The Isleta Casino and Resort hosted its second night of fights in as many months on Friday night when Albuquerque fighter Danny Romero and a full under-card took to the canvas. In six fights, five Duke City natives duked it out against out-of-town fighters, and four walked out of the ring victorious.
With new-found drive, Albuquerque’s golden boy, “Dynamite Kid” Danny Romero, successfully defended his North American Boxing Association bantam weight title belt. Romero went toe-to-toe with Dominican knock out artist Domingo Guillen in a 12-round bout, though the fight didn’t last nearly that long. Romero knocked out Guillen with 2 minutes, 12 seconds gone in the first round.
Guillen came out tough in the first 45 seconds of the fight, throwing upper cuts and body blows and showing he was in the fight for real. But Romero stood strong through the early barrage and came right back at Guillen with a flurry of body blows of his own. Romero forced Guillen against the ropes and finished him off with a blow to the stomach, which sent Guillen to the canvas for good.
After fighting only twice in the past two years, Romero has already been in the ring twice since June 1. Romero’s busy schedule is what his trainer and father, Danny Romero Sr., said the two-time world champ needed to get a shot at current world champ Johnny Bredahl.
The night of fights got started with a heavyweight fight between Albuquerque’s Fernando Reyes, who was making his professional debut, and Denver, Colo., native Roosevelt Parker (0-1). The bout went the full four scheduled rounds, with Parker winning by unanimous decision.
In the second under-card bout, David Martinez was scheduled to fight Ricky De Leon from Cupey, Puerto Rico, but, at the last minute, the plans were changed and Martinez faced off against Juarez, Mexico’s Jose Martinez. The last-second fill-in was no match for David Martinez. David, who weighed in at 114, knocked out the heavier Jose (121) in 58 seconds. David Martinez improved to 3-0 and picked up his first professional knockout, while Jose Martinez remained winless at 0-7.
The third fight turned out to be the most interesting and entertaining of the evening. Another Albuquerque native, Adriana Delgado, who is ranked in the top 10 in the nation among female fighters, took on Tracy Moulton of Denver, Colo. Delgado and Moulton traded jab after jab before Delgado drew first blood, literally, bloodying Moulton’s nose in the first round.
By the end of the fourth round, Delgado had all but won the bout. But Moulton hung on and got in a few good shots of her own. When it was all said and done, Delgado won by decision and improved to 9-2-1 as Moulton dropped to 5-6-1.
The only fight not to feature an Albuquerque fighter was Cesar “El Gallito” Lopez’ return to Isleta. Lopez, an El Paso native, met another Texas fighter, Jorge “the Pitbull” Sauceda from San Antonio. “El Gallito” won the unanimous decision over Sauceda in the scheduled six rounds.
In the fifth fight, Albuquerque’s “Hollywood” Max Heyman went toe-to-toe with Raymond Berry from Munich, Germany. Though Berry was a far more intimidating-looking fighter, and with a 19-7-1 record had more wins than Heyman, the hometown boy would not be shown up in his house. Heyman won seven out of the 10 rounds easily, including a punishing barrage of blows in the ninth round, which may have sealed the deal for the super middleweight, who won the bout by unanimous decision.
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April 19, 2024
