By Andy Rivera

Albuquerque’s hometown hero Johnny Tapia captured a majority decision over late sub Elvaristo Primero, who was Tapia’s fourth opponent change of the day. Tapia was originally to fight Illido Julio who failed his physical at the weigh-ins, Alberto Cepeda was the next opponent picked but was unable to make it in time from Mexico, Tapia was then offered Paulino Villalobos, who was rejected by the Tapia camp, thus bringing us Elvaristo Primero, who was set to fight an exhibition with his stablemate Caesar Lopez.

There was a lot of confusion on press row, as we all wondered how the fight was a go when Tapia weighed in at 126 on Thursday, while Primero weight 117, but with the crazy world of boxing, the fight went on.

The much bigger Tapia tried to over power Primero, landing hard jabs followed by right hands, but not landing solid, Primero would to his credit have the edge in speed and landed a few surprising quick lefts to the body of Tapia. Tapia and Primero would clash heads on a few occasions bringing a warning to both fighter by referee Rocky Burke.  Tapia won a close round due to being more active.

Round two was much of the same with Tapia coming forward and Primero trying to counter Tapia, but once again Tapia was able to use his weight to his advantage and muscle Primero.

Primero looked to win the third round by landing quick counters to Tapia’s body, Primero switched to left handed on a few occasions that seemed to work for him. Tapia could only seem to must two to three punches at a time and didn’t have the same reflexes as he did earlier in his career.

Round four had Primero once again winning the round, by taking the fight to the slower Tapia; Primero was able to land quick lefts and rights to the body of Tapia, as well as connecting with rights to the head. Switching once again seemed to work for Primero as he was able to confuse Tapia.

The fifth saw Tapia be more aggressive; trapping Primero on a few occasions on the ropes and landing left hooks to the body of Primero, but to Primero’s credit he would fire back at Tapia, not landing with power but scoring points. Tapia may have won the round with a good flurry to end the round.

Tapia brought the crowd to its feet in round six as he was able two and three good combinations on Primero, as clash of heads caused time to be called as Primero suffered a cut on his right ear; after a quick look by the ring doctor, the fight continued with both Tapia and Primero going toe to toe bring a roar from the crowd

Round seven had Tapia have the edge as he was able to overpower the smaller Primero, Tapia also seemed to have an edge in the referee department, with each complaint Tapia made to referee Rocky Burke, Burke would halt the action and warn Primero, yes Primero did land a little low, with Tapia retaliating, but Burke would only side with Tapia, which was unfair in a close fight.

Tapia controlled the eighth round by landing the harder shots on Primero, Primero would counter but had nothing to keep Tapia from coming forward; Primero was game, but size looked to be the difference as the fight progressed.

Round nine was much of the same with Tapia winning by Primero slowing down and not punching the same as he was early in the fight.

The final round seemed more like an encore at a concert as the ring announcer would tell the crowd to stand and applaud Tapia it what is his final round of his career. Primero had no shot of winning no matter what he did in the round much less the fight; this was totally Tapia’s night. Tapia was able to out hustle Primero, who had nothing on his punches to keep Tapia off him.

The fight was closer then many expected with Judge Margaret Garcia and Levi Martinez scoring it 98-92 and 96-94 respectively for Tapia, while Lorenzo Siaz had it even at 95 apiece. krikya360.com agreed with Siaz at 95-95 each.

Tapia thanked his fans for coming out in the center of the ring, although not saying if it was his last fight.

David Martinez scored a tough but unanimous decision over tough Bryan Garcia. Many thought that Garcia would give Martinez a tough fight although his 7-17 record was deceiving. Martinez also shocked his girlfriend Veronica Canela when he proposed after the fight in the center of the ring. Martinez won easily on the score card by the scores of 80-72, 79-73, and 78-74 on all three scorecards.

Martinez started the round sticking and moving, while Garcia kept coming forward, but not landing much. Martinez would fire his jab to Garcia’s head landing at a moderate rate. Garcia would try to pin Martinez on the ropes only to have Martinez tie him p. Garcia did complain to the referee and jawed at Martinez to quit holding. The two would have a stare down at the end of the round with Martinez tapping Garcia on the body before heading to his corner.

Both fighter came out with a mission in round two with Garcia going right at Martinez, landing right hands to the head of Martinez, Martinez would tie up Garcia, then the two would go to the canvas where they were separated and given a warning for rough tactics.

Martinez was able to land two hard right hands on Garcia’s face before the end of the round ended.

Martinez has a good third round, landing quick flurries to the head and body of Garcia, who now was bleeding from the nose; to his credit Garcia was coming forward and making a fight of it but was unable to land anything with much effect on Martinez.

The pace slowed in the third with Martinez boxing more and Garcia unable to mount much of an attack other then one punch at a time. Martinez looked to have figured out Garcia as he was now controlling the fight with his jab and speed.

More dominance for Martinez in the fifth as he continued to pepper Garcia with his jab , and boxing ability. Garcia didn’t seem to have an answer for Martinez.

Martinez ripped Garcia’s body in the sixth with three consecutive left hooks to the right side of Garcia’s ribs which left a huge red mark on Garcia’s side. Martinez was gaining more and more confidence as the fight went.

Round seven had more action in the stands as a fight broke out, but what would you expect from a Tapia fight, with the fans paying more attention to what is going on outside the ring then inside. Martinez was now in total control of the fight as he boxed and used his jab to stay out of harms way from Garcia. Garcia began to slow down and didn’t throw much, with Martinez having to not get caught with anything to secure his win.

Both fighters looked winded in the final round with Martinez having the edge with landing more punches then the game Garcia. When the round ended the two rivals smiled and embraced, showing good sportsmanship for two who had heated words up into the fight.

With the win Martinez raised his record to 17-2-1 and looks to have a big 2007.

In the opening fight of the night Antonio Ortiz won his pro debut with a four round majority decision over Oscar Castillo. Ortiz out hustled Castillo who seemed to have no motivation to punch, while Ortiz kept pressing albeit wild was able to outland Castillo, who falls to 1-5.