Young guns spring forward on throwback card
Esquibel, Marquez, Proa, Piar, Torres & Promoter Romero usher in “New Era”

Ringside report by Chris Cozzone and Ricardo Trujillo
Photos by Chris Cozzone

If you wanted to see a throwback card, the way boxing used to be, last night’s Romero Promotions card at Sky City Casino was it.

If you wanted to see the future of local boxing, the way it ought to be, again, Acoma, N.M. was the place to be.

On a card aptly billed as “New Era of Pro Boxing,” five young guns, one ol’ lion and one local promoter showed a packed house of 850 rowdy fans just how good boxing is, and can be, in the 505.

Climbing to his feet after a near-finishing knockdown, in an unforgettable performance, Albuquerque’s Matthew “Papitas” Esquibel rose to a new level against the toughest opponent of his career, while youngsters Archie Ray Marquez, David Proa, James Piar and Josh Torres, all from the Duke City, nullified any naysayers who claim that local boxing is dead.

‘Papitas’ caliente!

In his toughest match-up yet, featherweight Matthew “Papitas” Esquibel not only survived a right knuckle fracture in round two, and a near-bout-stopping knockdown in the fourth, against opponent Luis Cervantes, of Cathedral City, Calif., but rose from the canvas to new heights, to give the performance, so far, of his career.

Esquibel picked up the first round with his busy-ness, outpointing a patiently waiting, calm Cervantes from the outside. Esquibel waited for his opponent to come to him, but sped forward with a jab or one-two when Cervantes chose not to commit.

Boxing beautifully, inside and out, Esquibel picked up more points in the second, adding left hooks to the body and an inside right uppercut that rocked Cervantes’ head back.

In the third, Cervantes started to close the distance with Esquibel, but a lead right and a picture-perfect left hook put the California fighter on the canvas within the first minute. Cervantes was up at three, somewhat shaky, but weathered the remainder of the round while Esquibel forced the issue, digging to the body while confusing Cervantes with angles and a variety of punches.

With three rounds down, Cervantes came back strong in the fourth, forcing Esquibel to mix it up in the pocket. It was a close round until the very end, when Cervantes stepped in and leveled Esquibel with a left hook that very nearly finished the local favorite. Esquibel was up at eight, just as the bell rang, and his legs nearly gave out when he headed for the neutral corner, thinking it was his corner.

Somehow, Esquibel survived and, by the time the fifth bell rang, had he'd shaken most of the cobwebs out of his head. Back on track, though tentative at first, Esquibel circled away from Cervantes, jabbing and tying up when necessary, while Cervantes, in his most aggressive state, sought to chase Esquibel down. Though catching Esquibel again, the effects were not as dramatic, this time. The round was a toss-up: Esquibel outpointing but Cervantes landing the better shots.

Esquibel finished strong, not only trading shots with the furious Cervantes, but keeping a level head by outboxing between barrages. Moving well, Esquibel outgeneraled Cervantes, though the two traded hard shots in phone booth fashion, for the final ten seconds.

After six hard fought rounds, the judges ranged from 56-56 even, to 57-56 and 57-55, for Esquibel, making him winner by majority decision.

NewMexicoBoxing/Fightnews (NMB/FN) did not have it as close as the judges, both writers scoring it 58-54, for Esquibel.

“It came down to who wanted it most,” said Esquibel, 8-0, 4 KOs, dedicating the fight to his father, former boxer Marty Esquibel, who was stabbed to death in 1996. “He was a very tough guy, and I give him credit. When he put me down, I knew I had to get that point back somehow. It was a good shot.

“I wanted this win bad, for my father. I wouldn’t have won without his, and God’s, help.”

Trainer and uncle Fred Esquibel said his nephew had hit a new level.

“We’re moving at the right pace,” he said. “The knockdown took our breath away, but we trained for that—he took his time getting up and was shaky, but recovered.”

Cervantes was shaking his head when he climbed down from the ring, heading back to the dressing rooms.

“I’m glad I gave New Mexico a good show,” said Cervantes, losing only for the second time, now 7-2-3, with two kayos. “But I should have won. You can’t win a fight going backwards.

“He’s a good fighter, but I couldn’t get set. The left hook that dropped me was clean. It’s too bad I couldn’t catch him early. I want a rematch in Califas.”

Quick off the Marquez

In a four-round junior lightweight bout, Albuquerque’s Archie Ray Marquez (2-0, 2 KOs) leveled Santa Fe’s Cesar Holguin-Gutierrez (0-2) with a devastating right hand.

Despite the one loss, Holguin-Gutierrez was not supposed to be an easy fight for Marquez for, in 2006, he’d fought one of the best fights of the year, a very close, four-round war of debuters, with Willie Villanueva, now 9-0.

But Marquez made it look easy.

The Duke City prospect controlled the action through the first, though Gutierrez was game. Marquez proved patient, stepping into the jab and moving right to set up a straight right. At the end of the round, a right staggered Gutierrez.

In the second, Marquez, continuing to control the space and keeping the fight in the center of the ring, started to let his hands go. Before long, Marquez had Gutierrez retreating to the ropes near his corner, where, a straight hand laid the Santa Fean horizontal. Referee Russ Mora quickly called it off at :58.

“I was born with a punch, and that is something you can’t teach,” said Marquez. “Every time I threw my right, I hurt him. Finally, I caught him clean.”

Like Esquibel, who dedicated his win to his father, Marquez honored his recently-deceased uncle.

“He was only 45 and never got to see me fight,” said an emotional Marquez.

Proa’s got the powa

With the retirement of Lee Montoya, powerhouse David Proa (3-0, 3 KOs), of Albuquerque, just might be, pound-for-pound, the hardest hitter in New Mexico.

Last night, Proa absolutely destroyed tough Beto Perez (1-3, 1 KO) with the most impressive knockout punch seen in years.

It was the most dramatic 1:45 all night.

After moments of feeling each other out, Proa moved in and blasted Perez with a left hook, sending him to the deck. The Santa Fean was hurt, but immediately upon resuming the fight—while Proa held out his arm to touch gloves—Perez rushed him, blasting him with a half-punch/half-shove attack that sent Proa back to the ropes for what was, officially, ruled a knockdown.

Unhurt though angry, Proa held out his arms, as if to say, “Wassup with that?’ and, when the fight resumed, he tore into Perez.

Backing him toward the neutral corner, he unleashed a left hook right out of the pages of a comic book. The powerhouse punch not only floored Perez, but lifted his legs out from under him at a near-horizontal angle, before crashing him down to the canvas where he was counted out.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Proa said, about his first ‘knockdown.’ “I learned a good lesson—‘Protect yourself at all times.

“But, I knew I had him when I hurt him with a jab. Skills and power are what did it.”

Proa may just be the man to reckon with at 118.

“There are some great bantamweights in New Mexico,” says Proa. “But we’ll get them all—Sammy DiPace, James Piar, you name ‘em.”

Piar, Piar, gloves on fire

Originally, Albuquerque bantamweight James Piar (2-0, 1 KO) was supposed to face Saul Palacios (2-0)—but, for the second month in a row, the El Pasoan pulled out of a fight on short notice.

In last night’s case, Piar, and the fans, had to settle for little-known sub Miguel Armandarez (0-2), who did not provide much of a test for a blazing young gun like Piar.

Piar took his time, sizing up the undersized Armandarez through the first minute or so. Then, moving in for the kill, while Armandarez was pulling back, Piar let loose a short left hook that plopped the late sub onto the mat. Armandarez got back up, but when the fight resumed, another barrage by Piar had Armandarez turning his back on his aggressor, and the ref, waving it off at 2:16.

“I did not know who I was fighting, but it don’t matter,” said Piar. “I don’t worry about it, I just fight.

“I just did what came natural—I saw an opening and my left was there.”

Garcia-Lopez: A four-round classic

In what was the fight of the night, hands down—or ‘gloves down’ actually, since neither fighter had a notion to keep ‘em up, in defense—Juarez-born welterweight Jose Cruz Garcia (2-3-1, 1 KO) of Albuquerque, and Duke City debuter Alejandro Lopez (0-1) gave the fans a four-round, non-stop, toe-to-toe war.

In round one, Lopez came out with pistols blazing. He landed one-two after one-two on the slower, older Garcia, who, by the third minute, got into the fight by jabbing, moving, and trading bone-jarring shots with his younger foe.

Double right hooks by the southpaw Lopez opened up the second. Phone booth fashion, the two bombed away at each other, Garcia’s more frequent arm punches starting to keep Lopez somewhat at bay.

Garcia’s superior ring experience began to show in the third and fourth frames. Garcia’s combinations enabled him to outhustle Lopez’s harder-but-less-thrown, one-two attacks. Seeing blood run from his opponent’s nose, and a slight slowdown in speed, Garcia stepped on the gas pedal and took over. In the final round, Garcia snapped Lopez’s head back continually, landing big, right hand bombs you’d expect would’ve stopped Lopez—but every time he was slammed, Lopez found a way to fire back.

At the end of four, all three judges, and NMB/FN, had it 39-37 for Garcia.

“I was surprised he didn’t go down,” said Garcia. “It was a good fight, but I was prepared.

“I’m only 34, so I’m young enough to take some more punishment.”

New leash on life for “Pittbull”

Making his pro debut, successful Duke City welterweight amateur Josh “The Pittbull” Torres (1-0, 1 KO) took care of seasoned MMA fighter-turn-boxer Richard Montano (0-1), of Socorro, after two rounds.

Torres had a case of the nerves in the first round, moving tentatively and losing the round to Montano’s aggression. But, by the end of the round, Torres was showing his pedigree, moving well, jabbing, and looking for spots.

When the bell rang for round two, Torres came out showing  his “Pittbull” side. Torres pressed Montano around the ring, jabbing and landing rights, snapping the MMA fighter’s head back on many occasions. By the end of the round, Montano looked ready to quit.

And quit he did, between rounds. Before the third bell clanged, Montano’s corner had thrown up the sponge.

“I knew he was an MMA fighter and would be awkward,” said Torres. “But I got into it. It feels great—I’m on top of the world.”

Trainer Robert Padilla said Torres had a case of the jitters in the first, but had come through alright after the minute break between the first and second round. 

  # # #