Rude Awakenings
Outclassed by Perez, Barela suffers first defeat; Gomez spanks “Bad Boy”; Furney shocks J. Barela

Ringside report & photos by Chris Cozzone

The card was billed as “Night of Destiny,” but, with all the lessons learned and clinics held last night, “School Days” might’ve been more appropriate.

Before a packed house at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio. Colo., local favorite Victor Barela, of Farmington, N.M., suffered his first professional loss when he was outclassed by Denver’s Manny Perez, who pitched a near-shutout for the vacant WBC world youth featherweight belt.

Outsized in, both, reach and height, and surpassed in ring experience and skill, Barela’s only chance of taking home the belt lay in the clamor of a hometown crowd and the steady hammering of his can’t-lose heart.

Last night, however, it still wasn’t enough.

The local kid never had a chance.

Barela established his role as aggressor in the first few seconds of the fight—but through the next ten rounds, he would walk into more punches than he could hope to throw.

Keeping the fight at range, Perez outboxed Barela through the first round, jabbing at Barela while moving. Barela closed the distance in the final minute, landing two clean punches, but Perez’s movement and jab earned him the first.

From the second through sixth, it was Perez’s fight, with Barela’s plight, a hopeless one.

In between stiff jabs, right hand after right hand pegged an onrushing Barela in the second. In the third and fourth, Perez’s added hooks and an uppercut or two on Barela, who stayed at the end of Perez’s range and followed his foe around the ring, absorbing punishment.

By the fifth, the fight appeared to be draining out of Barela. The one-sided slaughter continued in the sixth.

In the seventh, however, the crowd witnessed the best action of the night when Barela suddenly snapped out of his funk and turned the one-sided beating into a fight.

Closing the distance, a rightfully-desperate Barela went to war, bombing Perez with rights and lefts, forcing the Denverite to retreat. Perez, hurt in the attack, weathered the storm, then calmly restaged his successful game plan and fired back at Barela with clean shots.

The seventh proved Barela’s last stand, for in the last three rounds, Perez pulled so far ahead, nothing short of a miracle knockout punch was going to save Barela from his first loss.

Barela’s head snapped back from numerous jabs and big rights in the eighth, while his body absorbed hooks from the increasingly aggressive Perez. Still coming forward but unable to get back in the fight, Barela did not give up—not even when his knees wobbled from a crushing right late in the ninth.

In the tenth, Barela was hurt again, though losing his mouthpiece bought him time to recover and survive Perez’s final assaults for the closing bell.

At the end of ten, all three judges—Levi Martinez, Ruben Garcia and Mark Nelson—scored it lopsidedly for Perez: 100-90 (Nelson) and 99-91. Both Garcia and Martinez gave Barela the seventh round.

NewMexicoBoxing.com/Fightnews.com, too, saw a razor-thin seventh, but had Perez a shutout winner, 100-90.

“I give him a lot of credit,” said Perez, 11-3, 2 KOs with the win.

“He took a lot of good shots and kept coming at me. He has a decent crack, but my conditioning made the difference. I did my prep work.”

Perez’s manager, Chris Morris, says his fighter will have to decide whether he wants to stay at 126 to defend his newly-acquired youth belt, or go back up to 130 where he holds another one of the WBC’s many green trinkets.

“I like 130,” says Perez. “But the weight came off easy in the gym. We’ll see what fights we can get. The plan is fight whomever they put in front of me and to keep moving forward.

“There’s always room for improvement. It’s back to the gym, after this.”

If given the choice, Perez says he’d like a rematch with any of the three fighters who defeated him, three bouts in a row over a year-and-a-half ago: Rashiem Jefferson, Eduardo Escobedo and Juan Jaramillo.

“I feel like I let New Mexico down,” said Barela, who says he’ll campaign at 122 now.

“I wasn’t tired, but I just couldn’t start anything. He’s a good fighter, though—I take nothing away from him.”

With his first loss, Barela, dropping to 9-1-1, 3 KOs, says he’ll campaign at 122 now.

“I was 126 during the whole camp. I could’ve easily made ’22.”

Gomez spanks 'Bad Boy'

In the eight-round co-main, fought at welter, local hopeful Joe “Ironman” Gomez, of Bloomfield, N.M., kept busy with a seventh round stoppage of grizzled Albuquerque veteran Rudy "Bad Boy" Lovato, who came off a year’s layoff in his first local bout in five years.

The first round was slow and cautious, Gomez winning it by virtue of aggression but with Lovato sneaking in a couple of well-timed counters and jabs.

Gomez stepped on the gas in the second and third, pressuring the wily veteran with rights and jabs while Lovato played off the ropes, occasionally firing back with an overhand right.

Round four and five were Lovato’s best rounds. Proving hard to hit, Lovato fought off the ropes and blocked while a somewhat-confused Gomez tried to land something clean.

With his best behind him, Gomez took it to the next level in the sixth and seventh. Big rights and left hooks, both up and down, started to land for Gomez. Then, in the last minute of round six, a big hook to the ribs, followed by a straight upstairs, had Lovato covering up hurt against the ropes.

The pressure continued in the seventh until Lovato took a knee halfway through the first minute. There, he was counted out by Ref Nelson, at :31.

Lovato, 21-38-4, 7 KOs, talked about retiring after the fight, but said it was a thumb in the eye that kept him on his knees in the seventh.

Gomez, who’s been battling the flu, on and off for three weeks, dismissed Lovato’s excuse.

“I took him serious, like I do everyone I fight,” said the Bloomfield welterweight, now 13-1-1, 7 KOs.

“I wanted [Hector] Munoz, but when that fight didn’t happen, I had to take something to keep me busy. I’m trying to fight as often as possible.”

If given the option, Gomez says he still wants to face off with Munoz.

“I really don’t think he’s all that great,” says Gomez. “But I’m trying to build myself locally, and in order to do that, fighting Hector in Albuquerque is a good move. It’s his reputation I want.

"But I'm ready for anyone."

Frankly, Franks too raw for McCarter

In a terrible mismatch fought at lightweight, 43-fight veteran and world champion Layla McCarter (26-13-5, 6 KOs) slaughtered San Antonio lamb Tammy Franks (2-3-1), at her leisure.

McCarter toyed with Franks in the first, avoiding amateurish wide swings while stepping into the pocket to plug away at her foe with frightful ease.

The fight—if a fight it could be called at all, and not a sparring session—had Franks completely defenseless in the second, with McCarter popping her at will and driving her from one corner to the next.

In the third, a crisp right deposited the outclassed Franks on her bottom. The game foe made it to her feet but when McCarter rushed in for the kill, Referee Russ Mora quickly waved the bout off at :44.

Furney shocks Barela

In a five-round jr. lightweight bout, Joe Barela (5-2, 2 KOs), thinking he was in for a “gimme win,” was in for the toughest fight of his life against, possibly, the best 0-2 fighter in the Southwest, Scott Furney (1-2), of Michigan-by-way-of-Albuquerque.

From the opening bell to the stoppage at the onset of round five, it was all Furney.

Barela was unable to land one clean shot in the first, while Furney, showing footwork and hand speed far beyond any mortal 0-2 fighter in the galaxy, slammed the local favorite with everything from a big right thrown at range, to a nose-crunching uppercut at close quarters.

Showing a big heart, Barela continued to come forward. Furney continued to slam him with big rights, one after the other. By the end of the round, Barela’s nose was bleeding badly.

The slaughter continued through the third. Unable to cope with Furney’s skill level, Barela was reduced to holding (which prompted the ref to penalize him a point) and pushing. Meanwhile, Furney’s domination only got worse.

With a lip growing fatter by the second, and a nose still trickling a stream of blood, Barela tried to make a last-stand brawl of it in the fourth, but continued counter-attacks from Furney had him hopelessly outclassed.

When the bell rang for round five, Referee Mark Nelson waved the fight off, official time :03.

For local fighters in the 122-130 range, from Matthew Esquibel to Willie Villanueva, don’t be fooled by the record—Scott Furney can fight, and he says he’s coming.

Morales outpoints Abner

The four-round card-opener was a lesson in deceiving appearances. With his jiggly torso, Las Vegas heavyweight Alvaro Morales (1-0-1) might not have looked nearly as athletic or physically daunting as his opponent, but his skills certainly eclipsed the arsenal offered by Albuquerque's Felix Abner (2-2, 1 KO).

Morales easily countered his way through the first, throwing hooks and jabs at a forward-plodding Abner, who missed the majority of shots attempted. In the second, Abner made minor improvements in the first half, applying more pressure on Morales, but quick and crafty counters from the Las Vegan edged the round back in his favor.

Rounds three and four were even more in favor of Morales, who had Abner missing power shots by a mile. Big right hands punctuated a demoralized Abner in the fourth.

NMB/FN had a shutout decision for Morales, 40-36, but only one judge saw it that way.

Judge Nelson scored it 40-36 while Martinez and Garcia gave Abner one round apiece, both scoring it 39-37.

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