By Austin Killeen

The six-bout card scheduled for the Tingley Coliseum has an interesting opponent for Josh “Pitbull” Torres in Alfonso Olvera. Olvera has a unanimous decision win over Jose Marrufo, the same Mr. Marrufo who holds a decision win over Josh Torres. Matthew “Diamond Boy Griego will be back in action in only his second fight in twenty months. Jose Luis “El Guero” Sanchez is looking to up his win streak to eight in a row. Gabriel Gabaldon is coming back to a tough bout after a six-year layoff. Bridgette Baca and Katie Ramirez should be an entertaining contest, as both girls have been in some entertaining bouts. Fan friendly Lorenzo Benavidez will open the show in a light heavyweight contest.

In the main event of the evening, scheduled for 10 rounds, welterweight Josh “Pitbull” Torres (20-6-2, 12 KO’s) 146.4 lbs., of Albuquerque, NM faces Alfonso Olvera (11-5-3, 4 KO’s) 146 lbs., of  Tucson, AZ. Torres is working on a five bout win streak, all by stoppage. He might be the most popular boxer in the state at this moment do to his exciting style. Look at Olvera’s record and it shows a boxer who knows how to find the win column. For the most part, “Pitbull’s” win streak has been against fighters who elected to go toe-to-toe with him.  I doubt the slick moving Olvera will be so inclined. The rangy fighter from Arizona figures to work behind a long jab. Torres will have to cut off the ring before he can sit down on his punches. This should be a good test for Torres.

The following bouts are scheduled for 6 rounds.

In the semi-final,  Matthew “Diamond Boy Griego (9-0-0, 8 KO’s) 114.6 lbs., of Albuquerque, NM faces Leonardo Torres (4-12-1, 1 KO’s) 116.8 lbs., of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. It might take Griego a few rounds to find his rhythm after so much inactivity. Turning pro he looked to be a hot prospect, but two fights in almost two years is not the way to fulfill this promise. Torres seemed very confident during the face off, but how will he look like if Griego lands some of his power punches?

In the fourth bout, junior middleweight Jose Luis “El Guero” Sanchez (9-1-0, 4 KO’s) 152.2 lbs., of Albuquerque, NM faces Jose “Raging Bull” Pena (3-1-0, 1 KO) 151.4 lbs., of Tucson, AZ. After a slow start, Sanchez has started living up to his promise. In two of his biggest wins, he made me look bad regarding my predictions.  As a result I’m jumping on the “El Guero” band wagon and predicting a win. I know little about Pena except that he has far less experience than Sanchez. But he does have a winning record and he didn’t travel all the way from Tucson just so he could lose.

The remaining bouts are scheduled for 4 rounds

In the third bout,  Gabriel Gabaldon (1-0-0) 144.8 lbs., faces Anthony Hill (1-26-0),  145 lbs., of Phoenix, AZ. I saw Gabaldon’s pro debut and it was an exciting fight; but that was in 2013.  Fighting once every six years is not the way to build one’s career. Gabaldon needs to be more active. I’ve seen Hill fight many good opponents over the years and he usually goes the distance. He does it with a slick defense and not by holding on for dear life. I would not be surprised if Hill starts a new winning streak tonight, but only if he can do more than just slip punches.

In the second bout of the evening, Bridgette Baca (1-2-0) 133.4 lbs., of Albuquerque, NM faces Katie Ramirez (0-2-1), 137.2 lbs., of Bosque Farms, NM. I’ve seen bout these girls in action and they come to fight. They both gave undefeated Ayanna Vasquez a tough bout, with each girl winning the last round. This is a pick-em fight and might be the fight of the night. I predict you’ll enjoy this contest, unless you got lost on the way to the Tingley Coliseum.

 

In the opening bout Lorenzo Benavidez (2-1-0) 173.8 lbs., of Albuquerque, NM faces debuting Randy Ramirez, 182.6 lbs. Albuquerque, NM. Scientists have written papers that prove hummingbirds can’t fly. Apparently the findings were never shown to the hummingbirds. Benavidez can identify with the hummingbirds, because so-called boxing experts have written that Benavidez is incapable of fighting professionally. Boxing experts need Ramirez to win so their findings will be validated.