By Austin Killeen – Ringside – November 14, 2015  – Photos by Brandon Pina

Roy Jones Jr. returned to El Paso to promote another exciting boxing card. The event was held at Southwest University Event Center. At stake in the main event, was the WBC-USNBC lightweight championship. Competing for one of boxing’s numerous title belts were Desmond Brock and Oscar Valenzuela. It looked to be good on paper and it was good in reality. The same could also be said for the five bout undercard, which also featured plenty of fireworks. My only complaint was the scoring in the main event.

In the eight round main event, Brock (10-3-0, 3 KO’s) 135 lbs of Kenner, LA won by UD over Valenzuela (9-2-1, 5 KO’s) 135 lbs. of El Paso. In the opening round both boxers were aggressive, trying to find openings behind left jabs. This was a close round and could have gone either way. Brock exploded an overhand right to the jaw of his rival in the second and it looked as if Valenzuela was on his way to dream land. Somehow he survived and landed some nice body shots just before the bell. Brock was in charge. Valenzuela was pawing with his jab and it appeared just a matter of time before his candle would be snuffed out.

In round three the hometown boxer picked up the pace, throwing jabs with confidence and following up with hooks and overhand rights. He had Brock trapped on the ropes at one point, landing a series of blows to the head and body. Brock wasn’t standing around, continuing to land his dangerous overhand right. In rounds four and five they continued to fight at a furious pace. Valenzuela was cut over his right eye in the fourth, from what appeared to be the result of a butt. I felt that Brock was making a tactical mistake looking for the homerun a.k.a. overhand rights to his opponent’s jaw. Valenzuela appeared to be doing a better job of attacking both the head and body of his opponent, while sitting down on his punches. I’d seen the taller Valenzuela box on many occasions, and he had never looked better.

In round six, Brock stopped looking for a one punch KO and started mixing up his attack; this forced Valenzuela to retreat much of the round. He was firing back but it was clearly Brock’s round. Valenzuela had another good round in the seventh, but he was making me nervous with his left hooks to the body from the outside. It appeared the harder hitting Brock would be able to land counter rights over his opponent’s hook. Rounds seven and eight were repeats of the sixth. This was an excellent fight with lots of action and little clinching. Styles make fights and this fight was one of the best I’ve seen this year. Valenzuela proved to be more durable than he looked, holding up under some heavy pressure. The heavily muscled Brock proved to have some nice boxing moves, and wasn’t just a brawler.

It was quiet as the ring announcer took the mike to read the score cards; 77-75, 80-72 (!?), and 78-74 unanimous decision for your winner and new WBC-USNBC lightweight champion, Desmond “Bodyshot” Brock.

I was shocked, not by the verdict even though I had Valenzuela the winner, but the score card of 80-72. How could anyone watch that fight and not give a single round to Valenzuela? They have the judges sit on different sides of the ring because where you sit effects what you see. If the fighters are directly in front of you, it is difficult to see as your view is blocked. But the boxers were using the entire ring and not stationary. It makes me wonder how judges are selected and what their judging is based on.

In the eight round semi-final, Oscar Villa (10-1-1, 5 KO’s) 135 lbs of El Paso, won by UD over Pedro Torres (7-8-0) 138 lbs. of Ciudad, Juarez, Mexico. Torres started the fight as if he was looking for organs to harvest. He was clubbing Villa below the belt line and behind the back at every opportunity. At one point he actually landed a clean punch. Referee Rocky Burke had to explain the rules of the sport to Torres, and realized he was going to be in for a long night. Villa is a clever boxer who likes to size up his opponent before bringing out the heavy artillery. In the second round Villa started to feint his opponent to see how the Mexican import would react.

Although Villa doesn’t look like him, he reminds me of former light heavyweight champion Harold Johnson of the early 60’s the way he goes about his business. In the third round he started to implement his plan of attack. Behind a solid left jab, he started landing left hooks and straight rights. Torres was no longer as eager to charge inside and started to rely more on defense. This would be the pattern of the bout for the rest of the evening. Torres would disregard the Marquess of Queensbury rules at every opportunity while Villa continued to box behind his classic left jab. Villa is short, so it makes his use of the jab amazing. He’s not bad on defense either.

In the fifth round referee Burke took a point away from Torres. I’ve been watching Burke ref for nine years and he tries not to play a role in the outcome of a boxing match. But Torres left him no choice but to step in as his warnings were falling on deaf ears. In the same round Torres exploded a left hook off the chin of Villa. The El Paso fighter must be able to take a punch because he showed absolutely no reaction at all. The sixth stanza was the best round of the fight as both fighters brought out the heavy artillery. Villa is not a brawler, so I was surprised he was willing to get into a street fight; a street fight he got the better off.

In the seventh Torres appeared to have his best round since the first, but Villa showed some outstanding defensive skills and stayed relaxed under pressure. In the eighth round both boxers tried to close the show but the talented Villa was in control. Scores of 80-71 twice and 78-73 resulted in a unanimous decision for Villa.

In the evening’s fourth bout, Gabriel Gutierrez (3-1-0, 0 KO’s) 130 lbs. of El Paso won by TKO over Adam McGurk (0-2-0) 129 lbs. of El Paso. This was a shoot out with Gutierrez having the faster draw. Trapped in a natural corner, McGurk appeared to be defenseless. This resulted in the referee stopping the bout at 2:56 of the first round. McGurk is a better fighter than the result would indicate. If he learns some basic defensive skills he could turn his career around. He clearly has power and fought back when he was being hit. Gutierrez appears to be a dangerous foe for anyone who enters the ring with him.

In the evening’s third bout, Richard Hernandez (3-8-1) 107 lbs. of El Campo, TX won by UD over Milton Gomez (1-1-0) 108 lbs. of El Paso. This rivaled the main event for fight of the night. The experience of Hernandez proved to be the difference in the toe-to-toe contest. For anybody who is old enough to remember what a phone booth looks like, that would have been big enough to hold this contest. Hernandez dominated the first three rounds by slipping jabs and countering with left hooks and overhand rights. Gomez was pesky with his left jab but he just couldn’t sustain his attack. By the fourth round Hernandez was tired from fighting at such a fast past, allowing Gomez to carry the round.

The three score cards all had it 39-37 in favor of Richard Hernandez. In defeat Gomez impressed the audience with his aggression. He has a nice jab but he has to learn how to take advantage of it. With lateral movement, he’ll be able to throw hooks and crosses off the jab. Gomez has potential!

In the evening’s second bout, L’ Darius Whetstone (2-0-0, 2 KO’s) 143 lbs. of Arlington, TX KO’d Ernesto Hernandez (1-3-0, 1 KO) 147 lbs. of El Paso. One piece of advice if you’re attending one of Whetstone’s fights, don’t blink. The Arlington welterweight has novacane in both gloves. A left hook to the body by Whetstone ended matters at 59 seconds of the opening round. Having witnessed his destruction of Hernandez, I was glad I was sitting ringside and not in the ring.

In the evening’s opening bout, debuting Santino Rivera 140 lbs. drew with Irving Torres (1-2-1) 148 lbs. of El Paso. The southpaw Rivera captured the first round behind a switching attack to the head and body. Carrying a little extra poundage in the mid section, Torres didn’t get it in gear until the last thirty seconds. He landed some solid body shots, but it was too little, too late. In the second round both boxers showed some skills slipping shots to the head. However Torres captured the round with some solid shots to the body. The final two rounds must have been a challenge for the judges as Rivera was throwing punches in bunches, but Torres answered with clean shots to the midsection.

Scores of 39-37 twice with one score card for each boxer and 38-38 made it a draw. I thought this was a good call, as both men worked hard, but neither could pull away. I’ve seen Torres in action before and like what I see. He has slow feet but good balance. Additionally, he proves the old adage that timing can beat speed. In a previous fight he lost a decision to undefeated boxer/puncher John Vera; which is swapping leather with some impressive company.

This wasn’t promoter Roy Jones Jr.’s first trip to the “Sun City” and probably not his last. He put on a good card featuring some skilled talent. The Brock/Valenzuela main event was excellent, although I had a different score card than the Judges. There was talk of a rematch, but it would seem that Carlos Villa should be in any discussion regarding a fight in El Paso. Slipping under the radar in El Paso is Casey Gutierrez promoter/agent from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He has over a dozen boxers including Carlos Villa, L’ Darius Whetstone and Milton Gomez who fought Saturday night. Gutierrez’s boxers show up in shape, have skills and show improvement each time they step in the ring.

I was surprised at the low turnout because Roy Jones puts on solid cards. With Brock winning the decision it is another example of an out-of-towner capturing a close fight. I think El Paso is one of the fairest places for the visiting boxer to win a close decision. In reference to Saturday’s main event I hope the verdict wasn’t the result of the star power of the promoter. I was shocked after the verdict was announced, when Roy Jones shook my hand, looked me square in the eye and thanked me for covering the card. I’ll have to admit for a few seconds I was reduced to a fan boy. He then answered a few questions regarding the 80-72 score card that I found troubling. Jones responded “Both boxers did such a great job; I think we will do it again. I thought the fight was closer than the 80-72 score but I felt that Brock won.”

VOICES FROM THE CORNER: Brian Mendoza, Ronnie Baca and Augustine Banegas all took their acts on the road this past weekend scoring victories. Mendoza (10-0-0, 7 KO’s) 147 lbs. won by first round TKO over Eddie Cordova 148 lbs. at 1:02 of the first round in Springfield, VA. Baca (5-2-1, 2 KO’s) 279 lbs. won by first round TKO over Jesse Smith 204 lbs. at 2:59 of the first round in Denver, CO and Banegas (6-0-0, 1 KO) 114.8 lbs. won by UD over Ricardo Armenta (19-25-2, 9 KO’s) 114 lbs. in four rounds in Nuev Casas Grandes, Mexico