By Austin Killeen ringside           Photos by Octavio Vera

It would appear that it’s safe to remove Fidel Maldonado’s career from life support after last night’s impressive outing against Johnny Rodriguez of Colorado. To say that the last twenty two months of Maldonado’s career has been a roller coaster ride would not be far from the truth. In June of 2017 the “Atrisco Kid” scored the biggest win of his career when he climbed off the canvas to decision Pablo Cesar Cano. Four months later he suffered a crushing defeat to Ismael Barroso. People were wondering if it was medically safe for him to continue boxing after such a devastating stoppage. After taking a fifteen month hiatus from the sport, Maldonado won a lack luster decision over Luis Gerardo Avila in January of this year. His reflexes were good and his defense sound, but offensively he was as explosive as a wet firecracker. Climbing into the ring last night at the Embassy Suites Hotel, there were as many doubters as believers regarding the career of Fidel Maldonado.

In the main event of the evening scheduled for eight rounds, Fidel “Atrisco Kid” Maldonado (25-4-1, 19 KO’s) 138.2 lbs., of Albuquerque won by UD over Johnny “The Punisher” Rodriquez (9-4-1, 6 KO’s) 139.4 lbs., of Westminster, CO. Waiting for the bell to ring, people knew Rodriguez was a step up in competition from Maldonado’s last fight and were worried what might happen. Soon after the opening bell rang you could see this was the Maldonado of old. Fast of hand and foot; he was slipping Rodriguez’s punches while scoring with his own arsenal of blows. This would continue in rounds two and three, with the hometown hero putting on a clinic in the third stanza.  He scored with some brutal body punches and it looked like a matter of time before the Colorado import would fall. But Rodriguez is no stiff and you could see in the middle rounds why Rodriguez has never been stopped in fourteen fights. Although he was clearly being outpunched, he landed some clean punches of his own. In the sixth round Maldonado went macho, but never lost his cool. In the final round Maldonado put on an exhibition on the proper way to throw right hands from the southpaw stance. At the final bell no one doubted that the “Atrisco Kid” was back and ready to take the next step up in competition. For his part Rodriguez showed up in shape and pressed his rival all eight rounds. The verdict was just a formality, Esther Lopez scored the contest 80-72, while Anthony Romero had it 79-73 and Juan Nunez 77-73. I had the opportunity to speak with Rodriguez for a short time before and after the contest and found him to be a pleasant young man.

In the semi-final, Jordanne “OMG” Garcia (4-0-1) 155.6 lbs., of Albuquerque won by UD over Karina Mendoza (0-3-1) 153 lbs., of El Paso, Texas in a six rounder. This was the third fight between the girls and like the other two contests had lots of action. Garcia won the first two rounds behind a strong left jab and volume punching. Mendoza seemed to be waiting to see what her opponent would do before reacting and initiating her own action. As a result Mendoza was down two rounds with only four to go. The import from El Paso did better in rounds three and four, in part because Garcia seemed to take her foot of the pedal. Mendoza caught Garcia several times with straight lefts from her southpaw stance, but seemed to abandon this plan for no apparent reason. In rounds five and six Garcia got back to scoring by utilizing her excellent jab and capitalizing off the openings her jabs created. For her part, Mendoza landed some nice uppercuts on the inside and overhand lefts from long range. But Garcia was throwing at a higher output and carried both rounds. Both girls were in excellent shape, but Mendoza has to become more comfortable in the nuances of the southpaw stance.  Esther Lopez scored the contest 58-56, while Anthony Romero and Juan Nunez had identical scores of 59-55 all for Jordanne Garcia. As with Rodriguez in the main event, I had the opportunity to speak with Mendoza and her father before and after the contest. I found them both to be very enjoyable to talk to.

The remaining fights were scheduled for four rounds.

Bryant McClain (5-1-2, 1 KO) 167.8 lbs., of Rio Rancho, NM won by MD over Oliver Parker (0-2-0) 168.8 lbs., of Albuquerque. McClain used a nice left jab and overhand rights successfully, something I’ve rarely seen him do before. Usually he just walks in and trades with his opponents. Against Oliver Parker that might have been a big mistake. The well built Parker used timing to beat speed which worked at times. He has a good defense which he utilized to block many of McClain’s punches. By the fourth round McClain had a bloody nose resulting from Parker’s clean punching. Esther Lopez had the bout even 38-38, while Anthony Romero and Juan Nunez had identical scores of 39-37 in favor of the winner by majority decision Bryant McClain. Although I agreed with Romero and Nunez, a draw would not have been out of the question. I’ve seen both of Parker’s fights and he has some potential.

Debuting Clinton Chavez 152.4 lbs., of Albuquerque won by TKO over Jimmy Archuleta (0-2-0) 149.8 lbs., of Albuquerque. I’ve seen Chavez fight many times in the amateurs and he is tough. Long and rangy he used his height and reach to drop Archuleta twice before referee Sid Ware stopped the contest at 2:01 of the first round. Call me crazy, but I saw improvement in Archuleta from his pro debut. He was sitting down on his punches and throwing with power. If he learns to be patient and not throw wild punches, he’ll improve enough to find the win column.

The matchup of debuting flyweights, Santiago Giron 109.4 lbs, of Albuquerque and Gabe Vigil 113 lbs., of Santa Fe, NM was postponed because Vigil was unavailable to attend due to a family health issue.

For the second time this year we had a rising female ring announcer.  Her name is Alyssa Adams and she is following in the footsteps of her father Mike Adams. There is no question having him as a mentor is a big plus. She has a clear, powerful voice and treats the visiting boxer with the same respect as the hometown hero.

Ray Chavez, Sid Ware  and Rocky Burke  were the referees on Friday night. Ringside photographer Octavio Vera took a nice candid of our three referees that evening and I thought the readers would like to see who they are.