By David Finger at ringside
It goes without saying that New Mexico is a hotbed of great fighters and great fight cards, but it often comes as a surprise to casual boxing fans that one of New Mexico’s strongest fight towns is Hobbs, located in the Southeast corner of the state. But thanks to Isidro Castillo’s School of Hard Knocks Boxing Promotions, Lea County has quickly emerged as one of New Mexico’s most successful boxing towns. Saturday night (August 4th) saw Castillo and School of Hard Knocks continue their proud tradition of putting on excellent boxing in the Permian Basin with an action-packed card that featured a pair of local light heavyweights in the main event as well as a world class prospect in Aaron Perez on the undercard.
In the most notable fight of the night undefeated Aaron “Angel Baby” Perez proved that he is more than just a decent regional prospect as he scored a rare fourth round stoppage over the durable Gene Perez of Belen, New Mexico in a lightweight fight.
Although the fight didn’t look like much on paper, most boxing insiders regarded it as a legitimate first step for the 20-year old prospect from Albuquerque. With three meaningless wins in his first three fights against a trio of winless fighters, many saw Gene Perez as the fighter who could answer some pressing questions about Aaron Perez. Gene had already given several regional contenders fits, losing close decisions to fighters like Jose Prado (10-2-1), Alex Holguin (11-1), Patrick Holmes Jr. (6-1), and Brandon Holmes (10-0) twice. The conventional wisdom was that if Alex Perez were to establish himself as more than just a regional contender, but as a world class prospect, he would need to win in dominant fashion.
Well, it appears that Aaron Perez may just be the real deal.
Round one saw Gene Perez eat a solid left hook in the opening seconds of the fight. Although Gene smiled and shook it off, it was clear that Aaron’s speed was more than a match for Gene’s bag of veteran tricks. However, Gene would make a major mistake that would ultimately cost him as he backed into the ropes and tried and mix it up with his younger foe off the ropes. Although Gene found a home for a few solid shots from the ropes, Aaron was more than able to capitalize with heavy shots of his own.
Round two initially seemed to be Gene Perez’s best, as he boxed comfortably and traded hooks with Aaron on the inside. Gene again elected to back up to the ropes, clipping Aaron with counter punches off the ropes. By although round two was close early, the pressure of Aaron Perez began to pay dividends as he ripped the body of the Belen native in the final minute of the round. Gene failed to respond, allowing Aaron to steal what had otherwise been a competitive round.
By round three it was clear that the body attack of Aaron Perez had done some damage as Gene Perez no longer smirked at his opponent and force Gene to back up. Gene’s brother, Derek Perez, prompted Gene to mix it up, yelling “You’ve got to fight a boxer Gene, He’s a boxer!”
By round four there way no question that Aaron had the fight wrapped up, and the question became if Aaron could do enough damage in round four to prompt a stoppage. Forcing Gene to the ropes, Aaron unloaded on Gene, snapping the Belen native’s head back. Although it appeared that Gene would have been able to survive the onslaught, referee Ray Chavez elected to wave the fight off at 1:40 of the final round. With the win Aaron improves to 4-0, 4 KOs while Gene Perez drops to 2-14-1, 0 KOs.
In the main event popular local light heavyweight Kelly Westby, 178, failed in his bid to win his first professional fight, getting stopped by stalemate Michael Sanchez, 176, in round three. Westby had already established himself as one of Hobbs New Mexico’s most popular fighters, and he didn’t fail to excite the crowd as he entered the ring to uproarious cheers from the hundreds of fans in attendance. But despite his popularity, it did appear that his conditioning left something to be desired. Coming out in round one Westby clearly listened to trainer Orlin Norris’s advice of pumping the jab and setting the tempo early. Westby seemed to find a home for his overhand right and it appeared early that if he could just throw the right hand for four solid rounds he might pull off the victory. But as boxing fans saw in his professional debut back in December of 2015 against Oscar Espinoza, Westby began to rapidly tire and by the end of the round it appeared as if he were gasping for air. Sanchez, sensing Westby’s fatigue, began to up the pressure in round two and began to unload on a visibly tired Kelly Westby who covered up on the ropes. By round three Westby’s gas tank hat hit “E” and was felled by the aggressive Michael Sanchez in the blue corner. Although Westby did get up and indicate he wanted to continue the fight was waved off by Ray Chavez at 1:51 of the third round. With the win Sanchez improves to 2-1, 2 KOs while Westby sees his record now stand at 0-2.
In the co-main event heavyweight prospect Chris Cruz, 208, made short work of Ed Silva, 217, stopping Silva in only 55 seconds. Cruz came out aggressive, dropping Silva with the fight punch of the fight (a right hand). To his credit Silva got up and immediately mixed it up with the hard hitting Texan. But Cruz easily walked through Silva’s counter shots and began to unload to the head of Silva after backing him into the ropes. As Silva began to fall through the ropes referee Stan Saavedra waved the fight off at the 55-second mark. With the win Cruz improves to 2-0-1, 2 KOs while Silva falls to 1-2, 1 KO.
Recent Hobbs transplant Jose Prado, 146, bounced back from a near disaster against Gene Perez back in March of this year, scoring a dominant second round TKO over Gene’s Brother, Derek Perez, 146.
Prado nearly saw his dreams of emerging as a contender derailed by the hard luck Gene Perez, winning a dour round split decision over the durable journeyman. Against Derek he was getting all the grit and toughness of the Perez brothers…only this time against the bigger Belen fighter. Many fans were watching the fight with great interest, wondering if the close call with Gene Perez was an off night or a sign that Prado had hit his ceiling. Well, if his fight with Derek Perez showed us anything it was this: don’t close the book on Jose Prado just yet. Both fighters came out swinging for the fences early, and both landed hard shots in the process, but it was Prado who clearly was doing more damage. A hard right cross from Prado stunned Perez in the closing seconds of the opening round and Prado continued his domination well into the second. Derek Perez seemed unable to keep Prado off him and foolishly elected to try and fight off the ropes. But Prado wisely elected to target the body of Derek Perez; firing three hard right hand’s downstairs followed by a right cross to the head. The shots visibly hurt Derek Perez, prompting referee Ray Chavez to wave the fight off at 2:42 of round two. With the win Prado improves to 10-2-1, 4 KOs while Derek Perez slips to 1-9-1, 1 KO.
In a female fight undefeated Ayanna Vasquez, 135, of Las Cruces scored a workmanlike four round decision over gritty Bridgette Baca, 132, of Albuquerque. Baca had a solid jab and a height and reach advantage but tended to telegraph her attack by leaning in before each attack. Interestingly enough, Baca seemed to realize her mistake by round four and started to give Vasquez trouble in that round, but by then it was too late as Vasquez was holding onto a comfortable lead on all three scorecards. The final scores were 40-36 (from Judges Sandy Pino and Anthony Romero) while Judge Mark Sanchez had the fight scored 39-36.) Fightnews had the fight scored 39-37. With the win Vasquez, who promised to get back to 126-pounds, improves to 4-0-1, 1 KO while Baca (who fought once before on June 4, 2011 under her maiden name of Bridgette Ruiz) drops to 0-2 with both losses coming by way of decision.
In the opening fight of the night hard luck Jorrel Sparenburg scored his first win as a professional boxer, stopping Albuquerque’s Levi Lucero in the opening round. Lucero landed a hard overhand right early on Sparenburg but the shot did little to deter the Hobbs native, who soon began to unload on Lucero in the corner. Lucero did a half turn away from Sparenburg, prompting referee Stan Saavedra to wave off the fight at 1:44. With the win Sparenburg improved to 1-3, 1 KO while Lucero dropped to 0-2.