By Austin Killeen Ringside

It’s hard to believe, but Holly Holm headlined the last boxing card at the Route 66 Casino in June of 2013. On that evening she looked terrific in winning a unanimous decision over a very talented opponent in Mary McGee. Legacy Boxing behind the Perez brothers, showcased a 6 bout card at the Casino. In the main event Josh Torres was victories, but is the glass half full or half empty. Jason Sanchez passed the biggest test of his pro career in an impressive performance. Aaron Perez, Ronnie Baca and Cristian Castillo all looked imposing in their bouts. The Jose Prado-Gene Perez opener was an exciting, fan friendly contest. Early indications indicate that Legacy Boxing plans to return to this venue in May or June.

In the main event of the evening scheduled for 8 rounds, welterweight Josh “Pitbull” Torres (17-6-2, 9 KO’s) 144.4 lbs. of Albuquerque, NM won by TKO over Moris Rodriguez (7-11-1, 4 KO’s) 148.4 lbs. of Sacramento, CA. I spoke with Rodriguez before the fight, and he spells his first name with one ‘r.’ In the first two rounds Torres controlled the action behind some punishing body shots and a stiff left jab. Some nice head butts and blows below the Mason/Dixon line provided referee Rocky Burke the opportunity to introduce both boxers to the Marques of Queensbury rules. It certainly appeared that Torres was on his way to an easy victory. Rodriguez has a reputation as a spoiler and he quickly showed why in the third stanza. Behind an impressive attack to both the body and head, he had Torres taking cover. Torres added to his problems by abandoning his jab.

In the fourth round Torres once again took control of the contest behind a punishing assault to the head and body. The right eye of Rodriguez was rapidly closing and Torres appeared to be trying to end matters early. In the final minute of the round Rodriguez staged his own rally behind some impressive shots to the head and body. The California fighter continued his attack in the fifth, trapping Torres on the ropes. The “Duke City” fighter responded with some brutal punches to the eye of Rodriguez. The fans loved the action and Rodriguez was living up to his reputation as a spoiler.

At the sound of the bell to start the sixth round, Rodriguez flew out of his corner. This resulted in a toe-to-toe exchange by both men. But the punishment Rodriguez was taking to his eye resulted in his retreating to a neutral corner. I felt referee Burke was correct in stopping the contest at this point, but some in attendance felt otherwise. Time of the stoppage was 55 seconds of the round. I was impressed by the showing of Torres, feeling it was his best effort since his win over Ranee Ganoy in 2015. But his critics felt he took too many punches from a boxer with a losing record. Tonight Torres left his comfort zone in an effort to secure the victory. Will he be willing to do the same if he can secure a bout with a top level opponent? I feel he earned the right to find out.

In the semi-final scheduled for 8 rounds, Featherweight Jason “El Alacrancito” Sanchez (12-0-0, 6 KO’s) 125.8 lbs. of Albuquerque, NM won by UD over German “Panteonero” Meras (58-48-2, 35 KO) of Agua Prieta, Mexico. At the opening bell Sanchez showed no jitters facing a veteran of 107 pro bouts. Behind a stiff left jab, powerful left hooks and a tight defense Sanchez dominated. The second stanza was a repeat of the first. In the third round Meras started laughing, dancing and banging his gloves together in an effort to rattle Sanchez, but it didn’t work. The Albuquerque boxer was on a mission and it was to destroy Meras. Meras continued his antics in the fourth round and Sanchez continued to dole out pain one punch at a time.

Rounds five and six were the best rounds for Meras as he scored with some right hands to the head. But Sanchez’s left jab was like a drill, finding its target often. The final two rounds were all Sanchez, leaving no doubt who the winner was. Judges Levi Martinez and Ester Lopez scored the contest 80-72, while judge Chris Tellez awarded the visitor one round with a score of 79-73. This was a tremendous performance by Sanchez and should earn him the opportunity to face stiffer competition. Both on offense and defense he was impressive, showing a great deal of poise.

The remaining bouts were scheduled for 4 rounds.

In the fourth bout of the evening between, debuting Albuquerque featherweights, Aaron “Angel Baby” Perez 126.4 lbs. KO’d Levi Lucero 131.2 lbs. Perez, a highly decorated amateur, had too much experience for his game rival. Lucero a cage fighter came to fight and threw some punches with serious intent. But Perez attacked the body and head of his rival and it was just a matter of time. A double left hook, first to the body of Lucero then to the head finished matters at 1:25 seconds of the opening round. Perez doesn’t need any more four round fights; he’s already to step up to the next level. He needs a veteran boxer who can test him standing in the opposite corner in his next contest.

 

 

In the third bout of the evening between Albuquerque welterweights, Ronnie “Mongoose” Baca (3-0-1, 2 KO’s) 145.6 lbs KO’d debuting Alexis Saucedo 146 lbs. Saucedo may have been making his debut, but he came to fight. He showed a lot of confidence and went after his opponent with a nice attack to the body and head. Baca has ice water in his veins and waited for an opening. A left-right to his opponent’s chin ended maters at 2:48 of the first round. I’ve seen all four of his pro fights and he just gets better with every match. He has an excellent trainer in Sergio Chavez, who will challenge Baca, but not rush him prematurely. If Baca can get four or five more bouts in before the end of the year, watch out!

 

In the second bout of the evening, welterweight Cristian “Castigo” Castillo (2-0-0, 2 KO) 145.2 lbs. of Albuquerque, NM won by TKO over Timothy Ruiz (1-1-0, 1 KO) 140.4 lbs. of Hereford, NM. I felt this could be the fight of the night and Ruiz wasted little time going after his opponent. He landed a nice right to the body followed by a left to the head. But Castillo is one cool customer, waiting for opportunity to knock. Ruiz made the mistake of dropping his left allowing Castillo to explode a right to the chin. Ruiz hit the canvas hard, but gamely beat the ten count. Once again a Castillo right found the chin of Ruiz and he went down hard. This time referee David Rios had seen enough and halted matters at 1:25 seconds of the first round.

 

Baca and Castillo appear to be on a collision course, but it would be foolish to match them up now. Baca throws sweet one-twos and Castillo’s right hand is as accurate as most left jabs. My earlier observation about ice water applies to both young men. On a scale of one to ten, their performances have to be scored at least an eight if not higher. Their opponent’s Saucedo and Ruiz fought well enough to win on most evenings and would make a nice contest against each other.

In the evening’s opening contest, junior welterweight Jose Prado (9-2-1, 3 KO’s) 140 lbs. of Pharr, TX won by SD over Gene Perez (2-12-1) 139.6 lbs. of Belen, NM. To the surprise of no one, this was an all action opener that the fans loved. Has the Belen fighter ever been in a bad contest and the newly arrived Prado has a solid pedigree. The taller Prado was all over Perez in the opening round, but to the surprise of no one the Belen boxer never folded. The second round was very close, with the shorter Perez scoring well while fighting off the ropes.

The third round was a repeat of the opening round, clearly putting Prado in the lead. Prado opened the final round looking to save the judges the trouble of tabulating a final score. But with a minute left in the fight the southpaw Perez landed a straight left to the head of Prado, hurting him. In the ensuing action an overhand right dropped Prado, but Perez was unable to take advantage. Judge Levi Martinez scored the contest 39-36 for Perez, but judge’s Chris Tellez and Ester Lopez had scores of 38-37 making Prado the winner by split decision. Prado is from Texas and recently moved to Hobbs, NM. Perez is popular with the fans, but always seems to come up short in close decisions.