By David Finger
In a stunning upset, Esteban “Tremendo” Villalba scored a first round TKO over El Paso’s Josue Garcia Friday night in Ciudad Juarez, just south of the border with El Paso, Texas. Garcia had lost a ten round decision in his last fight against Craig Callaghan in a fight for the WBF US welterweight title and had never been stopped before Friday in a career that spanned twelve fights. But although Villalba, a native of Juarez, came into the fight with a less than impressive record, he has shown tremendous power in the past.
Most recently Villalba surprised Mexican boxing fans by scoring a second round knockout over Ciudad Chihuahua’s Carlos Martinez (11-2) in two rounds back in November. But despite his flashes of power in the past few were anticipating as dominant a performance as was seen on Friday night. Garcia was overwhelmed early and was dropped in the closing minute of the opening round, prompting referee Guadalupe Montes to wave off the fight at 2:40.
With the win, Villalba improves to 10-17-3, 7 KOs while Garcia falls to 7-6, 4 KOs. The fight had been scheduled for six.
In the eight round co-main event undefeated super lightweight Santiago Dominguez improved to 8-0, 6 KOs after stopping Christian Gilberto Pacheco at 2:06 of the second round. Pacheco, who falls to 0-7, has now been stopped in all seven of his professional fights.
Local boy Miguel “Negro” Longoria improved to 12-0, 6 KOs after scoring a second round KO over Erasmo Martinez Ortiz at 1:57 of the round. Martinez, who hails from Torreon, drops to 0-6. This is the second time Longoria and Martinez have fought, with both ending by knockout in the second.
In a six round super lightweight fight, Juan “Carlos “Cuervo” Chavira won a six round decision over Misael Saucedo from Torreon. All three judges scored the fight 59-55. With the win, Chavira improves to 9-14, 3 KOs while Saucedo drops to 2-7-1, 0 KOs.
In another six round professional fight in the heavyweight division, Tyler Texas’s Shamarian Snider improved to 7-1-1, 5 KOs after stopping Gerardo Daniel Rodarte Lozano at 2:22 in the third round. Snider has now won five straight by knockout. Rodarte, who has not fought since December of 2015, falls to 1-5-1, 0 KOs.
Also on the card, popular Texan “Marvelous” Jarvis Shepard of Dallas improved to 4-0-1, 4 KOs with a second round TKO Juan Gerardo Sanchez of Torreon. Shepard dropped Sanchez twice with left hands before the fight was waved off at 1:02 of the second round. The fight was in the super welterweight division and had been scheduled for four rounds. Sanchez, who was stopped by Shepard in November of 2016, drops to 0-11.
In a scheduled four round super featherweight fight Tyler Texas’s Kenneth “Scrappy” Taylor scored a first round knockout in only fifty seconds over Torreon’s Cesar Rodriguez. Taylor improves to 3-1-1, 2 KOs with the win while Rodriguez drops to 0-3.
The show, which took place at the Hotel Paseo, was promoted by Vargas Promotions.
