Garcia battles Thompson
Guereca upsets Gomez at Sky Ute Casino

Ringside report by Gerardo Martinez
Photos by Raymond Mares

Saturday night, the boisterous crowd at the Sky Ute Casino Events Center in Ignacio, Colo., waited close to year to see their hometown favorite, Elco "The Animal" Garcia (24-7, 12 KO's), add a fourth straight TKO to his record, but Nebraska's Patrick "Big Pat" Thompson (16-16-1, 6 KO's) wanted no part of it.

Regardless, "The Animal" still got a "W" with an 80-71 and 78-73 twice unanimous decision win, but he had to withstand a late round rally from Big Pat and the fight was closer than the scores reflected.

Early on it looked like the sellout crowd was going to get their wish when, in the second round, the Animal's instinct came out and he caught Thompson with a straight left-right combination upstairs that knocked down the Nebraskan. Thompson beat the count and the bell rang ten seconds later.

Garcia took the next two rounds with his more precise punching. The fifth was a toss up with both men able to land shots throughout the round. It would be in the sixth round and on where Thompson seemed to have figured that he had a chance of stealing the fight from the hometown hero. He began to outland Garcia and Garcia seemed to have lost a bit of steam.

Big Pat started landing bigger punches in the seventh round and continued in the eighth. He never came close to hurting Garcia, but he sure gave him a run for his money.

"He's good, I don't take anything away from him" said Garcia after the fight admitting that lately he had been a bit of a "party animal." When asked what the next step would be after five straight wins, Garcia said "I'm gonna fight a few more fight and see how it goes. . .if it doesn't go anywhere I'll retire."

With his 40th birthday coming up soon Garcia promised that the only animal he'd be mimicking from now on would be a gym rat.

Guereca upsets Gomez

After three straight losses, El Paso's Bernardo Guereca (16-10-1, 6 KO's) decided his hat trick of L's had to stop. He used a combination of guile and guts to overcome his more youthful opponent and earn a W with scores of 56-58, 54-58, 54-58, over hometown favorite Joe "Ironman" Gomez (17-4-1, 8 Kos).

Both men came in and wasted no time in getting reacquainted with one another, as this was their second time meeting each other in the ring. Guereca was able to get inside the guard of the lankier Gomez in the first two rounds. Gomez tried using his greater punch output as his defense. Gomez landed a rabbit punch in the second and the referee gave Guereca a few seconds to recover. Once recovered, Guereca continued his aggressive ways in the third and fourth where he started switching stances to continue digging inside the body of Gomez.

Persistence finally paid off in the fifth when after being connected with a hard body shot by Gomez, Guereca sucked it up and knocked down Gomez in an awkward and off balance exchange of punches. Gomez got right back up and finished off the round. Gomez continued throwing more punches too keep the bullrushing Guereca off of him in the sixth. That only worked for a couple of minutes until Guereca landed a straight left-right combo to the face of Gomez that sent him to the canvas. Gomez looking somewhat stunned was able to beat the count and finish the round.

"There was no way the judges could've taken it away from me because I dropped him twice," said the El Pasoan in a post fight interview. Gomez, the crowd favorite had to settle with a second straight loss. Guereca added "I like to give exciting fights that's my job and I love doing it."

McCarter wins easily

Looking like the superior fighter was Las Vegas, Nevada's Layla McCarter (33-13-5, 7 KO's) who took a dominating six round unanimous decision win with scores of 59-54, 60-53, 60-53 against Cimberly Harris (5-15).

McCarter showed her skill and speed from the beginning and never allowed the rugged Harris a chance to get into the fight. McCarter was able to move away from the rushes of punches that Harris came at her with and connect with precise counter punches from all angles throughout the contest. In the sixth and final round Harris caused a gash above the right eye of McCarter. This in turn caused McCarter to bring on the pain after getting OK'd to continue by the doctor.

It was McCarter's tenth straight win.

Cruz wins split decision over Crespin

Vying for the WIBA Youth Belt at 126 lbs were Las Vegas, NM's Amanda "Boom Boom" Crespin and Denver's Brittany "Pretty Girl" Cruz. At the end of six rounds the crowd had chosen a winner and the judges had chosen a winner. The peoples champion was Amanda Crespin, but the judges chose Cruz as the new WIBA youth featherweight titlist. After the fight, Jacob Maes, part of Team Crespin, said "If it was a track meet the other girl wins, you gotta give it to the fighter, not to the track star".

That track star was Brittany "Pretty Girl" Cruz who spent most of the first three rounds running around the ring while Amanda Crespin followed her trying to close it off and land some punches. Crespin was able to land some of those punches, most noticeably hooks to the body to try and slow down Cruz.

In the fourth Cruz decided to switch stances to keep the aggressive Crespin off of her and continue trying to counter. It didn't work that well as Crespin just kept coming and was able to land a hard right to the face of Cruz. Cruz answered back landing an uppercut as Crespin came in. Cruz was back on her bicycle in the fifth as Crespin continued her aggression.

By this time the boxing fans had started getting rowdy and booing, showing their disdain for the lack of aggressiveness of Cruz. Cruz finally upped her aggressiveness in the sixth and final round. Crespin just kept hers going and both women ended the round swinging with Crespin landing the harder punches. In the end the ringside judges scored it 59-55, 55-59, 59-55, a split decision win for Cruz who became the new WIBA Youth featherweight titleholder.

If the fans had a score card Crespin, would have came out the winner. This was displayed by the overwhelming boo’s after the result was announced.

After the fight Crespin said "As bad as I wanted it, I didn't get it. I trained my butt off for this fight but I gotta look forward and look passed it, I wanna move to bigger and better things and my time will surely come."

As for Cruz, she had this to say in a post fight interview "She's good, I'm good, I thought it was a good fight. She looked aggressive, but based on off the punches, I got more in."

When Cruz was asked about a possible rematch with Crespin she said she had no problem with it, but she wants to seek a world title first.

Fernandez nets first win

In a rematch of a year ago Bloomfield's Aaron Fernandez (1-4) earned his first professional win against Las Vegas, NV's David Springer (3-2-3). This time around Fernandez he left no doubt in the judges minds that he had won the fight.

Fernandez knocked his opponent down in the first round with a body shot. Springer recovered and used his longer reach to keep the oncoming Fernandez off of him in the next two rounds. Springer was landing and countering effectively in the fourth and fifth as his opponent kept coming. But Fernandez came out stronger in the fifth and Springer looked winded from running around and away from his opponent. Fernandez took advantage and cornered Springer against the ropes and let loose for the last minute of the round. Then the fight was over. Confused were the fans and press at ringside when neither man came out for the sixth round. The fight as it turns out was only a five rounder, which is unusual anywhere but in Ignacio. After five, the judges scored it 49-45, 49-45, 48-46 all for Fernandez. It looks like both men were talking about a rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Leyva wins debut

In a battle of debuters, Farmington's Cris Leyva (1-0) scored a lopsided unanimous decision against Zamir Young (0-1). Both men lacked skill, but Leyva had the conditioning needed to outhustle his tired opponent. Young had to spit out his mouthpiece in the second round to get a breather. At the end of four the judges gave Leyva the win with scores of 40-36 times three.

Begay draws with Victor

In the curtain raiser, debuters Herb Begay (0-0-1) and Steve Victor (0-0-1) gave the crowd a good show. They were equally matched and went at it for all four rounds without much of a break. Victor was cut above the left eye in second causing him to become more aggressive. Begay seemed to tire a bit in the third and Victor was able to land a flurry of punches at the end of the round. Both fighters finished strong in the fourth exchanging multiple times. At the end of four the judges saw it 38-38, 39-37, 38-38, a majority draw.