After twenty consecutive sellouts at Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino, Holmes Boxing ventured down to Embassy Suites & Sap in Albuquerque, NM, to present “Duke City Lions” a scheduled 5-bout Boxing event.
In the first bout of the night, we have two debuts with both fighters from Albuquerque, NM. We had Clinton Chavez vs Jimmy Archuleta. The bout does not last too long; Chavez demonstrated more skill and ring generalship. Archuleta’s style looking more like a MMA background, with over stepping and squaring up, staying in range for Chavez’ jab and overhand right, which put Archuleta down in the first down and shortly after the referee brought the bout to a stop. Giving Clinton Chavez his first victory in his hometown.
For the second bout of the night, we have crowd favorite Irish Bryant McClain vs hometown fighter Oliver Parker. Parker with the obvious leg and head movement throughout the fight made it difficult for McClain to hit his target, making him put his punches in bunches, keeping Parker on the ropes ending and wining the rounds surpassing Parker’s number of punches thrown. Somewhat a little fatigue, breathing hard through the mouth but still ending the fight in the “Irish fighting way”; toe to toe, mano y mano. McClain coming out with the majority decision, wining the bout.
Now we go to our trilogy match of the night. This bout was the third time Jordanne Garcia and Karina Mendoza met up. For the first half of the fight, we have Garcia leading the bout with head and leg movement, allowing her to slip in and out, with combinations keeping Mendoza off balance and looking for her opponent being a stiff target for Jordanne to hit. Fatigue seems to set in during the third round for Garcia, who started to leave her punches out there without bringing them back as fast as she was during the first rounds. Due to Mendoza’s style, of being in range when throwing punches and Garcia’s fatigue, there was a lot of tying up and holding; Garcia feeling the tiredness, throws, lands and ties up without Mendoza taking advantage giving Garcia the win on this trilogy match.
In our main event of the night, we had hometown champ Fidel “Atrisco Kid” Maldonado vs Johnny Rodriguez hailing from Denver, Colorado. In Fidel’s second fight of the year, we see him more active, accurate and demonstrating his boxing IQ. Fidel kept Johnny at range, angling precisely with his feet movement, timing accordingly of his brutal onslaught with straight lefts, right hooks and jaw clinching liver shots. This gave the viewers a lot of respect for Johnny who was able to take that much punishment throughout the fight. I am not too sure what is up for Fidel Maldonado in his career as of now, but after this fight I can see a new kind of Fidel in the ring, that leaves me eager for his next bout.
Good job to all the fighters on last night’s card and good luck to all on the next event.
Due to a family emergency, Gabe Vigil was not able to make it to the venue to proceed with his professional debut against Santiago Giron, leading to the cancellation of the first bout of the night.
