The weigh-ins for the Jacksons Mixed Martial Arts Series II is scheduled for Friday, September 3rd, 2:00 PM MST at the Hard Rock Casino Showroom. The weigh-ins will proceed from the bottom of the amateur card to co-main and main event. Fans are encouraged to attend.

The Main Event features Coty “Ox” Wheeler of Team Jacksons taking on Ray Robinson out of Phoenix, Arizona. The Co-Main Event features Henry Martinez of Team Jacksons facing off with Silver City’s own Matt Madrid. Also on the card are three additional pro bouts and five amateur fights. Read more »

New Mexico’s finest amateur boxers will headline the upcoming New Mexico LBC 42  sanctioned USA boxing event on Saturday, September 25, 2010. The event will be held at the Raymond G. Sanchez Community Center, located at 9800 4th Street NW in Albuquerque.  First bell will be at 2:00 pm.  Every New Mexico club is expected to attend . Tickets will be $8.00 for adults and $4.00 for youth 8 to 17, kids  7 and under are free.  Weigh in will be from 8-10am. For pre-matching please contact Bunny at 505-573-1330 or Jason at 505-559-0494.

Bad, somewhat good and worse news for anyone interested in, someday, seeing the rubber match between Johnny Tapia and Frankie Archuleta. The bad news? They will NOT be fighting each other on September 25. Nor will they be fighting Sept. 24, which is the new date for the soon-to-be-announced card for Isleta’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

The good news is that a card will take place on the 24th at the Hard Rock; and that, both, Tapia and Archuleta, will co-headline the show – but they will be fighting separate opponents. What’s worse? While Tapia’s foe has not been discovered yet (though we hear it’s for a belt of some sort), Archuleta’s foe is none other than Jorge Reyes, seen by most commissions and boxing aficionados as unfit to fight.

For uninformed fans, Jorge Reyes, formerly Tapia’s sparring partner, has racked up a record of 21-28-3, 17 KOs – and is 1-18-1 in his last 20 bouts. In March, he ended a two-year retirement to give Tapia a win by fourth round TKO. At present time, it’s unknown whether the tribal commission at Isleta/Hard Rock will even approve such a fight as Archuleta vs. Reyes.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” says Archuleta, who spent six months in the gym preparing for a third Tapia fight that was postponed twice and nixed three times – at three different venues. “I’ll be ready to fight whoever on Sept. 24 – but it’s frustrating. I’m supposed to find out what’s going on this week.”

Tickets for the Sept. 24 “Superfight 2″ card, headlining Abie Han vs. Hilario Lopez and David Medina vs. Anthony Shuler, at the El Paso Coliseum, go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available online at www.TicketMaster.com, by calling 866-448-7849 or at the El Paso Coliseum ticket office (915-533-9899.) The undercard for this card will be announced in the next week.

Photo courtesy of Team Maldonado

Albuquerque lightweight and amateur standout Fidel Maldonado (4-0, 4 KOs) has inked a deal with Golden Boy Promotions. Managed by Cameron Dunkin, Maldonado was formerly with TKO Boxing but says he was not fighting often enough. Maldonado expects to be back in the ring in September.

Update: Maldonado, as pictured above, is currently training with El Paso’s Antonio Escalante, who is preparing for Daniel Ponce de Leon on Sept. 18.

With the main event featuring WBC #17 ranked middleweight David Medina against tough San Antonio Texas Boxer/brawler Anthony Shuler, Zeferino Entertainment has just finalized the co-main event of what promises to be one of the most explosive fights of boxing of the year for west Texas.

Most notable to local El Paso fight fans will be undefeated Abraham Han (10-0, 9 KO’s), who is fighting in the co-main event against  tough Hilario Lopez (12-10, 8 KO’s)  in a six round fight.  Han is the prohibitive favorite against Lopez, who was recently defeated by undefeated prospect Omar Henry in Texas earlier this year.  However, many insiders recognize that Lopez is a competent and dangerous opponent. Read more »

American referee Steve Smoger will be the third man in the ring when Ukranian WBA welterweight world champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (30-0, 20 KOs) and Venezuelan challenger Charlie Navarro (18-3, 13 KOs) meet at Lenin Square, Donetsk, Ukraine on August 30. The three judges are Levi Martinez (USA), John Coyle (ENG) and Juan Manuel Garcia (SPA). The fight supervisor is Guy Jutras (USA).

Looks like the twice-postponed Johnny Tapia vs. Frankie Archuleta rubber match has finally landed a new date and venue. We’ll let the venue announce the show, but the date will be Sept. 25. And no, it’s not Sandia.

Hector Munoz’s fight for Sept. 18 has been moved to sometime in October, as part of the Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Rafael Marquez card. A Marquez thumb injury has moved the entire card.

Still no word on Austin Trout’s next fight. On Sept. 5, Austin will have been inactive for a year.

The people and city of Chama welcomed last weekend’s amateur boxing & rodeo card with a packed house of 250-300 fans. Results on the card: Patrick Miera (Campion Espanola) defeated Michael Mirabal (South San Jose),  Fabion Barja (11st Gym Farmington) defeated Chrstopher Sanchez (Campion Espanola), Matin Benitez (Campion Espanola) defeated Julian Baca (South San Jose), Malachi Mirabal (South San Jose) defeated Cruz Martines (Vecinos Taos), Juliano Castello (Atrisco) defeated Elija Martinez (Martinez Farmington), Pablo Castello (Atrisco) defeated Patrick Triana (South San Jose), Francisco Pacheco (Vecino Taos) defeated Jovan Ramirez (Campion Espanola), Fransico Gomez (Team Mirabal) defeated Brian Andrade (Atrisco), Braina Hererra (Team Mirabal) defeated Natile Martinez (Martinez Farmington), Chis Milligan (Martinez Farmington) defeated Matthew Cadenas (TNT), co-main: Antonio Martinez (Espanola Boxing) defeated Alan Salazar (TNT),  main (title): Steve Padilla (Campion) defeated John “Pizza” Abeyta. ”DC” Chavez was the anouncer for the rodeo and the fights, keeping the crowd on their feet throughout the card. Pros in attendance included Monica Lovato and Vincent “Li’l Man” Mirabal.

A 10-count was tolled for Tomas Pacheco (Cheyanne Wyoming), Ramon Rivas (Golden Glover Chama 1950) and Leo Valencia (Henry’s Golden Gloves).

The Rodeo was also a hit, with 30+  participants. Participants from the boxing event showed at the rodeo to watch the even, and there were plenty of free prizes for the kids at both events.

LA-Boxing of El Paso will be hosting an amateur show on Saturday, Sept. 25, to raise money for the team’s trip to the National PAL.  They  are planning on 15 bouts, and an outstanding boxer award will be given at the end of the night.  For pre-matches contact Terry Green 915-412-1479.

Top contender Antonio Escalante (24-2, 15 KOs), of El Paso, will be facing former champ Daniel Ponce De Leon (39-2, 32 KOs), of Chihuahua, Mexico on the Sugar Shane Mosley – Sergio Mora card in Los Angeles. The fight will be title eliminator. Ponce De Leon was scheduled to face Juarez’s Miguel Roman, but the fight was nixed by Golden Boy.

Amanda Crespin, now training with Sergio Chavez, has landed an undercard bout on the Oct. 1 ShoBox card co-headlining Archie Ray Marquez, in California. Crespin’s foe is TBA.

Zeferino Entertainment is set  to return to El Paso, Texas on September 24 when the popular Mexican American brawler David “Strictly Business” Medina (21-2, 10 KO’s) take on the rugged brawler Anthony Shuler (20-7-1, 14 KO’s) in an eight round affair.  Medina, who is now ranked #17 by the WBC, is looking poised to explode into the top ten by the end of the year, but anything less than a dominant performance against Shuler would almost certainly derail that.

Read more »

The Warrior Boxing club and Isleta Boxing will host “Warrior Boxing Showdown” on Sept. 11, at the Isleta Pueblo Recreation Center. Fights start at 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, kids under five get in free. Live music provided by Damiano. Come support New Mexico’s youth! For more info or for pre-matches, call Coach Ray Zamora 505-688-6648.

Thaddine Swifteagle Johnson (6-0, 5 KOs), who went the distance for the first time last weekend, against a blown-up, last-minute sub, was actually suffering from pneumonia during the fight. Johnson sends the following:

“I want to send a shout out to Sanata Ana Casino, Golden Girl Promotions for giving me the opportunity to box on their card. I also want to thank Team Old School & Roger Mayweather for working with me. WIBA, WIBU, WIBC, GBU, WPBA, and last but not least the NABC, (Native American Boxing Council).  I may not have been at my best Saturday night, due to dehydration, lack of sleep, caring for my mother, and coming down with pneumonia.  My corner did not know that I was going in feeling weak – if they did they would have called off my bout.  I had a lot of fans from Durango and California there rooting me on as well as the kids that I mentor that I constantly tell them never give up.  I was at Santa Ana until 3 am signing autographs and taking pictures with the fight fans, even though I was not feeling well.  I hope to be back in the gym soon. God bless and thank you.”