Resort, Zamora was diplomatic about it.

"Everyone wants to make it another Tapia-Romero situation, that was a big fight and a one-time event," said Zamora of a possible showdown with Sanchez III. "Ray and his family have always treated me well, I have nothing but respect for them. If they paid me a million dollars and Ray a million, I'm sure we'd do it." —Felix Chavez

Lozoya impressive as boxer, but Cervantes proves better

A four-round lightweight bout saw the return of Las Cruces’ Colbert “Pittbull” Losoya (4-9), who, ending a two-year retirement, had been written off as a finished fighter. While losing a decision to the taller, rangier Luis Cervantes (6-2-3, 1 KO), of Cathedral City, CA, Losoya not only gave the fans, and his opponent, their money’s worth, but the former two-dimensional slugger showed a Gatti-like transition as a much-improved boxer.

The first round was close, with Losoya jabbing and moving while setting up a big right hand. Cervantes was patient, waiting for his opening, which came late in the round in the form of a straight that opened a cut alongside the Pitbull’s right eye.

Despite the cut, Losoya continued his game plan in the second, working behind the jab to land big lefts and rights on the still-cautious Cervantes. The Californian, however, acted in the second part of the round, firing clean lefts on Losoya—punches that had visible effect.

Still, Losoya boxed and jabbed, and was well on his way to having his best round yet when, late in the third, Cervantes unleashed a big right hand that dropped Losoya for an eight-count.

Cervantes went to work in the fourth, bouncing lefts and rights off Losoya throughout the round, though not enough to floor the game Pittbull a second time.

All three judges were in agreement, scoring it 38-37 for Cervantes—a fight that would’ve been a draw had it not been for the knockdown. —Chris Cozzone

Piar on fire: ‘This is my ring now!’

After two failed pro debuts, thanks to failed scorecards, popular Duke City super bantamweight James Piar (1-0, 1 KO) decided to take the matters out of the hands of judges, to win by knockout over huge-hearted Fernando Duran (0-2), of Espanola.

The crowd-pleasing Piar took a right hand to the jaw early in the fight from the surprisingly-game Duran, then eventually wore the out-of-shape Duran before the fight was stopped at 1:07 of the third round.

"I wanted to get hit," said Piar of the right hand that landed early in round one.

"It was like that punch woke me up."

Eventually Piar used his boxing skills with a solid two-fisted attack. He landed several solid left hooks and overhand rights to slow down Duran, who after the early success with his right hand, rarely bothered Piar the rest of the night,

The fight was nearly stopped after the second round because it appeared Duran was too tired. But, to his credit, he came out for round three—but Piar was simply too strong for the kid from Espanola.

“This is my ring now!” said the charismatic Piar.

"I wanted a knockout or a stoppage … I trained hard, I wanted to come out and showcase my boxing skills. I felt strong and confident in the ring. I just want to keep staying as busy as I can." —Felix Chavez

Galle’s gall: Debuter loses to judges

A four-round welterweight bout pitting Rio Rancho debuter Lucas Galle (0-1) against Santa Fe’s No. 1 prospect Gabe Montoya (2-0-1) ended in controversial fashion when New Mexico Athletic Commission judges dropped the ball in their second straight bout.

It was no easy debut—neither on paper, nor in actuality—for Galle, a 24-4 amateur who was just beginning to make a mark in the open division, but almost all ringsiders and a heavy portion of a booing crowd, thought the youngster had done enough to win three of four rounds in his bout against Montoya.

The only ones who thought otherwise were the judges, deemed “three blind mice” by one angry fan, after two straight bad calls.

It was evident from the get-go that Montoya—potentially a local superstar if he can get serious with his training—did not know what to do with a southpaw like Galle, especially one with his height and reach. It was an easy round for Galle, who had but to jab a little bit and land a left hand lead to pocket the first.

Montoya turned up the pressure in the second, and was on his way to winning the round, but Galle, teasingly termed the “Great White Hope” at the T.U.F.F. gym, figured out how easy it was to catch the Santa Fean coming in with jabs and can’t-miss left hands after the first minute.

Down two rounds (on all but the judges’ cards), Montoya went to war in the third round—and nearly succeeded in sending Galle back to the amateur ranks with his tail between in legs.

Closing the gap, Montoya was all over Galle, first blasting him with a big left hook that staggered the Rio Rancho kid, then nearly flooring him with a short-but-straight right hand that had the taller man hanging on for life. Galle proved resilient, however, and not only weathered the Santa Fean storm, but came back at the end of the round to bounce a few left hands off Montoya’s iron chin.

Unable to repeat the success of round three, not really doing much of anything to close the show, Montoya was at the end of Galle’s jab throughout the fourth. Boxing from a safe, smart distance, Galle picked up what should’ve been his third round (and decision.)

Not so on the cards, however, for not a single judge thought Galle had won the bout:

Remarkably, both Judge Gant and Judge Perez had it 39-37 for Montoya while Judge Tellez had it one round better (or one round less worse), at 38-38, giving Montoya the win by majority decision.

“I didn’t know anything about him, but found out he’s a very skillful fighter,” Montoya gave his props later on in the fight. “I had to take a left or two and had trouble with the southpaw.”

Montoya said it was time to “get serious” in the gym and to not take the game lightly.

Galle, however, who’s been serious in the gym, was devastated by his spoiled pro debut.

“There was no way I lost that fight,” he said backstage. “It was a bad call . . .  it was really bad judging.” —Chris Cozzone

Cannell loses debut, to judges

The opening fight of the night, between super bantamweight Steve Cannell (0-1) of Nova Scotia, Canada, now residing in Santa Fe, and El Paso’s Saul Palacios (2-0) turned out to be both entertaining and controversial.

It was Cannell who was busier and outfoxed Palacios, but in the end, two of the judges saw otherwise. While Cannell won 38-37 on one card (Gant), Palacios earned a 39-37 (Perez) and 39-36 decision (Tellez) on the other two cards.

Palacios was aided by a second-round knockdown, a straight right hand thrown while backed up on the ropes.

However, Palacios did not take advantage of the knockdown. Up to that point in round two, Cannell had been winning the round.

In round three, Cannell was busier and landed more, while Palacios appeared to be looking for the one big shot to put Cannell away.

In round four, Palacio was cut over his left eye after an accidental head butt.

In the end, it was a disappointment for Cannell in his pro debut, and it was a disappointing result in an otherwise solid matchup. —Felix Chavez

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