Ringside by Gerardo Martinez

The decent size crowd in attendance and all the fighters that made up the 14 bout amateur smoker at the FIT/NHB gym kept the building warm despite the bitter cold outside.  The fight card consisted of six boxing, four grappling, two muay thai and two kickboxing bouts which all took place inside a boxing ring.

In the main event of the card billed as “Friday Night Fights”, Alan Gomez (FIT/NHB) battled Sam Huff (ABQ KB) in a 155 lb Muay Thai bout.  

In the first round Huff, the taller fighter, tried to use his height and reach advantage, but was unable to because of the constant forward attack of Gomez.  Gomez insisted on clinching throughout most of the round, taking away Huff’s reach advantage.  Gomez continued his clinching ways in the second round and was able to wrestle down Huff a couple of times.  Huff was able to counter a bit with knee strikes and straight punches.

In the final round, Huff began creating a bit more space for himself and leg sweeped Gomez to the ground.  Gomez got up and continued his clinching and connecting a few punches.  Huff was the busier fighter in the last round as Gomez tired throughout the round.  At the end of three rounds the judges gave the unanimous decision win to Gomez.

Preceding the main event was an 185 lb boxing match between Julio Dominguez (FIT/NHB) and Shannon Curlee (Kucivics).  Both boxers seemed to use the first round to study each other.  Neither landed any significant punches, but kept each other busy.  To the liking of the pro-FIT/NHB audience, Dominguez came out swinging in the second and seeing an unresponsive Curlee, the referee stepped in and gave him a standing 8-count.  Dominguez was able to knock down Curlee with a left uppercut, but Curlee beat the count.  Dominguez continued his onslaught and after a second standing 8-count the referee waved the fight off.  Dominguez took it by TKO win before the end of the second round.

In the fifth boxing match of the night, Jeremy Oyerque (FIT/NHB) pounced on Josh Moore (505 Boxing) at the beginning of the first round.  Moore countered and connected with some punches of his own.  In the second round Oyerque continued his aggressiveness and out connected his opponent.  The third was a repeat of the first two rounds as Oyerque connected the cleaner punches.  Moore tired towards the end and Oyerque was able to connect a few haymakers before the bell.  The judges gave the fight to Oyerque by unanimous decision.

In the most electrifying match of the evening, Antonio Martinez (Española Boxing) battled the taller John Sparks (Winklejohns) for three quick boxing rounds.  The shorter Martinez began the first round with a vicious body attack to try and slow down the springy Sparks.  Both fighters connected, Martinez mostly in the torso area and Sparks straights to face of Martinez.  Martinez kept on coming with his body assault in second and Sparks began to slow a bit.  At one point in the second round Sparks leaped about three feet in the air and tried landing a punch/kick combination to the surprise of not only Martinez, but everyone in attendance.  Luckily, Martinez saw it coming and moved in time.  The referee called attention to Sparks, who seemed to forget he was in a boxing match and not a mixed martial arts fight.  Round three found Martinez continuing to connect his body punches on the torso of the lankier Sparks.  The accumulation of punches caused Sparks to tire and stop throwing, at which point the referee stepped in to give Sparks a standing 8-count.  Sparks was able to continue and Martinez continued to unload to the body and face to end the round.  The judges scored a unanimous decision win for Antonio Martinez at the end of three.  It didn’t hurt Martinez to have former boxing champ Monica Lovato in his corner advising him.

The last kickboxing match of the evening pitted Samantha Bench (Rosales) against Alex McNeely in the 175 lb weight division.  Mcneely won the first round with her aggressiveness.  In the second Bench turned it around with her aggression and McNeely began to tire.  The shorter Bench continued her aggression in the third landing straight lefts and right to the face of very tired McNeely.  After three the judges had a majority decision win for Bench.

In a heavyweight boxing match, Mike Gonzales (FIT/NHB) battled Rich Torres (Kucivics).  It was a relatively even match between the two big guys in the first round.  Torres became the aggressor in the second and was able to land cleaner punches as Gonzales’ gas tank emptied.  By the beginning of the third round both boxers were bloodied and Gonzales was able to land more punches as Torres tired a bit.  After three rounds the judges gave the fight to Torres by split decision.  The ring had to be mopped down before the beginning of the next fight.

Tim Sosa (FIT/NHB) won by unanimous decision against Chris Buchanan (ABQ KB) in a 135 lb Kickboxing battle.

Roberto Nater (FIT/NHB) beat Fernando Motley (FIT/NHB) by unanimous decision in a 125 lb Muay Thai contest.

In 150 lbs women’s boxing match Brenda Gonzales (FIT/NHB) won by split decision over Vanessa Velasquez (505 Boxing).

Alejandro Gutierrez (FIT KIDZ) won by TKO against Malachi Mirabal (505 Boxing) in a 65 lb boxing match.

A 185 lb grappling match between Eric Silva (FIT/NHB) and Mando “The Doctor” Sanchez (Kucivics) ended in a draw.

Abraham Garcia (Los Vatos) won by submission against Jason Bernard (FIT/NHB) in a 145 lb grappling match.

Frankie Baca (FIT/NHB) and Steve Garcia (Kucivics) grappled to a draw in an 135 lb match.

The curtain raiser featured a grappling match between Sergio Gutierrez (FIT/NHB) and Danny Lujan (Los Vatos) that ended in a draw.