Black (& Blue) Friday
Soto-Karass clobbers Lau, Zamora weathers Gonzales beating & Proa pounds Vasquez in one

Ringside report by Chris Cozzone & Trevor Trujillo
Photos Chris Cozzone

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If you wanted a bargain on Black Friday, a ticket to the last pro fight card of the year in New Mexico, last night at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, was your best buy.

Seven knockdowns in seven high-action bouts had Black Friday looking like Black & Blue Friday.

It was the second pro fight card in the history of Rio Rancho, the first for the Santa Ana Star Center, and the last Telefutura-televised show that’ll ever grace New Mexico.

The card, promoted by Top Rank and Juan Romero Promotions, did not fail when it came to action—only attendance. Only an estimated 1,500 fight fans made the trek to the arena that is parked, seemingly, in the middle of nowhere.

In the main event, highly-ranked Jesus Soto-Karass, of Los Mochis, Mexico, made short work of Hicklet Lau, of Miami, Fla.

Lau began the fight trying to send a message to the Soto-Karass camp, but all he got was the answering machine as Soto-Karass began to pummel the Florida fighter early.

The yellow trunks of Lau were already bloody midway through one, and, moving his head like a bobble-head doll, Lau remained on the receiving end of Soto-Karass’ spring-action punches. That Lau even finished the round was astonishing.

But in the second, Soto-Karass wasted no time, quickly sending Lau to the canvas. Lau, bleeding heavily in a fight for survival, made the count but when the fight resumed, Soto-Karass refused to let him see the end of the round and pummeled him repeatedly against the ropes with big right-hand bombs until Referee Russell Mora stopped the slaughter at 1:59.

“I knew I had him when I hit him with my first punch,” said Soto-Karass, who is hoping for a shot at Miguel Cotto next year.

“I felt him go weak when I hit him.”      

Soto-Karass rises to 22-3-3, 16 KOs, while Lau, who is 1-7 in his last eight bouts, continues to plummet, to 20-18-2, 9 KOs.

Zamora edges Gonzales, survives early beating

In the co-main event, ten rounds at super welter, former WBC contender Joaquin Zamora, coming off his kayo victory over Ray Sanchez III in September, took on the tougher-than-expected Jose Gonzalez, of Springfield, Mo.

The first couple of rounds looked a lot like Zamora’s domination of Sanchez—only this time, he was on the receiving end of the leather.

The zippier Zamora was on his way to outpointing fellow southpaw Gonzales when a big right hook crashed down on the local favorite, in turn, crashing him down to the canvas with seconds left in the round.

Zamora, known for surviving several flash knockdowns during his career, added one more to his list. As he beat the count, the bell rang.

Round Two was another test for Zamora, who was pummeled around the ring for much of it by the bigger, harder-hitting Gonzales. Early on, Zamora draped himself around his foe to buy himself a few precious seconds of recovery—much like Sanchez III had done with Zamora in September—and he looked equally bad in letting Gonzales bull him into the ropes where he was, more or less, battered around.

Having survived the worst of it, Zamora snapped to in the third and fourth chapters, coming out to box circles around Gonzales. Finding his rhythm, he outjabbed Gonzales, landing an occasional straight left.

Gonzalez woke up in the fifth, mauling and brawling Zamora into the ropes for much of the round. Zamora also made the mistake of slugging it out with his opponent for the first half, but sought to box again in the final minute.

Round six was close, with Gonzales winning the battle with Zamora on the ropes, and Zamora jabbing him in the center of the ring. Both landed hard shots that had the crowd on their feet.

Zamora stayed in the center of the ring in the seventh and eighth, outpointing the tiring Gonzalez, who started to switch from leftie-to-rightie—several head clashes, from the seventh to eighth were the result.

Zamora continued to outbox Gonzales in the ninth, but, allowed Gonzalez to stay in the game when he was bulled again, to the ropes. Round ten was a toss-up: Gonzales landing the bigger, harder punches but Zamora landing more often.

At the end of ten, all three judges saw Zamora ahead, 95-94 twice and a far-off 97-92.

NewMexicoBoxing/Fightnews (NMB/FN) were in agreement with two judges, scoring it 95-94 for Zamora.

“It was harder than I wanted it to be,” said Zamora, now 17-2, 11 KOs.

“I thought I was winning the rounds, but he did hurt me a couple times.”

Zamora called the knockdown a “wake-up call.”

“I’ve been caught early before,” he said. “For some reason, I come out cold and get caught. But I listened to my trainer, Al Lovato, and found my rhythm.”

Zamora said he will stay at 154—“I’d like a shot at Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.,” he said—but would return to welterweight if the right opportunity presented itself.

Not happy with the decision, Gonzales wants a rematch—but in his hometown, next time. He falls to 12-4, 10 KOs, and is now 1-4-1 in 2008.

"I didn't get relaxed when I knocked him down," said Gonzales. "I've seen video of him--he's a Mexican warrior just like me. He loves to get hit.I won't take anything from him. He fought hard and I fought hard."

Proa pounds Vasquez

Local fight fans were very nearly evenly split on what the outcome would be in the scheduled six-round super-bantamweight showdown between powerhouse David Proa (5-0, 5 KOs), of Albuquerque, and Ricky Vasquez (3-2-1, 1 KO), of Las Cruces.

The “PRO-AH! PRO-AH!” chanting crowd did not have to wait long to find out.

In what was the fastest two minutes, 25 seconds seen in years, Proa proved himself the hardest pound-for-pound puncher in the state by flooring Vasquez not once, but four times en route to a kayo win.

Vasquez found himself face down on the canvas 30 seconds into the fight from one of Proa’s rattling right hands. Visibly shaken, he made the count given by Referee Richard Espinosa (who spent most of the round counting), then met Proa in the center of the ring to slug it out.

Down went Vasquez again.

Again, the count was made. Again, Vasquez sought to duke it out with the bigger puncher, though landing big shots of his own in the process.

Down went Vasquez again, for the third time. At this point, Ref Espinosa should’ve shut it down, for Vasquez struggled to stand, his legs quivering and his eyes, glassy.

The fight went on and, showing his huge heart, Vasquez gave it one more shot in slugging it out with Proa, who downed his rival a fourth and final time.

Vasquez was counted out, nearly face down, at 2:25.

“I thought it was going to go longer,” said Proa. “But I got some power, I guess.

“He had power, too, but when I get hit, I try and turn that power up ten times the amount.”

Crespin defeats Gonzales

In a four-rounder at catchweights, Las Vegas whirlwind Arturo “Tudy” Crespin (2-0, 1 KO) lost a beat of steam in the second half of his bout with always-game Daniel Gonzalez (2-3, 2 KOs), but managed to pull off a shutout win.

Outweighed by six pounds, the 149-pound Gonzales fought the right fight against Crespin—but outclassed by Crespin’s standout amateur experience, it wasn’t enough to pull off an upset, let alone a round, on any of the judges’ cards.

Early on, Gonzales took the fight to his shorter, chunkier, southpaw foe, but Crespin waited for the right opportunities before unleashing big counter combinations on Gonzales. Big right hooks stunned Gonzales a couple times, pushing him back and taking the fight out of him by the time the first two rounds were in the books.

In the third and fourth rounds, however, Crespin had slowed to a crawl while Gonzalez, still on his feet having weathered all of Tudy’s assaults, pepped up and started to land his right hand. Crespin’s occasional flurry made the third round a tossup, but in the fourth, Gonzales was stunned by Crespin’s big left-right-hook combo, losing the round.

All four judges had Crespin ahead, 40-36. NMB/FN gave Gonzales the third, scoring it 39-37.

Crespin, a student at NMSU in Las Cruces, admitted he had had a hard time making weight—he even had to cough up a bit of his purse to settle up with Gonzales’ camp at the weigh-in.

“Cutting all that weight weakened me,” said Crespin, who was 155. “I’m gonna work toward 147.”

Many think 140 is where Crespin should land. Either way, Crespin, a standout amateur with 150 bouts behind him, remains one of the state’s top prospects and a big crowd favorite.

DiPace goes four with Muro

In a six-round bantamweight battle, reduced to four, Las Cruces’ Sammy DiPace (5-0, 3 KOs) had no problem scoring a shutout unanimous win over Alvaro Muro (5-13, 5 KOs), of Durango, Mexico, who, now 1-7 in his last eight, dropped his fourth straight fight.

DiPace wasted no time getting started on Muro, dropping big bombs and working head and body in round one. Muro began slowly, throwing a one-two, only to eat a flurry of counter punches.

In rounds two and three, DiPace began to work the body, landing piercing left hands to the body.

In round four, DiPace continued his assault on Muro, with four- and five-punch combinations. The fight was all DiPace, his bulletproof defense and stinging body shots sealing the deal on Muro.

All three judges scored it the same, 40-36.

“I didn’t wanna get too relaxed, but I felt great tonight,” said DiPace about his one-sided bout.

‘Ghost’ Galle dominates Garcia

In the walkout bout of the evening, Lucas “The Ghost” Galle (5-2), of Rio Rancho, took on the rugged Jose Cruz Garcia (2-4-1, 1 KO), of Albuquerque. This six-round, super welterweight bout went the distance, with Galle scoring a knockdown en route to his fifth pro win.

Round one started off with Garcia pursuing Galle, who answered the pressure with a snappy one-two combination. Galle sent Garcia to the mat early in round one, but the referee waved it off as a slip. Galle displayed good footwork and awesome counter punches as his opponent constantly pressured him. Garcia never let off the throttle, coming in head against his shoulder with heavy hands.

Midway through the second round Galle connected with a monstrous left, flooring Garcia. Garcia beat the count and the two were at again.

Rounds three and four were much better rounds for Garcia, who finally began to wear on Galle. At the end of four, Galle had a small stream of blood coming from his nose.

In rounds five and six, Galle displayed ability to slip and counter punch his opponent. Garcia, now frustrated with the movement of Galle, dropped his hands, walking toward the younger fighter for their next confrontation.

All three judges scored it a shutout for Galle, 60-53 x 3.

When asked about his performance, Galle’s response was short and sweet: “Feels great!” replied Rio Rancho’s sole pro fighter.

Ibarra defeats Ortiz

In the curtain raiser, a four-round welterweight bout, Gerardo Ibarra (3-0, 2 KOs), of Houston, took on late sub Antonio Ortiz (1-2), of Albuquerque.

In round one, Ibarra displayed his power with a thundering right hand, spinning Ortiz into the ropes. Ortiz continuously threw a one-two combination but with little effect.

Round two was all Ibarra early, throwing a crisp left hook and connecting. Midway through the round, however, he got sloppy and ate a beautiful overhand right from Ortiz, stunning the fighter momentarily. Ortiz now began to land more shots. The wake up call of round two was all Ibarra needed to win this fight, and he tightened up his defense and began to land piercing left and right hooks.

In rounds three and four, Ortiz’ face had turned red from the blows he was receiving, and all three judges scored it unanimously for Ibarra, 40-36 twice, and 39-37.

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