By Chris 'Polish Hitman' Morris/RockyMountainBoxing.com

Rodriguez Arrives Stopping Carrillo In Two

Radisson Hotel, Aurora, Colorado - Raul ‘Chino’ Carrillo said after beating Tyler Pogline, back in March, he was willing to fight any welterweight in the state. This caught the ear of Bobby Atencio, Johnny ‘Punisher’ Rodriguez’ trainer.

“He said he will fight any welterweight in the state. We took that challenge.”

Not only did they take the challenge, they burst onto the Colorado boxing scene with a 2 round destruction of Carrillo who was 16-1 coming in. Rodriguez was only 4-0, albeit, all wins by knock out. The tone was set early in the first round when Rodriguez stunned Carrillo with a right hook. Carrillo fired back, like he always does, but Rodriguez was a man on a mission. He ate the shots and kept coming. He started concentrating his effort to the body. Carrillo land a heavy left hook but Rodriguez takes it well. The round ends with a firefight in the corner, both men letting their hands go. Rodriguez finishes strong.

Carrillo is very aggressive to start the second round. He lands some nice combinations to the body and head of Rodriguez. Rodriguez catches him with a hard left hook, but, their feet are tangled and contribute to the correctly called knockdown, by referee Stephen Blea. Carrillo is up quick and unhurt, yet. Chino dives in with punches in punches but Rodriguez weathers the storm. Rodriguez hurts Carrillo with a right hand and puts him down. Carrillo is on wobbly legs as he beats the count. Rodriguez walks Carrillo into a perfect straight right than is the beginning of the end. He follows up with a barrage of punches that send Carrillo to the canvass, hard. He fights to get to his feet but to no avail. Rodriguez separated him from his senses and it’s all over at the 1:12 mark of the second round.

Rodriguez remains undefeated at 5-0, 5KOs while Carrillo drops to 16-2, 8KOs.

For Carrillo it’s back to the drawing board. I have to say that in his past two fights Carrillo has looked very ‘chinny’. Not sure if it’s cutting weight or an accumulation of punches over his career. In speaking with promoter Steve Mestas, he mentioned matching Rodriguez with Tyler Pogline in July on the next Airtight Boxing card. I personally would like to see him in with Daniel Calzada.

Lemos Leaves No Doubts

Kenny ‘Sagrado Warrior’ Lemos was disappointed in his last performance. He was stopped in the first round by undefeated prospect Andy Ruiz Jr. He vowed that he didn’t want to ‘go out like that.’ So when the Terrence Perro pulled out of his bout with power punching Hugo Arceo, Lemos jumped at the opportunity.

They start slow with some feeling out in the first. Lemos is establishing his jab while Arceo works to the soft midsection of Lemos. They exchange shots with both men landing. Lemos picks up steam near rounds end landing a jab and uppercut. Then a straight right and left hook at the bell.

Arceo is mixing up his shots, in the second, to the body and head. Lemos is now digging to the body. Lemos lands a straight right as Arceo pivots off the ropes. Arceo lands a six punch combination, all hard shots, all landing flush and forcing Lemos to tie him up. Arceo looks to be outworking Lemos with the 1-2 and uppercut. They trade right hooks on the ropes and Arceo goes down. He beats the count and looks to be ready to go. Lemos lands another right hook that sits Arceo on the seat of his pants. He’s in trouble. Lemos senses the danger and moves in for the kill. He lands yet another right hook that sends Arceo reeling across the ring. Lemos lands a left hook that knocks Arceo out of the ring, forcing a halt to the heavyweight bout at 2:42 of the second.

Lemos improves to 13-9-2, 8KOs and Arceo drops his second fight slipping to 5-2-1, 4KOs.

Stevie Marquez came to the ring wearing the LGBT colors to show support for his son Richard who is openly gay. He also made a statement in pounding Steve Victor over four rounds for a unanimous decision victory.

Steve Victor had his best round in the first. He had a sizable height and reach advantage over the shorter Marquez and used his jab to control the distance. Marquez warms up in the second and lands combinations to the body and head. Soon he has Victor’s nose bloodied from uppercuts that are finding a home. In the third Marquez is throwing a lead right hook to the body followed by a left hook to the head and finishing with the uppercut. He simply can’t miss with the combination and he dominates the round. RMB scores it 10-8 sans knockdown.

It’s more of the same in the fourth as Victor has gotten gun-shy and seldom lets his hands go for fear of the counter. By the end of the fight Victor is a bloody mess.

Judge Rob Mullings scores the fight 39-37 while Steve Waldman and Stephen Blea see it 40-36. Marquez moves his record to 10-17-2, 6KOs and Steve Victor is now 1-6-1.

Stevie Marquez comes from the Fighting Marquez Family of Colorado. From his grandfather Richard Marquez to his mother and father Steve and Gloria Gonzales, everyone in the family is a fighter. And his son Richard, who is openly gay, is a fighter too, not in the ring but in life. We will have a full story on Stevie Marquez and his son Richard in the coming days.

Moreno Mauls Wilson For Win

Lightweight Eddie Moreno overcame an early knockdown and ‘fighting on ice’ to win a unanimous decision over very game Josh Wilson, from Colorado Springs. Wilson has fast hands and he’s flashy. Looks very awkward though, his stance is very wide and he is hiding behind the shoulder like the ‘Philly Shell’. Moreno is a Mexican grinder. Not fast, doesn’t hit real hard but he is on his opponent from bell to bell every round. The biggest problem Moreno has are his boxing boots. They are slipping all over the canvass and he can’t ‘dig his feet in’ to land power shots or even stay on balance.

In the second Wilson starts fast and catches Moreno off balance. A nice hook lands and it’s appropriately called a knockdown by referee Stephen Blea. Moreno is hurt but not holding, he’s gonna fight his way out of this tough spot and he does. By round’s end Wilson has punched himself out and Moreno is coming on strong. Both fighters go hard to open the third round and both men get rocked. Moreno is starting to get the better of the exchanges and taking over. Wilson is no quitter and he fights back with all he’s worth, making a great fight of it that has fans on their feet.

Moreno picks up the pace in the fourth as he is looking to stop Wilson. Wilson finds a second wind of sorts and fires right back landing shots of his own. Moreno punctuates the round and fight with a solid straight right to the body.

Judges ringside, Rob Mullings, Steve Waldman and Tom Johnson all see the bout the same at 38-37. Moreno improves to 2-1 and Wilson debuts with a loss starting his pro career at 0-1.

There were also two exhibition bouts. Adan Gonzales from the TLC camp is trained by Donald Camarena and he stopped overmatched Andrew Almaguer in the second. Also Casey O’Brien stopped Jose Castro early.

Stephen Blea and his program WBC Cares was on hand and honoring a local war veteran in retired USMC Sargent Gabriel M. Martinez. Presenting the honors was Stephen Johnson. Martinez, who lost both legs after stepping on a land mine during his 2nd tour of duty in Afghanistan, was presented with a WBC Cares Medal and certificates naming him a lifetime member of the WBC Cares as an ambassador. It was a touching moment for all in attendance as Martinez graciously said that none of this was expected or even necessary. Blea set the record straight in saying, “No, you are wrong. This IS very necessary brother”.

Also there was a presentation of belt made to Kim McDonough. McDonough is a sparring partner who helps many local fighters prepare for bouts. He hadn’t found success in the ring so he took his show on the road to Wyoming to fight in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship promoted by Corey Williams. McDonough won his division and became the BKF Lightweight Champion.

Overall Steve Mestas and Airtight Boxing put on yet another good local card for Colorado fight fans. Well matched fights make for a great night of boxing. They got their money’s worth on this fight card. Airtight Boxing is looking at a date mid July for a return, which may feature Johnny Rodriguez.