By Austin Killeen June 18, 2016

Photos by Brandon Pina    (Click on thumbnails for larger images.)

Depending on your view point regarding the quality of opposition for the local boxers, the glass was either half empty or half full. For me, Eric Martinez and Legacy Promotions provided an entertaining evening of boxing. I felt Jason Sanchez and Hector Munoz had good showings in defeating Raymond Chacon and Hector Garza outdoors at the Hispanic Cultural Center. These were fights they were favored to win, but I felt had an element of risk attached to them. The other established stars, Jose Osorio, Alex Holguin and Jose Luis Sanchez added to their win column in impressive fashion. While Eduardo Ortiz and Ayanna Vasquez will be able to tell their grandchildren someday, how they won their pro debuts. To put it bluntly the home team won by a score of 7 to 0! If someone wanted to complain about something, it would have to be about the oppressive heat; but they will have to take that up with Mother Nature.

In the main event scheduled for six rounds, Albuquerque’s Jason Sanchez (7-0-0, 3 KO’s) 123.2 lbs. of Albuquerque won by UD over Raymond Chacon (6-20-0) 122.4 lbs. of Los Angeles, CA. In his last fight Sanchez had destroyed twenty bout veteran John Herrera who had never been stopped, in 93 seconds of the first round. He was hoping to make it two in a row by stopping Chacon who had never failed to go the distance in 25 bouts. In the opening round it was quickly established that Sanchez wanted to go home early. But the fleet footed Chacon had other plans, imitating the great featherweight champ of the 40’s and 50’s Willie Pep. He was going in three directions; left, right and backwards. This continued in the second round. The southpaw Chacon was minimizing the effect of Sanchez’s punches, but was throwing very few punches of his own.

In the first half of round three Chacon showed the fans what Willie Pep looked like on offense, tagging Sanchez with clean punches and then moving out of range. The “Duke City” boxer was hitting air and appeared slightly confused. Suddenly, Sanchez found his groove and dominated the second half of the round and opened a cut over the right eye of Chacon. In the fourth round Sanchez exploded an overhand right to the head of the California fighter, who hit the canvas hard. The bell sounded before Sanchez could do any more damage. In the final two rounds the home town boy landed some powerful left hooks to the body and overhand rights to the head. But Chacon used his speed to avoid tasting the canvas again.

Sanchez was declared the winner by unanimous decision but no scores were announced. This would continue the entire evening which I found strange. In his last two fights Jason Sanchez has made a strong impression that he might be the best featherweight in the state. That statement should not be taken lightly as the featherweight division in New Mexico has depth. Sanchez has a powerful left jab, a deadly left hook to the body and an overhand right that can eliminate insomnia.

In the co-feature scheduled for eight rounds, Hector “The Hurricane” Munoz (24-18-1, 16 KO’s) 147 lbs. of Albuquerque won by TKO over Hector Garza (3-18-0, 2 KO’s) 145.8 lbs. of Harlingen, TX. Munoz showed why his moniker is “The Hurricane” by attacking from the opening bell. Garza was relaxed but did little in round one. This changed in the second round as Garza scored with solid shots to the head and body. Munoz continued to be aggressive in a close round. Things appeared to be heating up, but in the third round Garza went back into his defensive shell. This is not a smart strategy against a two fisted banger like “The Hurricane” who was taking advantage of Garza’s non-violent approach to boxing. In the fourth round Munoz dropped Garza twice; the result of a left/right to the jaw and a left hook to the head. Munoz scored two more knockdowns in the fifth round compliments of two right hands to the head. Referee Rocky Burke had seen enough, stopping matters at 2:19 of the round. I’ve seen Garza fight several times in Texas and he’s a game competitor, but did not belong in the ring with a boxer of Munoz’s background.

 

The remaining five bouts were all scheduled for four rounds. In the evenings fifth bout, Jose Osorio (5-3-1, 2 KO’s) 123.8 lbs. of Albuquerque won by UD over Stephon McIntyre (2-22-2) 126.2 lbs. of Jonesboro, GA. The previous day at the weigh-ins they looked ready to fight for free. But Osorio was the only boxer who wanted to fight on this night. Osorio landed some brutal body shots, mainly left hooks and overhand rights to the head. McIntyre was in excellent shape and employed a tight defense to survive the four rounds. The verdict was announced as a unanimous decision victory for Osorio. Osorio has a hard time getting matches as he represents high risk/low reward which spells danger for opponents. Osorio is a former GG’s champion in New Mexico.

 

In the evening’s fourth bout, Jose Luis Sanchez (5-1-0, 2 KO’s) 153.4 lbs. of Albuquerque won by UD over Zamir Young (1-5-1) 153 lbs. of Durango, CA. I’ve never seen Sanchez look better than he did tonight. In past performances he would get sloppy on defense and wing wild punches, but on this evening he had a tight defense and threw accurate punches. Young was in shape, has quick hands and throws nice combinations. Sanchez captured the first round behind some solid body punching, but Young landed a nice combination of his own.

The second and third rounds were a repeat of the first, but in these rounds Sanchez was able to time left hooks to the chin of his rival resulting in clean knockdowns. Additionally, Sanchez showed nice head movement in response to left jabs by Young. Add to this the hometown boy’s ability to cut off the ring and you were looking at a polished boxer/puncher. Sanchez closed the show with some punishing shots to the head and body of his game rival, resulting in a unanimous decision. Young came to fight and wasn’t just trying to survive, looking much better than his one and five record would indicate.

In the evening’s third bout between debuting boxers, Ayanna Vasquez 125 lbs. of Las Cruces won by UD over Katie Ramirez 125 lbs. of Bosque Farms. This appeared to be the fight of the night based on the reaction of the fans; they gave both girls several standing ovations. Vasquez has a solid amateur background and it showed, she sat down on her punches scoring with some rattling shots to the head and body of Ramirez. But Ramirez was like one of the living dead, she just keep coming forward taking punishment. I don’t want anyone to get the impression that I’m disparaging her looks as she is a pretty young lady. But her lack of experience in the ring resulted in her throwing lots of arm punches.

In the first two rounds Vasquez would time her rival when she would move inside; scoring with some power. Ramirez never got discouraged, but I have no idea what was keeping her up. By the third round Vasquez appeared to be getting tired from the volume of punches she was throwing. Even though Ramirez had no idea how to sit down on her punches she was landing with some clean blows of her own. In the final round Vasquez sucked it up and had a strong finish, as evidenced by Ramirez’s bloody nose. It came as a surprise to no one when Vasquez was awarded a unanimous decision. Vasquez comes from a fighting family as her brothers Ricky and Adam Vasquez are also successful professionals.

In the evening’s second bout between debuting boxers, Eduardo Ortiz 153.4 lbs. of Albuquerque won by MD over Oliver Parker 160.2 lbs. of Blanding, UT. Ortiz is very tall for his weight and used his height and reach to his advantage. The stocker Parker pressured his rival alternating his attack between the head and body. Ortiz appeared to be an excellent judge of distance in the opening round, scoring with some nice right hands off an excellent jab. In the second round Parker applied more pressure and landed some punches on the inside, but Ortiz continued to dominate from the outside. When you’re as tall as Ortiz you have a lot of body to protect, but he utilized his long arms to block many punches thrown at his head and body. The third round was Parker’s best round, but I still felt Ortiz was in charge because of his ability to create openings with his jab. Parker scored with a nice overhand right in the last round but Ortiz was the busier man and I gave him that round as well. The only surprise to me was the announcement that Ortiz only won by a majority decision. I have no idea in what universe Parker was awarded two rounds. I don’t mean to belittle Parker because he put on a solid display of boxing and would have defeated many debuting fighters.

Ortiz is trained by Angel Romero who I like. Although not as active as some of the other trainers in the area, he knows his stuff. Romero cares about his fighters as people and I like his soft spoken approach in the ring. He doesn’t scream at his fighters during a round, waiting until the bell rings before giving instruction in a calm voice.

In the opening bout of the evening, Alex Holguin (8-1-0, 5 KO’s) 130 lbs. of Albuquerque won by TKO over Ramiro Torres (4-32-1, 2 KO’s) 130 lbs. of San Antonio, TX. Apparently Holguin was in a hurry to get home to attend his sister’s high school graduation party, because he disposed of his rival in 64 seconds of the first round. Holquin clearly was not confused by Torres’ southpaw style, landing a clean left hook to the exposed chin of his rival. This resulted in Torres taking the first of two trips to the canvas. Rising on unsteady legs, Torres ate an overhand right to taste the canvas once again. Referee Rocky Burke had seen enough waving Holguin off. I don’t think Holguin missed much of his sister’s party.

What Holguin did miss was stronger competition. No disrespect to Torres as he had the courage to climb the steps into the ring, and nobody was offering to take his place. But Holguin, under the guidance of excellent trainer Sergio Chavez, needs better competition if he wants to reach his full potential.

As I said at the beginning of the article it was very hot on Saturday night. Apparently fitness trainer Momma D Jones got her weather report from Nome, Alaska because she came to the fights dressed in full leather. But she got the last laugh when the temperature dropped to a chilly 95 degrees. (For the record Momma D rides a motor cycle).

It was nice to see some of the other local pros in attendance, supporting their contemporaries and mingling with the fans. Among those in attendance were Jose Torres who has a big fight on Saturday with Mike Alvarado in Dallas, TX, Fidel Maldonado Jr. who just had an exciting draw with Art Hovhannisyan, undefeated Matthew “Diamond Boy” Griego who fights on July 9th and undefeated Brian “La Bala” Mendoza.

Fan friendly Dennis Chavez did a nice job as ring announcer. During one intermission he paid tribute to former greats Muhammad Ali and Bob Foster and the victims of last week’s carnage in Orlando, Florida. At the next intermission he invited pro fighters, both boxers and MMA combatants, into the ring for interviews. In addition, when time permitted he interviewed boxers after their bouts. Clearly Dennis is a fan of boxing and it shows. He did a nice job taking everybody’s mind off the oppressive heat.

It was a nice show, but clearly some of the local fighters need to move up and face more difficult challenges in their next fights. Otherwise they will fail to improve and will suffer painful setbacks when exposed to stiffer competition.