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01/27/2007 Archived Entry: "Pastrano Proves ‘Mas Macho’ as he KO’s Escalante in Eight!"
Pastrana Proves ‘Mas Macho’ as he KO’s Escalante in Eight!
Photos and ringside report by Juan C. Ayllon
Pastrana stands over Escalante as he flattens him in the eighth round
CICERO, Ill., January 26, 2007—The right gloved fist smashed home with finality. With chilling suddenness, it laid waste to Oscar De La Hoya’s touted North American Boxing Organization’s Super Bantamweight champion, Antonio Escalante.
It didn’t start out that way.
Escalante (right) corners Pastrana
Escalante (122 lbs., 13-1, 9 KO’s), who hails from El Paso, Texas, charged the slower Columbian Mauricio Pastrana (121.5 lbs., 33-7-2, 22 KO’s) from the beginning, battering him about the ring with searing hooks and rights. His fusillade kept Pastrana on his heels for most of rounds one and two.
Darting about quickly, Escalante repeatedly slammed hurtful blows to Pastrana’s head and body in the third. However, his mouth hung open now. He seemed hell-bent on securing a highlight reel knockout, while Pastrana appeared content biding his time. Escalante also dipped to his left with his hands low and pulled away from punches, prompting questions if old pro Pastrana would time and catch him with a right over the top.
Escalante jarred Pastrana several times with whistling hooks to the head as he continued rallying. Yet, Pastrano thumped him with a big left and, later, a right. Escalante was burning enormous amounts of energy. Could he keep this up?
Escalante (right) digs a left hook to Pastrana's side
In the fifth, Escalante rocked Pastrana with a big right. Pouncing, he battered with both fists. Pastrana collapsed. But, he rose moments later. Trading on the ropes, he spun Escalante around and clubbed him to the back of the head twice, drawing a stern warning from referee Gerry Scott.
Undaunted, Escalante continued his romp into the sixth. Up on his toes, Escalante alternatively circled and rained punches with both fists pumping hard. However, Pastrana landed concussive rights over his left with increasing regularity.
In the seventh, Pastrana sent Escalante stumbling with a thudding right, and jarred him several other times with thumping rights and a left hook to the head.
Pouncing on Pastrana in the eighth, Escalante’s head snapped back as he walked into a potent short right uppercut. His forward momentum knocked Pastrana down. Ironically, his view shielded by Escalante’s body, Scott tolled an eight count against Pastrana.
Escalante’s moral victory proved pyrrhic.
Charging him, Pastrana first rocked, and then smashed Escalante face first to the mat with a pair of heavy rights.
Looking him over, referee Gerry Scott quickly determined Escalante was in no condition to continue and waved it off at 2:10 into the eighth round. The crowd that cheered Escalante moments earlier was stunned. Their hero had been knocked out.
Gonzalez bounces a heavy right off Madrid's jaw
In another compelling firefight, El Paso, Texas lightweight Carlos Madrid (135.5 lbs., 8-2, 2 KO’s) and Milwaukee’s Michael Gonzalez (134.5 lbs., 9-0, 8 KO’s) savaged one another for eight rounds, but to the crowd’s consternation only managed a draw.
After a conservative first round, Madrid snapped Gonzalez’s head back with an uppercut in the second. The fight was on. The two traded at close quarters, with Gonzalez surging towards rounds end.
They traded spiritedly through the fifth round. Boxing be damned! This wasn’t boxing. This was a fistfight, only with gloves.
Both stood flat-footed and swapped thudding, hurtful blows. Gonzalez’s were heavier, but Madrid’s were sneakier and packed more snap. Gonzalez imposed his bruising power one moment, and Madrid jarred and banged away the next. A small cut over Gonzalez’s right eyelid appeared, while Madrid sported a small mouse high on his right cheekbone.
The pace took its toll on Gonzalez in the fifth round. He slugged heavily, but clinched three times. Hit him as he might, Madrid wouldn’t go away. He tired as Madrid pushed the pace. Madrid snapped his head back with a left. The two swapped numerous blows at close quarters.
In the sixth, Gonzalez landed the more effective blows in spurts, looping uppercuts and hooks in close. The two traded rights on the ropes and, tiring, Gonzalez grabbed hold a couple times.
As with the others, the seventh round was closely contested. Needing space, Gonzalez pawed with his jab. His flurries were less frequent. The two traded towards rounds end, prompting an exhausted Gonzalez to clinch again at rounds end.
Gonzalez and his mother embrace after his fight
In the eighth and final round, Gonzalez kept his distance more, circled, jumped in, landed several shots, and got out. Suddenly, the fight didn’t seem quite so difficult. Dominating, he was caught with a lone left hook cleanly, held to clear his head and reasserted himself with more judicious boxing. It was almost as if a light went off in his head: he didn’t have to slug it out in the trenches, after all, to win.
The payoff proved largely academic, as judges scored the bout 77-75 for Gonzalez, 77-75 for Madrid, and 76-76, resulting in a roundly booed draw.
Afterwards, Gonzalez and his mother hugged and kissed in a touching display of affection. Commenting, matchmaker Jerry Alfano said, “He hasn’t seen his mother for five years. We flew her out, and he just found out she was here after the fight.”
Villalobos (left) stalks Hernandez
Short and stubby, powerfully built Paulino Villalobos (118.5 lbs., 25-35-2, 16 KO’s) jumped in with a leaping left hook, dropping smoother boxing Jonas Hernandez (119 lbs., 5-0-0, 2 KO’s) in the third round. Weathered, he looked like he worked hard manual labor in his native Veracruz, Mexico, while Hernandez looked like he emerged from a health spa in his hometown of Camden, New Jersey. Sporting 12 times as many fights, Villalobos showed experience counted for something as he played a compact bull to Hernandez’s matador and prevailed by split decision.
This contrast in style was evident from the get-go, as Villalobos clipped Hernandez with a sharp left hook and played the aggressor, while Villalobos circled, covered and boxed conservatively in the first round.
In the second, Villalobos continually crowded Hernandez. Catching him with occasional jabs and a stiff right, Hernandez was again out-hustled in a tighter round.
Hernandez (left) fires a jab as Villalobos ducks
In the third, Villalobos dropped Hernandez hard with a leaping left hook. Pouncing, Villalobos fought tooth and nail with his rangier foe, who began giving as well as he received.
Coming alive in the fourth, Hernandez cut Villalobos over the left brow, possibly from a slashing right cross. Coming forward more, Hernandez took some of the steam out of Villalobos’s attack. He mixed sharp jabs, movement and a stiff right cross to make it more competitive.
Hernandez wrested control in the sixth, moving side to side and mixing jabs, rights and occasional lefts to spear his aggressor. He knocked Villalobos back with a snapping left hook.
Hernandez continued to dominate in the seventh. That is, until cuffed him hard in a furious exchange. Rising on his toes, he circled, sidestepped and peppered with stiff jabs, hooks and crosses.
Finding more success, in the eighth, Hernandez moved slickly about the ring, smiled, and picked Villalobos off as he charged in with wide hooks.
Yet, it was too little, too late, as judges scored the bout 76-75 for Villalobos, 77-74 twice for Hernandez, garnering Villalobos a split-decision victory.
Diersdorf (right) pummels Mercury
Chicago female boxer Brooke Diersdorf (123.5 lbs., 1-0) came out winging haymakers in abundance against Denver’s rugged catcher Mercedes Mercury (125 lbs., 3-8), stopping her inside four rounds.
Moments into the bout, Diersdorf jarred Mercury with an overhand right. She never let up. She maintained a two fisted fusillade from bell to bell. In the process, she rocked Mercury several times. To her credit, Mercury covered, fired back and weathered the assault.
The pummeling continued into the third round, where Diersdorf repeatedly pinned Mercury to the ropes with nonstop punching.
Tiring badly, Diersdorf continued swinging for the fences until about the halfway mark of the third. There, Mercury mounted a mini-rally, driving her backwards with a two fisted volley of her own.
Resuming her efforts, Diersdorf pinned Mercury to the ropes, flailing with both fists. There, she landed a clean left hook that slammed Mercury’s head back. That was enough. Referee Pete Podgorski jumped in and stopped it at 1:05 into round four.
Afterwards, Podgorski said that, although Mercury may have been able to continue, she was taking way too much punishment to her head.
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Rungea (right) and Benavides mix it up
In a spirited, back and fourth six rounder, taller Vineash Rungea (125 lbs., 1-5-2) dropped Ricardo Benavides (125 lbs., 3-1-0) in the first round and won a unanimous decision with scores of 58-55, 57-56 and 58-55.
Joshua Rodriguez (right) nails Palacios with a right
Exciting Devencort, Iowan Joshua Rodriguez (148 lbs., 1-0) drubbed and dropped Chicagoan Gustavo Palacios (146 lbs., 1-0) three times prompting referee Tim "Silk" Adams to wave the bout off at 1:56 into round one.
Coincidentally, this was the last bout that popular Chicago ring announcer Ken Fletcher worked. Fletcher, who’s been with Dominic Pesoli since 1997, has been announcing for 24 years.
He said, “I’m retiring because I’ve been appointed to fill a vacancy as a judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County.” According to Fletcher, with stringent judicial rules, they don’t allow outside jobs except teaching.
He added, “I’m a professor of trial advocacy at Chicago-Kent College of Law. I’ll continue to do that after I take the bench. I’ll still come to boxing matches. I’ve been watching them as a kid. I just won’t work them any more.”
With boxing shows like this, it’s no wonder. The fights, like that right hand of Pastrana’s, are simply smashing.
Entitled, "Mas Macho," This show was co-promoted by Dominic Pesoli’s Eight Count Productions and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and televised in part over Telefutura’s Solo Boxeo.
Ring announcer Ken Fletcher is retiring from announcing after 24 years!
Female boxers Brooke Diersdorf (left) and Rita Figueroa
