Small Town Texas
by Joe Calveyjcalvey@aol.com
zenfolio.com/joecalvey
Floresville is the sleepy little town down around San Antone not immortalized in song. Farmland surrounds the century old town square where a slower way of life is still the norm. Oil businesses capitalizing on the shale boom have changed the scenery out along Hwy 181and the high school baseball team still grab burgers at the Sonic.
Such was the backdrop for the first professional boxing event to take place at the $5 million Floresville Civic Center on May 17, 2013 produced by Triple A Promotions of Laredo.
The evening would include several boxers whose careers are on the upswing and several who need to desperately find a new line of work. Eric Pacheco has been squired to three fights in three states this year and has been TKO’d in all three. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has suspended him for six months after his bout here resulted in a TKO by Starr Johnson. It would have been better to see Johnson, 35, himself a victim of 16 knockouts, face someone with better boxing skills.
Shelton Richardson was so bad against Armando Cardenas of Houston that TDLR suspended him indefinitely for "Lack of boxing skills". The promoter of this event, Triple A Promotions, needs to suspend use of the matchmaker who lined up Pacheco and Richardson before their brand is damaged.
One of the very legitimate up and coming fighters, San Antonio’s bantamweight Javier "The Pitbull" Rodriguez, 7W- 0L went up against the much older more experienced though far less successful Guadalupe Perez of Dallas. Perez was nicknamed "The Butcher" but it was he who sustained a cut late in the fight. His record of 2W-14L make him a couple tough steps above that of a sparring partner. Perez was no doubt a test for the 19 year old Rodriguez who hammered out a majority decision over 6 rounds. Judge Anthony Townsend scored it a draw. Rodriguez did just enough to win each round on the JoeCalvey.com scorecard.
Welter weight and rising prospect Benjamin Whitaker of San Antonio faced off against Austin’s Corey Yett. Both fighters squared off in what may have been the best technical action of the evening. The final scores of 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55 were accurate in and in favor of Whitaker who handed Yett his 4th loss against 3 wins. Whitaker remains unbeaten in three fights. But the scores do not reflect the tough opponent Yett was or the aggressive action he pressed in the loss. At 32 years old Yett remains competitive in 6 round bouts. His future isn’t nearly as bright as it is for the younger Whitaker who is being brought along slowly but at 29 perhaps too slowly.
In what was rightly promoted as a grudge match Jesse Anguiano fought Rodney Ledesma, the younger brother of Robert Ledesma. Vowing to knock out Anguiano in the second round at the pre-fight press conference Ledesma put a lot of pressure on his pro debut. This time Anguiano didn’t have to chase his opponent around the ring. Both fighters stood toe to toe for four rounds and at the end of a truly exciting fight they exchanged respectful acknowledgment of each other.
Anguiano understandably showed more polished skills. He is after all a more experienced boxer. I had him winning the fight by a score of 39-36 but like the Whitaker-Yett battle the score doesn’t reveal how close the fight was. Had Anguiano kept the pre-fight hype out of his head and fought a more intelligent style fight he would have won. His willingness to stand and trade punches with Ledesma was his undoing. It is doubtful Ledesma could have caught Anguiano as easily as he did. On the level of excitement meter for a four round featherweight club battle this fight was a strong 8.
Middle weight Corey Randle made his highly anticipated pro debut against Marchristopher Adkins of Dallas. Throughout the first round Randle pressed the action by staying close to the taller Adkins and wailing away. Adkins used his longer reach to hook body punches to the shorter stockier Randle.
After a minute into the second round Randle moved in with both of his gloves in front of his face to avoid the crisp counter punches of Adkins when a looping right hook came in just as Randle leaned forward. The result was a solid punch that landed flush on the back top portion of Randle’s head and he went down.
After referee Calo-oy delivered the 8 count the fight resumed but Randle looked slower and swung wildly the remainder of the round while Adkins landed shot after shot to Randle’s head. In his corner between rounds Randle looked gassed. The third round opened and Adkins earned a warning for another rabbit punch.
A big left semi upper cut stood Randle up and he dropped his hands and turned away towards his corner. Adkins hesitated from hitting him momentarily before a crushing right overhand shot landed on the side of Randle’s head. After which it appeared Randle spit out his mouth piece. A quick stoppage to replace it was called by the referee and action resumed. A right left combination flush in Randle’s face dropped him again. He rolled onto his back, stood up and walked to his corner and before the count was finished Referee Calo-oy called it a TKO.
When the final bell sounded it won’t be the ring card girls strutting without the ring cards or the DJ without a wireless microphone for the ring announcer that people will remember. It will be the professional performances by the professional boxers they remember because that is what they paid for and that is what they deserve.