Holm Alone
Long-awaited showdown not even close: Holly Holm stands alone, proves pound-for-pound superiority with dominating win over Mary Jo Sanders; Moreno controls Olszewski; Hallback, Rodriguez win by decision over Garside, Dunaway

Ringside report by Chris Cozzone and Natasha Chornesky
Photos by Chris Cozzone

There are hometown decisions, and there are Holmtown decisions.

Last night’s main event at Isleta Casino & Resort, south of Albuquerque, N.M., was of the latter variety; and, a sort Duke City fans have gotten used to seeing since Christy Martin came to town, in 2005, for a boxing lesson.

Proving wrong the experts (again), New Mexico’s top female draw, Holly Holm—certainly women’s boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter between 140 and 154, if not in all divisions—made her win over formerly undefeated Mary Jo Sanders, of Auburn Hills, Mich., look easy.

Defending one of her six belts, Holm, too swift and too shifty, breezed through her opponent over the course of ten rounds, piling up points while a near-immobilized Sanders watched the proverbial sand sift through the hourglass.

The junior middleweight showdown capped a card of IFBA title fights televised on Pay-Per-View and promoted by Fresquez Productions.

In the preceding title bouts, two ended with debatable decisions while the opening televised fight produced a clear-cut winner, much like Holms-Sanders.

Final verdict on ‘Finally!’

Because it took over two years to make happen, Holms-Sanders was billed as “Finally!” Two years, ten rounds later, “Finally’s” final verdict was about as effortless to produce by the three out-of-state judges, as the boxing lesson given to Sanders.

The daughter of football great Charlie Sanders dropped the ball in the first stanza—then continued to do so, round after round—slowly plodding forward while Holm zipped past, around, inside and out of her punching range, piling up points with jabs and lefts.

Popping away and getting off first, Holm took the second with equal ease. In the third, she drove Sanders backward for the first time, standing in the pocket to trade and coming off with fast combinations before Sanders could get her bearings.

Looking clumsy and confused, Sanders kept coming forward through the fourth, but, in the fifth, she had marginal success with her right hand, though Holm, still in control, took it well.

Trying to keep her foe in one place, Sanders sought to clinch in the sixth, but Holm’s angles and speed made it difficult. One round later, Sanders, though not quite able to turn the fight around, had luck with a desperate right hand.

Rounds eight and nine, as did most of the fight, belonged to Holm, with Sanders’ frustration and mounting desperation evident. In the ninth, the two crashed to the canvas together when their legs became entangled in a clinch.

In the final round, Sanders mounted a last-ditch effort for a knockout, her aggression winning the round but not making a dent in the points lead accumulated by Holm.

Two judges gave Holm eight of ten rounds, 98-92, while the third ruled it one round closer, 97-93.

Fightnews/NewMexicoBoxing agreed, giving Holm eight of ten, 98-92.

“I felt I was in control throughout the fight,” said Holm, now 22-1-2, 6 kayos. “I didn’t want her to get off. I kept on top of her. I stuck to my game plan, and it paid off.

“Still, there are things I could’ve done better—there are always things you can do better.”

Sanders was in agreement there—but, in her case, there very little she was able to do.

“I didn’t do my job,” said Sanders, losing for the first time and dropping to 25-1, 8 kayos. “I didn’t pressure. I didn’t throw punches. I waited too long.

“She was awkward. But it wasn’t her speed. It wasn’t the altitude. I just didn’t do what I was supposed to do.”

Holm will let her promoter, Lenny Fresquez, and trainer, Mike Winkeljohn, figure out who’s next for her, but, for now, she’ll take a few days off and return to the gym.

“I got emotional at the end because, for so long, all everyone’s been saying is, ‘When are you going to fight Sanders?’ Well, it finally happened and I won, and it’s a big thing for me.

“But there are a lot of good fighters out there left. There’s always someone else out there—someone training hard right now.”

Hallback puts Garside on far side of points

While it was, hands down, the fight of the night, the IFBA lightweight title fight between Chevelle Hallback, of Tampa, Fla., and Jeannine Garside, of Ontario, Canada, was seen by most ringsiders as not so ‘hands down.’

While the judges ruled the fight in favor of Hallback, one judge, impossibly, had it a near shutout.

The action went back and forth.

Champion edged out challenger in the first round, Hallback landing fast, slick counters and hard lefts on a slow-starting Garside.

Garside woke up in the second, forcing Hallback to fight in the pocket, and landing the better shots in several hard, crowd-pleasing exchanges.

Garside’s exchanges increased with each round. In the third, lead rights drove Hallback back, but one round later, the champ returned, blasting her southpaw foe back with the biggest shots of the night. Garside hit the canvas mid-round, and it was ruled a push.

Garside was back in control in the fifth, boxing/punching, while Hallback tried to counter. In the sixth, both landed heavy hook damage, but Garside came off first for the majority of their exchanges.

Hallback’s aggression turned the fight around in the seventh, but Garside might’ve stolen the round with a late flurry when the two duked it out.

Round eight was close, Garside coming forward and edging Hallback, who was letting her hands go after a slight mid-fight slowdown. She slowed down again in the ninth, however, landing big, single punches but doing nothing in between, while Garside’s boxing remained constant.

The final round saw the best action all night, the two blasting away at each other, toe-to-toe, for two minutes straight. Garside, however, was at the receiving end of most of the exchanges, Hallback landing furiously and, at one point, staggering Garside.

After ten rounds, two judges had it for Hallback, 96-94, which is how FN/NMB had it--but for Garside--while the third judge had an unbelievable 99-91, for Hallback.

“I knew it was real close,” admitted Hallback, now 27-5-2, 11 kayos.

“She’s a damn good fighter, but I took all of her best shots. I train with dudes ten, 15 pounds heavier than me in the gym. I knew she couldn’t do what they do to me in training.

“But she’s tough—I thought, damn, ‘What’s keeping her up?’ in that last round.”

Suffering her first pro loss, Garside drops to 7-1-1, 3 kayos.

“I fought my heart out,” said Garside. “She was tough. I guess it wasn’t my night tonight.

“What do you want me to say? I thought I won the fight, but I guess not.”

'Hot Stuff' gets burned

Evening the score from a loss last year, Los Angeles’ Wendy Rodriguez eked out a debatable split decision over Hollie “Hot Stuff” Dunaway, for the vacant IFBA and IBA minimumweight titles.

Dunaway picked up round one by letting the shorter, aggressive Rodriguez come to her, before counterpunching away with faster punches.

Rodriguez came back strong in the second, forcing Dunaway into exchanging, and landing harder punches while forcing her foe back. Rodriguez retained control through the third, not letting Dunaway get off and messing her game plan by sheer aggression.

After losing two rounds, Dunaway returned in the fourth to outbox Rodriguez, landing one-two punches while keeping her opponent at bay—and she maintained this plan through the next five rounds.

Lead rights landed for Dunaway in the fifth. A higher output did it for her in the sixth. In the seventh, Rodriguez, unable to sucker Dunaway into the slugging exchanges that won for her the second and third, appeared frustrated. In round eight, Dunaway was all over Rodriguez, answering back twofold every time she got hit. It was more of the same in the ninth, Rodriguez unable to get inside, with Dunaway employing a fast jab and outboxing her foe.

The only change in the tempo occurred in the final round, when Rodriguez came out blasting. Driving Dunaway all over the ring, her aggression and relentless overhand right put her back in the game.

Two of three judges saw a different fight, however, scoring it for Rodriguez, 98-92 and 96-94, while the third gave it to Dunaway, 96-94.

FN/NMB had it 97-93 for Dunaway.

“I knew it would go my way,” said Rodriguez, now 19-4, 3 KOs. “My hooks and right hands landed cleaner.

“I wanted to cry, I trained too hard for this.”

Dunaway, dropping to 21-7, 10 KOs, had a look of disbelief on her face when the scores were announced.

“I didn’t lose,” she said. “Even the judges don’t agree. I thought I won—she flew across the ring when I hit her, every time my punches landed. I landed the more telling blows.

“The first time we fought, it was easy—this time was harder, but I thought I definitely had it.”

'La Reina' pours it on Olszewski

Moving up three pounds for another belt, WBC 105-pound champion Carino “La Reina” Moreno proved too much a ring general for Eileen Olszewski, of Hawaii and New York City.

So much, in fact, that the little Napoleon from Watsonville, Calif. very nearly came off with a shutout decision over the formerly undefeated WIBA flyweight champ.

Olszewski came out strong, controlling the first half of round one with jabs and rights. One minute later, however, Moreno had her foe figured out, and she began finding a home for her overhand rights and her looping left hands.

Overhand rights crashed into Olszewski in the second and, though coming out slugging and making it a close round, the third also belonged to Moreno due to her aggressive right hand.

Lacking suitable defense for this level of the game, Olszewski ate a variety of shots in the fourth, but had a better fifth when she started boxing again, catching the aggressive Moreno coming in.

Moreno’s aggression and greater arsenal took rounds six and seven. In the eighth, Moreno let Olszewski take a turn at coming forward—but she still took the round by counterpunching. Olszewski tried to jab her way back in the ninth, but Moreno jabbed back, then loaded up on connecting rights.

Olszewski had her best round in the final stanza, her desperate aggression possibly winning her the round, but falling eight or nine rounds short of winning the fight.

Two judges had a shutout for Moreno, 100-90, while the third saw it 97-93.

FN/NMB gave Olszewski round ten, scoring it 99-91 for Moreno.

“I knew it was my night,” said Moreno, the new IFBA 108-pound champion, now 17-1, 5 kayos. “The altitude was tough and her style caused problems, but I knew I had it when I hurt her in the fifth, when I caught her on the chin.”

Moreno already has a date lined up for August, when she returns to 105 pounds for a fight in Lemoore, Calif.

“I’m not sure what I did wrong,” said Olszewski, losing for the first time, now 5-1-1. “I’ll have to look at the tape and think about it. I knew she was going to be tough.”

Estrada upsets Villanueva in rematch

A local upset opened up the show, in the only men’s bout on the card.

Earlier in the year, Albuquerque’s Willie Villanueva picked up a decision win over scrappy Las Crucen Lorenzo Estrada, who’d returned to the ring after a seven-year layoff, and a lengthy sentence behind bars. Nearly everyone present thought Estrada did enough to win in that fight—except for the judges, that is.

The rematch last night had a different outcome.

It was a far-from-pretty fight, full of bad calls, low blows, and a mix of styles that had many wishing the promoter, one of the fighters, or an official—anyone—would close the curtain on the curtain raiser.

Round one was close, with Villanueva more active, keeping to the outskirts of the ring or catapulting himself across the canvas hoping to land a right. Making it close, however, were the much shorter man’s flying left hook counters.

Estrada couldn’t miss with those hooks—but a body shot gone south broke the action. Villanueva flopped down to the mat. Referee Rocky Burke gave him five minutes—he took one—and the fight resumed, Villanueva clumsily controlling the space but Estrada dead on with his counter shots.

In the third, Estrada floored Villanueva with a hook—then, again, with a dead-on belly shot. Only the first shot was ruled a knockdown, however, by Ref Burke, who saw the second visit to the canvas as a low blow. Once again, Villanueva was given time to rest while Estrada was warned. Two minutes later, Villanueva was up, controlling the rest of the round and landing two good rights at Estrada, who merely smiled like some demonic troll, after each punch.

Estrada continued to come at Villanueva, who went from looking awkward to just plain bad, maybe even horrible. Showing no balance, he, somehow, was able to pester Estrada from a distance and was on his way to winning the round when he found himself back on the canvas. Many saw this new visit to the mat as a push, but the referee ruled it a knockdown—if nothing else, it made up for the bad call in the third.

Estrada and Villanueva traded places against the ropes in the fifth, both landing, and receiving punches to the body.

In the final round, Villanueva had his best round, going to Estrada’s body and driving him back for the first time in the fight. After another blow drifted south of the border, Ref Burke halted to action to zap Estrada with a point deduction.

After compiling what had to be sloppy scorecards, two of three judges ruled a win for Estrada. Judge Perez and Judge Saiz had it 56-55 for Estrada while Judge Gant somehow had the points in favor of Villanueva, 57-55.

NMB/FN had it 56-55, Estrada.

“I wasn’t fighting my fight,” admitted Villanueva, who loses for the first time and dropping to 9-1, 3 KOs. “I thought I did enough to win, but my legs were cramping up.”

Villanueva said the damage from the low blows rendered him unable to fight according to plan.

“He had no legs from all those low blows,” said Villanueva’s trainer, Melcor Chavez. “Burke was asleep in there—he should have DQ’d him for hitting Willie low so many times.”

Neither Villanueva nor Chavez answered affirmatively in regard to a rematch—“We’ll go back to the gym and see,” said Villanueva.

Estrada, however, says he’ll be more than happy to fight Willie a third time.

“Yeah, I’ll fight a rematch if he wants one,” said Estrada, who, picking up his first win since 2000, and only his third ‘W’ in 16 pro bouts, raises his record, and newfound stock, to 3-13-1, 1 KO.

“He doesn’t want to fight me. He was running and he was tired.”

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