Pavin' the Way
‘Road to Stardom’ cleared for Castillo—former champ beats Andrade on road back to world title; Local welter Sanchez pounds pavement with Hartman, but his ‘Road to Stardom’ still under construction

Ringside report & photos by Chris Cozzone

The way back to the top may now be paved for a comebacking former champ, who proved too speedy for a veteran in hot pursuit last night at Isleta Casino, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, but several other fighters traveling on the Telefutura-televised “Road to Stardom,” experienced minor to major delays, due to accidents and road conditions, while one local hopeful continued to inch forward, under the usual extreme caution.

In their second show at Isleta, Top Rank, in association with Prime Time Productions, may not have come anywhere close to the swift rides produced in their last card, but they did succeed in packing the house again.

For some fans, however, the “Road to Stardom” proved a somewhat circuitous route—nearly a detour on the Road to Ruin for one, or a road to nowhere, for another—when three out of four local bouts had little to offer but delays or layovers on the fighters’ respective journeys toward greatness.

The main event, however, a stop-and-go distance fight, cleared the way for former WBA superflyweight champion Martin Castillo, who is hoping to reclaim his old belt owned by Alexander Munoz, or get a shot at rising superstar, WBC champ Cristian Mijares, conqueror of Jorge Arce.

Veteran, and former NABF champion, Oscar ‘Pajarito” Andrade, however, despite an unimpressive record, once again proved that numbers can mean nada, as he pressed, chased and cut the fast-paced former champion in a rematch, seven years in the waiting.

In complete control for most of the fight, Castillo set the pace, alternating between hitting on the move, and obliging both Andrade and anxious fans by exchanging close quarters.

Either way he chose to fight, it was Castillo’s game.

In the fourth, Andrade was hurt by a body shot. It was the only round you saw the veteran take a backward step—but Castillo did not, or could not, capitalize and, after weathering more hooks to the body, Andrade continued on.

Another break in the action occurred in the sixth, when a low blow by Castillo momentarily halted the fight. One round later, Andrade had his best round when Castillo showed signs of fatigue.

Success for Andrade—and Castillo’s fatigue—however, were short-lived and, in the final four frames, the former champ pecked away at Andrade, with occasional exchanges, cruising to a lop-sided decision win with unanimous scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.

Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing (FN/NMB) had it 99-91.

Though the bout ended the same way as the original bout, Castillo did not escape unscathed. In the second, he was bleeding from a cut over his left eye; in the sixth, it was a slash under that same eye; and, two rounds later, a nick under the right eye gave the former champ a third souvenir to remember Andrade by.

“I was trying to outbox him, but the fighter in me wanted to mix it up,” said Castillo, who improves to 32-2, 17 KOs.

“I hurt my left hand a little, early on, so I couldn’t throw as hard as I wanted to.”

Castillo hopes for a shot at WBA champ Alexander Munoz—whom he’s defeated twice already in close fights—or WBC champion Cristian Mijares.

“I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me,” says Castillo.

Andrade, now 36-28-1, 18 KOs, disagreed with the scorecards, saying he thought he’d won the bout.

Flores outhustles Garcia

In the best fight on the card, Houston featherweight Benjamin Flores (16-3, 4 KOs) pounded out an eight-round unanimous decision over East L.A.’s Salvador Garcia (14-5-2, 7 KOs), who was coming off an eight-month layoff following a TKO loss.

Garcia waited too long in the first four rounds, while Flores, showing a greater range of skills, outhustled the East L.A. scrapper in a bout that had neither fighter running, neither one having to hunt down the other.

Garcia proved too cautious in the opening round and though he started to land his big right in the second, Flores’ greater output edged him the round. Flores went to the body in the third and, in the fourth, Garcia started to wake up.

Momentum went back in the second half of the fight, with Garcia increasingly aggressive.

Garcia might’ve edged Flores with his attack in round five, but Flores bounced back in the sixth in his most dominating round. Trapping Garcia against the ropes, he unloaded his best shots on his opponent.

Flores was outhustled again in the seventh, but in the last round, Garcia came back strong until the final moments when Flores tried to steal the round.

All three judges were in agreement, scoring it 77-75 for Flores. FN/NMB had Flores further ahead, 78-74.

Perez beats up Armenta

In the card’s curtain raiser, unbeaten super bantamweight Alejandro Perez (10-0-1, 5 KOs), of San Jose, Cal., was given a can’t-lose opponent, while said opponent, the game and durable Martin Armenta (11-14-3, 9 KOs), of Los Mochis, Mexico, received a gift of his own by Referee Lorenzo Saiz, when he, mercifully, stopped the bout at 2:44 of round four.

The bout opened up with light sparring for Perez, but, by the end of the round, the unbeaten San Jose fighter was landing with regularity, with Armenta on the unlucky end of increasing punishment.

Unable to miss many punches, Perez doled out the shots in rounds two through four, as easily as Armenta took ‘em. In the closing moments of the fourth, the ref stepped in to end the game of Zim-Zam Perez was playing, with Armenta’s head as the tethered ball.

Armenta racks up what would’ve been his 13th straight loss, if a promoter in Mexico hadn’t kept him in the game by matching him up with an 0-5 fighter earlier this year.

Fight card, part II—local, untelevised

The anticipation reserved for the local half of the show, all of it after Telefutura had pulled plug, at 8 p.m., broke down with each bout. A succession of disappointments, however, actually made the final bout of the night—as predictable as the ending of Rocky after your 39th viewing—something of a crowd pleaser.

The first blow came when the six-rounder with local favorite Matthew “Papitas” Esquibel (6-0, 3 KOs) was scratched. When Esquibel’s scheduled foe, Lupe Guzman (2-1, 1 KO), played no-show at the weigh-in, then bailed out, a massive combing of the surrounding states for a last-minute shoo-in was conducted by executive matchmaker Brad Goodman. The best possible opponent was 0-7 Joel Padilla, who’d been beaten earlier this year by Esquibel. Padilla arrived at Isleta early evening, but, without enough time for medically clearance—namely, a blood test—the unwon border battler from Juarez was told he’d made the four-hour trip for naught.

Estupinan proves dangerous . . . to himself, more than Trout

In what was the most-anticipated local bout of the evening, Las Cruces’ jr. middleweight, former Olympic alternate Austin “No Doubt” Trout (11-0, 9 KOs) was matched against hard-hitting Juarez slugger, the dangerous Nelson Estupinan (12-6, 9 KOs).

Unfortunately for the fans, and for Trout, who was robbed of a chance of his biggest win yet, Estupinan proved more dangerous to himself than to Trout.

Round one was a cautious one, with Trout picking it up by virtue of his right jab and a couple straight lefts. Estupinan stood at the end of Trout’s jab and waited.

The crowd waited, too—but when round two opened up, the fight was over before it even began.

There were two knockdowns, neither one caused by a landing punch.

Trout was down first, from a tangle of feet, the type common when you see leftie take on rightie. While the ref was wiping off Trout’s gloves, Estupinan nodded to his corner—it was time to go to work.

When the fight resumed, Estupinan, living up to his nom de guerre of “El Bufalo”, charged Trout, his right hand cocked for the kill.

Estupinan might as well have shouted, “Here it comes!” as he charged. Or sent Trout a letter by Pony Express, to provide ample warning—not that Trout needs one, for he’s hard enough to hit when you’re standing in front of him.

Needless to say, the overhand right slaughtered multiple air molecules, missing by a mile.

The momentum of Estupinan’s missing blow took him face down on the canvas, causing his left knee cap to smash or pop out of alignment, rendering him unable to continue at :46.

No doubt, Estupinan presented a threat to “No Doubt” Trout—and anyone else he faces in the squared circle—but, he appears to be an even bigger threat to himself.

Against, Vanes Matirosyan, he twisted his ankle—after the flooring the undefeated Olympian, who was nearly out on his feet.

Against Joaquin Zamora, he busted his right hand—after flooring the top New Mexican welterweight in round one.

Senor Estupinan might want to consider something a little safer.

Ping pong, anybody?

Vasquez lucky in draw

Las Cruces featherweight Ricky Vasquez (2-0-1, 1 KO) is thought to be one of New Mexico’s top prospects. But in his four-rounder against tough Texan Gino Escamilla (1-0-1), there are probably not too many local fight fans who are entertaining high hopes for this hopeful, if his hapless performance is any indication of his skills.

Simply put, the kid looked awful.

Vasquez looked okay in round one, but got increasingly worse with each round, while Escamilla, game from the get-go, poured it on.

Vasquez took the first by counter-punching Escamilla, and blocking the Texan’s wide punches while making him miss. The two had several heated exchanges in the second, Vasquez landing more often but Escamilla pressing the action. Two clean left hooks by Escamilla—taken well by Vasquez—were an ill omen, however.

Vasquez started to fall apart in the third, then nearly came apart at the seams in the fourth.

Escamilla’s wide shots found their way past Vasquez’s guard to take the third and, in the final frame, the Las Crucen was nearly battered pillar to post. Unable to do anything, the kid looked shell-shocked and completely out of it while Escamilla loaded up on big lefts.

The fans were not happy with the verdict, which saved Vasquez from what might’ve been his first loss.

Two judges had it 38-38 while the third scored it for Escamilla, 39-37.

FN/NMB also had it even, 38-38, but certainly can find no fault with the third judge seeing a close round two for Escamilla.

Sanchez closes the show

Ray Sanchez III (20-1, 15 KOs) did not disappoint, in his scheduled sixer with Travis Hartman (8-8, 4 KOs), of St. Joseph, Mo.

For this bout, the disappointment came weeks before, when he was matched up, for the fight went exactly as expected—an easy victory by stoppage.

After a cautious minute, the southpaw Sanchez switched leftie to rightie, then unloaded a big left hook on Hartman who, as Sanchez later put it, “fell like a sack of bricks.”

Hartman beat the count but Sanchez pinned him against the ropes and unloaded several shots until Referee Russ Mora called it quits at 1:34.

A second fight nearly erupted when Hartman’s corner refused to let Sanchez up on the ropes in their corner, to salute the hometown crowd. Sanchez’s team shouted at Hartman’s team while ref Mora shouted at everyone to settle down (“This is my ring!”), which, it eventually did.

“I wasn’t hurt and it was stopped too quick,” Hartman complained.

Sanchez agreed with the stoppage, saying he would’ve floored his opponent with a straight left moments later, anyway.

“It was another victory and I was able to throw off a little more rust. It brings me one step closer to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.”

A possible Sanchez-Chavez, Jr. showdown is still a big question mark, but Bruce Trampler, matchmaker for Sanchez, says, “Right now, a Sanchez-Chavez fight is closer to happening than not happening . . . This fight was marking time.”

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