Sanchez, Mendoza And Griego Stay Unbeaten

By Andrew Rivera: Saturday at the New Mexico State Fair Ground in Albuquerque, Legacy Promotions put on a nice card in front of a close to sold out crowd. The bouts outcome may have been predictable, records wise, but again Legacy with brothers Aaron and Jordan Perez didn’t disappoint giving the local fans what they wanted.

Featherweight Jason Sanchez remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Stephon McIntyre in a fight where Sanchez was the aggressor and was in control of the fight.

McIntyre was a late substitute for 16-1, Ray Ximenez. Ximenez didn’t return the contract to face Sanchez, therefore Legacy found McIntyre to step in.

Sanchez is willing an ready to fight anyone, wanting to showcase his talents and get to the next level. His fight with Ximenez would have propelled him into a different category but to his credit he did his job and took care of McIntyre in raising his record to 11-0.

In the co-main event Brian Mendoza raised his record to 16-0 with a third round stoppage of John David Charles, 9-13. Charles was no match for Mendoza who was faster, stronger and at a different level.

Mendoza, who has been on a layoff of 8 months, looked sharp using his jab and quick rights putting Charles down in the third, it was the third knockdown in the fight.

Mendoza has a lot of talent, but hasn’t been tested with his opponents records 48-120 combined, hopefully soon he will take on tougher opponents to see if he can get into the ratings for minor regional belts.

Super Flyweight Matthew Griego defeated his toughest opponent to date halting veteran Alejandro Moreno with a 4th round tko, Moreno’s corner halted the fights unexpectedly in between the 3rd & 4th round.

Griego’s previous opponents had a combined record of 2-29, but against the Moreno, who has fought professionally for 20 years he stepped up competition.

The first round was slow and more of a feel out round as neither fighter had and edge. Round two and three Griego upped his offense and landed quick-hard combinations on the game Moreno, but Griego was in control and had Moreno hurt on a few occasions.

Round 3 ended and Moreno’s corner had seen enough halting the fight. Griego raises his unbeaten record to 7-0, 5kos, while the Juarez, Mexico veteran Moreno drops to 24-38-3. Let’s hope Griego is now on track to steadily fight tougher competition in gaining experience to get to where he wants to be.

In the most exciting fight of he night Matthew Esquibel knocked out Christopher Russell with a single left hook at the 1:05 mark in the opening round. Esquibel had to pull himself off the canvas when Russell dropped him with a hard right hand early in the round. Esquibel was hurt but Russell wasn’t able to finish his prey.

Esquibel making his second comeback having not fought in 4 years and prior having a 5 year layoff raises his record to 11-0, 6 kos, Russell falls to 3-22.

Esquibel need to no have long layoffs in order to see if he can go to the next level in boxing, stay in active and up the competition each time out.

Cristin Cabral easily decisioned the most common opponent for most New Mexico welterweights in Tevarous Teague 3-24. Teague comes to fight but has fought and lost to 2 other New Mexico welterweights, Hector Munoz and Jose Luis Sanchez. Cabral goes to 8-1 with his easy dispatching of Teague

Ronnie Baca won a majority decision over Anthony Hill in a hard fought majority decision in a welterweight bout. Both fighters had their moments but it was Baca who has the edge with more effective punching. Baca took the fight on a weeks notice to go 2-0-1.

In the opening fight of the night Albuquerque’s Jordanne Garcia defeated Los Lunas, New Mexico’s Katie Ramirez in a female bout. The bout almost didn’t come together due to a disparity in weight but the two made the agreed upon weight. Garcia pressured the game Ramirez to capture a unanimous decision to go 2-0 in her young career, while Ramirez dropped to 0-2.