The Year in New Mexico Boxing: 2001

By Chris Cozzone

Halfway through the year, there was some discussion that the future of New Mexico boxing was pretty bleak. That Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero were on the way out, and after they made their final exits, there’d be no one with the potential to take up the torch.

I saw no reason for panic back then; I see even less reason now. Tapia and Romero are not yet through, but even if they were, there’s a fresh batch of New Mexicans with plenty-o-potential.

Overall, 2001 has been a pretty good year for New Mexico, although we’ve had our share of downers, too.

Johnny Tapia started ’01 coming off his October ’00 “loss” to Paulie Ayala with a goal of a 5^th world title belt. Things were lookin’ good for the first half of the year, but personal troubles and promoter problems plagued him from August on, preventing him from fighting.

In March, Tapia came home and fought at the Albuquerque Convention Center, taking on veteran Famosito Gomez in a bloody battle. Gomez was stopped in the 6^th on injuries.

Then, in June, now having signed with Don King, Tapia was in Vegas, taking on another veteran, former champ Cesar Soto. Despite a shaky first round that saw Tapia on the canvas (it was ruled a knockdown but looked more like Tapia was off-balance), the former champ prevailed in the 2^nd with a body shot that floored Soto—the first time he’s ever been down.

It was a strong win for Tapia, but also his last fight of the year. Personal problems and promoter conflicts had Tapia retiring, then un-retiring as he went from Don King to Murad Muhammad by the end of the year. Tapia also swapped trainers: from Jesse Reid in the first quarter to Buddy McGirt. 

Tapia returns on the 19^th this month on a Showtime card in London, in the co-main against Eduardo Alvarez. The main event is a title defense by WBO beltholder Julio Pablo Chacon against Victor Polo. The winner of Tapia-Alvarez will take on the victor of Chacon-Polo in their next fight.

Johnny’s two fights in ’01 might not have been enough for Tapia fans, but it was one more fight than Danny Romero had in ’01. Romero was out of action for nearly a year when he signed up with Don King and returned on the undercard of Hopkins vs. Trinidad in New York to take on Thai veteran Ratanachai Vorapin.

It was a close fight, but ring rust prevailed and Vorapin won the 10-round majority decision.

Managing Romero, at least for part of the year, were the Maloof Brothers, who decided to get into boxing. They signed agreements with Romero and with light heavyweight Max Heyman, but later dissolved their venture in December.

In what was one of the better surprises of the year, prospect Frankie Archuleta returned to the ring to give boxing another shot. He hadn’t fought in a year, since losing to Kevin Kelley—his first loss.

In April, he fought 10-21 fighter Russell Mosley, knocking him out in the 1^st; then then headlining a Fresquez card in his hometown of Las Vegas, NM, he took on blown-up flyweight Oswaldo Guerrero, who managed to go the distance with Archuleta. Injuries and a personal agenda kept Archuleta out of the ring for the rest of year. He was scheduled to headline the January 25^th card at Isleta Casino for Andres Fernandez’s vacated NABA title, but has since pulled out.

Speaking of Andres Fernandez, therein lies the year’s biggest tragedy for New Mexico.

Fernandez gave us what I considered the best two fights of the year: in March he took on tough Juarez fighter Rodrigo Facio and in June, took he battled Jorge Reyes in a vengeance-driven NABA title defense.

Facio was his toughest fight. Facio, a late substitute, dropped Fernandez three times with shots to the body (only two were ruled official knockdowns, the first was ruled a slip) but Fernandez fought like hell to stay upright. At the end of ten, the bout was ruled a draw.

Fernandez’s fight with Jorge Reyes was hell, too. Once again, Fernandez was almost finished with body shots but hung in there, controlling the fight through 12 rounds and putting Reyes on the canvas at least once (the 2^nd time was ruled a slip.)

As hellish as those two fights were, Fernandez’s biggest fight was yet to come.

Later on that night, Fernandez suffered a subcutaneous hemotoma; surgery was performed  and he would be kept in an induced coma for several weeks, until his condition could be downgraded from critical. He was finally released in October and allowed to go home where he must be cared for 24 hours a day.

In December, Lenny Fresquez organized a benefit to raise money for Andres—around $20,000 was raised.

New Mexico loses one of its best fighters in the retirement and debilitation of Andres Fernandez. While he might not have been a world champion, Fernandez fought with a passion rarely seen. It’s for this reason (and not out of compassion for his injuries) that I consider Fernandez New Mexico’s “Fighter of the Year.”

We lost Fernandez (as a fighter) but we’ve regained Archuleta (if he can only stay focused.) But our hopeful super bantam (now trained by Luis Chavez) is not the only prospect we have going for us. We have several others who may make it out of the state and make a dent in the ratings. Many of our young guns showing promise are in the lightweight (give or take a few pounds) division:

Nine-time national amateur champion Ray Sanchez III tops the list. Although dormant for most of the year, having signed a managerial contract with the Tapias (who had their hands full with personal and promotional problems), Ray has inked a promotional contract with America Presents that will have him fighting often.

Sanchez made his pro debut on the Tapia-Gomez card in March, knocking out Rafael “El Chocolate” Labacena in the 1^st . He was fightless until November when he knocked out Dione Walker; then, in December, he scored a 1^st round KO over Jose Humberto Lopez.

Sanchez starts out the new year at 3-0, 3 KO’s, and will fight again at the end of the month or early February.

Las Vegas’ Shawn Gallegos, also a big amateur star, also racked up three wins in ’01: stopping Marcos Diaz in the 1^st on the Tapia-Gomez card; winning a 6-round decision over Lorenzo Estrada; and a 3^rd Round stoppage over Jorge Cruz in Santa Fe last September.

Gallegos is still undefeated, at 5-0, with 4 KO’s, but had a near-loss in his fight with Jorge Cruz. Clobbering him one in the 1^st round, Cruz had Gallegos clawing at the canvas; Gallegos got back up and recovered. We know that Gallegos can go down now . . . but more importantly, we know he’s got the heart to keep fighting, and that he knows how to recover from a near-disaster.

Steve Aragon from Seboyeta, was active, fighting four times, going from 3-0 to 6-1 (3 KO’s), mainly from the Sky City cards. His biggest test was in March, when he was pitted against a guy with 26 fights, Juan Aranday. Aranday knocked Aragon down in the 2^nd but he showed heart and fought on. Since then, Steve has racked up wins against 0-2 fighter Juan Cortes, Lorenzo Estrada and Guillermo Vara.

Tommy Aragon, no relation to Steve, also had a good year. Although his record went from 4-1 to 5-3 (4 KO’s), Tommy has become the most-fun-to-watch boxer in the state. No fancy dan, Tommy is a brawler who’s improving from fight to fight. Limited only by his wind, Aragon hurls odd winging punches that slam into his opposition at all sorts of crazy angles. In  February ’01, he came in out of shape against Jose Luis Rivera, although he picked up the decision; in September, he came in great shape against Robbie Lovato, nearly winning a 10-rounder; then took on Denver veteran Arturo Cruz in December in yet another close fight, although losing when he ran out of steam in the later rounds.

Aragon vs. Cruz and Aragon vs. Lovato were two of the best fights this year. Aragon is a monster in the ring, when he can sustain his energy.

Speaking of Robbie Lovato . . . Santa Fe’s “Bad Boy” sprung back into action after getting sprung from the slammer after 4 ½ years of downtime. Backed by the new promoters, KOX Productions, Lovato made a splash on the scene by challenging Chris Linson, Jr. (a fight that never happened although the mud-slinging got Linson back in the ring) and then took on Tommy Aragon—a damn close fight that might’ve ended up a knockout loss for Lovato had it gone one more round.

But Lovato was shaking off ring rust, and was promising to pick up where he left off five years ago when he’d experienced his first loss (to Erik Morales, no less, who was 24-0 at the time—call that a loss?). But after the fight with Aragon, Lovato got hooked on pain medication he was taking, then slipped further downstream until he was hanging out with a guy who decided to rob a bank or two. Lovato was on the lam for a week or two, then he turned himself in. Now in the custody of the feds, Lovato’s surely headed back in for a handful of years.

Could be there’s a curse with the name ‘Lovato.’ Robbie Lavoto had a rough time; so did Rudy Lovato, also monikered “Bad Boy.” But Albuquerque’s Bad Boy was on the upswing with some managerial/promotional help from the boys in the Seattle, WA fight scene. He fought a couple times there, picking up two wins and winning something called the “Northeast Canadien-American-Mexican Middleweight belt.” Then he returned to ‘Burque to stir up trouble and call out several fighters, including Joe Brady, Linson and Vernon Payne.

To Rudy’s unfortunate luck, a fight with Payne was secured for October.

No doubt about it, Payne vs. Lovato was this year’s ugliest fight—making Joseph Brady’s fight with Jo Jo Varela look like a made-for-Disney after-school flick. Lovato repeatedly slammed Payne in the cohones, until, in the 3rd round, the ref said, “No Mas.” Lovato was DQ’d and Payne, who was beginning to dominate Lovato (and who’d destroyed Rudy’s game plan) was given the win.

Vernon Payne, NM’s welterweight hopeful is headed for big things, if he can just figure out a training schedule that won’t conflict with work. Now trained by Fred Esquibel, Payne fought three times in ’01: a win over Marcos Rodriguez in April; Jose Chavira in August; and Rudy Lovato in October—not nearly enough for a guy with his natural talent. The first two fights were hardly challenging. There’s talk of a mega-fight (well, “mega” for New Mexico, anyway) with Chris Linson, Jr.

Speaking of Chris Linson, Jr., he was about as active as Danny Romero, until Robbie Lovato started calling him out. Then, he was back in the gym and ready to launch a comeback, which started with a fight on the Fresquez ticket on December 15^th. It wasn’t a particularly exciting fight, but Linson got some rounds in and shook off some rust.

Look for Linson in ’02, with that possible match with Payne, sooner or later. In the meantime, he’s up against the undefeated Brady on the 25^th—a short notice fight that should prove interesting.

Movin’ up from welters, the busiest fighter of New Mexico happens to be Joseph Brady, who has also shown to be the most improved boxer in the state, at least in my eyes. Brady started out ’01 at 4-0 and after five fights, is 8-0 with 1 NC.

Opposition was lacking for most of the fights, up until the last two. It was in these two fights that saw Brady’s skills surface. Brady vs. Varela was a tough fight and a shamefully dirty fight (a damn-near wrestling match) but Brady showed power and a willingness to mix it up. It was Brady’s fight against Nito Bravo that had Brady at his best. He kept to his game plan and fought a smart (clean) fight on the outside, outpointing the harder-hitting Bravo.

There were attempts to match Brady up with Jose Rameriz and Adriano Sanchez but neither fight happened. Perhaps in ’02 . . . In the meantime, Brady vs. Linson should satisfy fight fans.

Ramirez and Sanchez did not have a great year. But most importantly, they have swapped gyms and trainers and are out to up their skill level that was exposed on ESPN2 in August when they were overmatched.

Sanchez started out the year with two good fights Benjie Marquez then Juan Carlos Barreto, a fight that I saw as a hometown decision for Adriano. Then, Adriano was pitted against Carlos Bojorquez and was kayoed in the 1^st on Friday Night Fights.

Ramirez was busier, fighting on the road. Then, in one of the best fights of the year, the “Goose” fought a hellish war with Eric Holland. His next fight was against Eric Regan on the same ESPN card as Adriano’s—a card that saw back-to-back first round losses.

Rameriz and Brady were set to go head-to-head with Joseph Brady, until the Goose had a medical scare that has since cleared up. Both fighters plan to return in ’02 and could be, we’ll get those match-ups against Brady.

Eric Holland, who’d lost a good fight to Ramirez, had an even worse year, losing most of his fights.

Middleweight Donnell Wade showed some promise at the gym but proved a bit gun-shy when it came to fighting in the ring. He fought in Denver once—a draw—then then signed to fight two more fights but failed to show up, one in Denver, the other on the Santa Fe KOX card against Jesse Hernandez. (Hernandez was also a comeback fighter, who was kayoed by Jaime Bretado.)

In the heavier weight classes, light heavyweight Max Heyman was out of action the first half of the year but then jumped back into the ring on a Fresquez card in August, showing a bit of rust but winning a decision over El Paso’s Frank Stevens. The game plan was to pump Heyman’s record up to get him a shot at some of the top ten contenders, and it worked for a while. Heyman was 1-1 in his next two fights.

In the heavyweight division, Sean McClain and Rick Recendez returned to action.

McClain fought in Reno on Cedric Kushner’s Heavyweight Explosion card, outboxing Wesley Martin in the first but throwing away his game plan to trade blows in the 2^nd.  McClain was floored once too often in the 2^nd and trainer Rocky Stapleton called the fight off before the 3^rd round began.

Recendez came back after five years of inaction to challenge the “King,” Francis Royal on the Lovato vs. Aragaon card. An out-of-shape Royal won a 4-round unanimous.

Out of shape, Royal climbed to 4-2, 3 KO’s, losing his last fight by coming in out of shape at 265 pounds.

In the lighter weight classes,

Kenny “Loverboy” Maldonado was stopped by tough Juarez banger Roberto Gomez in March, and did not fight again although he promises a return in ’02.

Espanola born-n-raised Tony Valdez made an impressive pro debut in September in the 112-pound category.

Bryan Garcia from Santa Fe nearly fought a draw with Olympian Clarence Vinson on the Barrera Hamed undercad in March, then was matched up even tougher against El Paso’s prospect Alex Becerra in December. Although 4-5, Garcia’s record is misleading; he remains one of the state’s better boxers.

In the near-bantam scene, Jesus Banuelos made a return, losing a very questionable decision to Jaime Orrantia (who is now 5-0 and on the way up).

On the female scene,

Trina Ortegon had a terrible year, losing not one but two fights to Mary Ann Almager, then jumping right back into action and losing a decision to Valerie Mahfood in Texas. All is not as bad as it looks, though.

The first Ortegon vs. Almager fight was damn close, and I had Ortegon winning by a sliver. The rematch was in August, and Almager dominated, forcing Ortegon’s corner to throw in the towel in the 9^th round.

To Ortegon’s credit, she stayed busy by fighting a co-main title fight against monster Valerie Mahood in her hometown of Austin, TX. Those who saw the fight clearly thought Ortegon won—but Mahfood was given the hometown decision.

Adriana Delgado had a slow year, fighting but once (although winning.) Like Sanchez and Rameriz did, Delgado left Chavez Karate for San Jo; she now trains under Freddy Esquibel. Her next fight is on the 25^th of this month.

Ortiz also had a slow one: one fight, and against a pro-debuter, at that (how this one got past the NM State Athletic Commission is a crime).That pro debuter was Monica Michel, who, despite the loss is a tough cookie (I know, “cookie” is somewhat patronizing and sexist, but it’s better than “tough bitch”) and if she can only get a fair matchup, will clean up.

Monica’s stablemate is Jackie Chavez, who made her her pro debut in the summer with a knockout win over Brandy Leon. She came back in December to win the unanimous against Nicole Gallegos in December. Chavez is one to watch.

Tough times for Delia Gonzalez, who had trouble getting a fight all year. She’ll be back in action on the 25^th, too, in San Antonio (a card that also had Brian Romero making his pro debut.)

2001 also saw a new promoter on the scene—KOX Productions. Besides Fresquez, KOX was the only other promoter active in NM, putting on a fight card in September and hosting the state Silver Gloves in November. Look for another KOX card in February or so.

# # #

Cozzone's picks for Best of 2001:

Fighter of the Year
Andres Fernandez

Best Fights of the Year:
Fernandez vs. Reyes
Fernandez vs. Facio
Ramirez vs. Holland
Aragon vs. Cruz
Aragon vs. Lovato

Worst Fights of the Year:
Ortiz vs. Michel - because of the mismatch
Payne vs. Lovato - for the low blows
Sanchez vs. Bojorquez - ouch!
Brady vs. Varela - because the wrestling
Brady vs. Mayorga - for the low blow

Worst Decision of the Year
Banuelos vs. Orrantia
Fernandez vs. Facio
Ortegon vs. Almager I
Sanchez vs. Barreto

Best Fighters outside of Tapia & Romero
Ray Sanchez III & Frankie Archuleta

Best Fight Card of the Year
Fernandez vs. Reyes

Best Amateurs
Matthew Esquibel & Adrian Lopez

Most Improved Fighter
Joseph Brady

Best Female Fighters
Trina Ortegon
Delia Gonzalez
Jackie Chavez

Fights I'd Like to See
Brady vs. Linson
Brady vs. Ramirez
Brady vs. Sanchez
Tapia vs. Barrera
Tapia vs. Adams
Romero vs. Austin

© 2001 by New Mexico Boxing.com.
Site & photos by cozzone.