By Austin Killeen July 10, 2016          Photos by Franklin Romero and Austin Killeen.

(Click on thumbnails for larger images.)

Saturday night at the Santa Ana Star Center it was “Theater of the Absurd” a term first coined by Critic Martin Esslin in an essay in 1960. I don’t think he was thinking fifty six years into the future regarding the main event between Fidel Maldonado, Jr. and Gerardo Cuevas, but it could certainly apply. Undefeated Brian Mendoza got tested by veteran Daniel Calzada, a test that other prospects in the “Land of Enchantment” should sign up for. Prospects Matthew Griego and Alex Holguin were very impressive, but might want to sign up for the above mentioned examination. Jaron Ennis and Carlos Sanchez, who I assume are associated with Victory Boxing Promotions and promoter Chris Middendorf, looked very impressive. Veterans Ronald Baca and Elijo Sena continued their collision course to a hookup in the not too distant future; a hookup that was almost derailed by veteran cage fighter Brandon Farron.

In the main event scheduled for 8 rounds, Albuquerque’s Fidel Maldonado, Jr. (22-3- 1, 19 KO’s) 142.4 lbs. of Albuquerque won by TKO over Gerardo “Pipino” Cuevas (17-18-1, 15 KO’s) 143.8 lbs. of Mexico City, Mexico. In the opening round Maldonado put on a clinic, unfortunately Cuevas was his assistant; a job that called for him to be hit from pillar to post. It looked like Maldonado could end matters any time he wanted, but was content to play “cat and mouse” with Cuevas playing the role of the mouse. The second round was a repeat of the first, with the “Atrisco Kid” scoring with every combination his father ever thought him.

With less than a minute left in the round, Cuevas landed a clubbing right hand to the top of Maldonado’s head. Maldonado was bending at the knees with his head moving forward adding to the impact of the blow. Suddenly the hometown hero looked like a connoisseur of fine liquors who had attended one too many happy hours. I thought Maldonado was playing around until he fell to the canvas and stayed there. Struggling to get up, I wasn’t sure he beat the count. But referee Robert Valez’s opinion is the only one that counts and he thought that he had. When he went to wipe Maldonado’s gloves, Maldonado continued to stagger around the ring. Instead of stopping the fight he followed Maldonado and finally wiped his gloves off; then waved both boxers to continue. The bell rang before Cuevas could inflect any further damage.

Watching a video of the replay at least ten times Maldonado clearly beat the ten count; rising at the count of six or seven. Something I and the people around me did not have the luxury of viewing. When he stood up his body swayed backwards before he walked forward past the referee, turned around and fell into the ropes. He then raised his gloves to his head and within a second seemed to have complete control of his faculties. For the next twenty seconds Cuevas tried to take advantage of the situation, but most of his blows landed on the forearms or gloves of Maldonado. At that point the bell rang. Many referees would have stopped the fight Saturday, but the actions of Valez to allow the bout to continue would appear to be correct. The video clearly shows a different view than what I wrote in the previous paragraph. Whether the bout should have been stopped or not is clearly subjective. The video is the best piece of evidence, in my opinion, in supporting a Maldonado victory.

As Maldonado’s corner feverously worked to revive him, high tide was coming in. As the bell sounded to start the next round, there was a large quantity of water under the fighter’s stool. Valez instructed the corner to clean up the mess, while sending the fighters to neutral corners until the water was cleaned up. When the bout continued, a rested Maldonado wasted no time in dropping his adversary to the canvas twice; the result of a left hook and then a combination. Cuevas appeared to be defenseless and referee Valez wisely halted matters. This ending was not well received by the crowd or fight people, the majority who felt that Cuevas was robbed. Both boxers suffered damage last night which was acknowledged by Fidel’s father. Fidel Senior told me he wants his son to remain inactive until October or November before entering the ring again.

In the evenings 7th bout scheduled for four rounds, Mathew Griego (6-0- 0, 6 KO’s) 118.2 lbs. of Albuquerque won by TKO over Marco Alcaraz (1-10- 0, 1 KO) 120.8 lbs. of Greenville, TX. From the opening bell Griego overwhelmed his game rival, constantly switching his attack from head to body and back again. In previous fights I saw Griego get excited and abandon his defense, resulting in unnecessary punishment. Tonight “Diamond Boy” was in the zone applying constant pressure. A right hand to the jaw dropped Alcaraz in the second round, and he never recovered. Referee Valez stopped the one sided contest at 43 seconds of the round. Obviously Griego has talent and probably could fight as low as 112 lbs., but he doesn’t need any more game but outclassed opponents. I hope the next time I see him in the ring he will be facing an adversary with a punch and some defensive skills.

In the evenings 6^th bout scheduled for six rounds, Brian “La Bala” Mendoza (14-0- 0, 9 KO’s) 148.2 lbs of Rio Rancho won by UD over Daniel Calzada (12-16- 3, 2 KO’s) 149.6 lbs. of Dona Ana, NM. This clearly was the best fight of the night, as the veteran Calzada contested Mendoza for every round. In the first two rounds Mendoza fired some brutal shots off his punishing left jab, but Calzada remained cool and responded with some nice overhand rights. Clearly both rounds belonged to “La Bala”, but Calzada was a live opponent with intentions of spoiling the party. In the third round Mendoza stopped throwing his jab, going all out to score a knockout. This proved to be a bad idea as the Dona Ana boxer finally started landing some hard body shots and overhand rights to the head. At the end of the round, both boxers had ideas of extending the round, but the third man in the ring had a different idea.

In the 4th Mendoza went back to his jab, which would prove to be the difference in the fight. It seemed to disrupt the rhythm of Calzada, making his punches go off target much of the time. Both boxers threw some brutal body shots, but Mendoza was able to block many of his rival’s punches with his tight defense while his punches got behind the elbows of Calzada. This would continue to the end of the fight. The pace of the contest was furious with little clinching, but Mendoza had the superior jab and a solid defense. This was an excellent test for Mendoza and he passed it with flying colors.

The remaining bouts on the card were scheduled for 4 rounds. In the evenings 5th bout, Alex Holguin (9-1- 0, 6 KO’s) 131.2 lbs of Albuquerque, KO’d debuting George Roybal 130.6 lbs. of Albuquerque. Roybal came out firing but was no match for the skillful Holguin. Slipping an overhand left, Holguin stepped inside and crashed a right uppercut off the head of Roybal. All the ref had to do was to count to 10 because this fight was over at 56 seconds of round one. Undoubtedly Holguin has value and could commend a large payday in New York or California, but has no intention of doing that. Trainer Sergio Chavez said: “I’d like to see Alex have to go four or five hard rounds, so we could see where he’s at.” Obviously Holguin and Chavez were both happy with the results from last night.

In the evenings 4th bout, Jaron “Boots” Ennis (4-0- 0, 4 KO’s) 145 lbs. of Philadelphia, PA won by TKO over Tavorus Teague (3-13- 2, 2 KO’s) 145 lbs. of Bakersfield, CA. As I reported yesterday, Yoruba Moreu who is very active in amateur boxing said that Ennis was the real deal. For three rounds Ennis put on a display of boxing skills, both offense and defense at the expense of the game Teague. In each of these rounds Teague managed to send some missiles of his own in the direction of Ennis only to be foiled by the Philadelphia fighter’s defense. In the final round Teague tasted the canvas, the result of a left hook by Ennis. The contest was stopped at 1:38 of the fourth.

In the evenings 3rd bout, Carlos “El Tiburon” Sanchez (7-0- 0, 7 KO’s) 144.4 lbs. of San Felipe, Mexico won by TKO over Christopher Russell (3-17- 1, 2 KO’s) Shattuck, Oklahoma. “El Tiburon” which means “The Shark” lived up to his nickname ending matters in 2:31 of the first round. A left hook and a left hook/right cross combination resulted in two knockdowns for the hard hitting Sanchez. Russell was game, but didn’t belong in the same ring as the Mexican import. Keep an eye on the careers of both Sanchez and Ennis as they can bang, but also displayed some defensive ability. It’s unlikely we will see either of them again unless Victory Boxing Promotions returns to greater Albuquerque for another promotion.

 

In the evenings 2nd bout, Elijo Sena (2-0- 1, 1 KO) 271.6 lbs. of Clovis, NM fought to a draw against debuting Brandon Farron 214.8 lbs. of Abilene, TX. I don’t hide the fact that I hold the Clovis heavyweight in high regard and fully expected Sena to destroy Farron in the first round. Apparently Farron failed to read my memo regarding his impending demise, as he fought like a man possessed. In the opening round the much smaller Texas fighter took chances, while switching back and forth between southpaw and orthodox. Sena seem to be confused and Farron capitalized on his opponent’s hesitation scoring with both hands. Sena did land his jab, but he was always reacting and his punch lacked its usual power. I favored Farron in a close round, but if others had it even I wouldn’t protest.

In the second round Sena started looking tired and continued to react to Farron offense. When the veteran cage fighter trapped the Clovis boxer on the ropes, he unleashed a powerful body attack with bad intentions. This round clearly belonged to the fighter from Texas. Sena finally came to life in the third round, scoring with a strong body attack and uppercuts to the head. But his punches came one at a time and he failed to follow up when Farron appeared to be hurt. Both boxers appeared to be tired in the final round, but Farron was the busier boxer while Sena seemed to be waiting to land a big punch; a close round which I gave to Farron. The audience was quiet while ring announcer Mike Adams read the score cards; Judge Chris Tellez 39-37 for Fallon, Judge Sandy Martinez-Pino 39-37 Sena and Judge Levi Martinez 38-38 a draw. This was an entertaining fight and the crowd seemed to be into it.

In the opening bout of the evening, Ronald Baca (6-3- 1, 2 KO’s) 251.6 lbs. of Gallup, NM won a UD over Randy McCarty (1-2-1) 212.6 lbs. of Las Cruces, NM. Like Elijo Sena, Baca has an excellent left jab but unlike Sena he used it. For the first three rounds Baca often doubled up on his jab while employing lateral movement to create openings. McCarty was feisty, always trying to land the last punch in every exchange. In the final round Baca appeared tired, while McCarty stayed busy. I gave the fourth round to McCarty in an entertaining contest. I’ve seen McCarty fight twice now, and think he’s ok considering his first love is fighting in the cage. Baca has lost over twenty pounds since the last time I saw him fight and think he can get down to two hundred pounds with little difficulty.

Santa Ana Star Center is a nice venue for boxing with ample parking. Chris Middendorf of Victory Boxing Promotions indicated he would like to return again in October. Middendorf and his assistant Emily Pandelakis certainly took the media into consideration when setting up the seating arrangement at ringside. Those of us in the media are most grateful.