By Jim Dower: World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel (39-2-2, 29 KOs) fought to a 3rd round technical draw against Alejandro Valdez (22-2-3, 15 KOs) in a non-title fight on Saturday night at the El Palenque de la Feria, Tepic, in Nayarit, Mexico. Montiel, 30, was cut above his left eye in the 1st round from a punch rather than a head butt. The cut was a bad one, making it hard for Montiel to see much of the time and putting him on the defensive in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds.
Montiel dropped Valdez with a left uppercut in the opening minute of the 1st round. It was a big punch that caught the southpaw Valdez by surprise. However, instead of Montiel being able to capitalize on the knockdown, it was the 5’8 1/2″ Valdez who went on the attack, landing powerful left hands to the head of Montiel. Almost immediately, a large cut was opened above Montiel’s left eye.
Whether it be the cut or Valdez’s height and southpaw stance, he began to totally dominate Montiel, beating him like he was school boy. It was really one-sided from that point. Valdez, 25, stalked Montiel around the ring hitting him with left hands and combinations while Montiel constantly moved and dabbed at his cut eye.
In the 2nd round, Valdez busily pursued Montiel around the ring, hitting him at will with left hands. In the first minute of the round, Montiel’s nose began to bleed, making his face look like a bloody mess. Valdez continued to totally dominate the round with ease.
Valdez wasn’t bothered in the least by Montiel’s occasional big shot. He took them and just kept firing off punches. Montiel was clearly the harder puncher of the two and had the better hand speed. However, Valdez looked so much bigger than the 5’4″ Montiel and his southpaw stance made him even more effective. Late in the round, Valdez caught Montiel with a powerful right uppercut that knocked Montiel to the canvas.
The uppercuts was thrown from about a foot away from Montiel’s head, yet it was a like wrecking ball, because it knocked Montiel down as if he were a building be destroyed. Montiel got to his feet, looking hurt and more than a little demoralized, and continued to fight for the remaining seconds of the round. In the 3rd round.
Montiel attempted to move side to side to stay away from Valdez and try to buy some time. It didn’t work. Valdez caught up with Montiel by the ropes and landed a number of big shots to the head of Montiel, who at one point seemed to lose his head and start walking away sideways along the ropes and covering his head as if he was being stung by a horde of bees.
Montiel didn’t look like a professional boxer at all at that moment. He looked like a little kid being pummeled by a bully and was trying to get away to make it stop. The remainder of the round saw Valdez totally in control, following Montiel around the ring and hitting him with shot after shot without much coming back. It looked like a complete slaughter.
Never mind the cut, Valdez appeared to have Montiel’s number and was a bad match up for him. After the 3rd round, the ringside doctor stepped in and after a quick examination of Montiel’s left eye, advised that the fight be stopped. The bout was then ruled as a 3rd round technical draw. Had it gone four rounds, Valdez would have won it by TKO.
It was a lucky thing for Montiel that the fight was stopped after the round because he would have lost the fight and probably been stopped in a round or two. This was a full route and looked like one of the most one-sided fights I’ve seen in quite some time.
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In other action on the card, World Boxing Organization champion Donnie Nietes, (24-1-3, 14 KOs) defeated interim champion Manuel Vargas (26-3-1, 11 KOs) by a questionable 12 round split decision. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, for Vargas and 118-110, 116-110 for Nietes. In the first half of the bout, Nietes looked good, landing well to the head and body. However, Vargas took control over the fight around the midpoint and dominated the action in the second half of the fight. all victorious
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Super flyweight Z Gorres (29-2-2, 15 KOs) defeated 35-year-old Cruz Carbajal (29-18-2, 16 KOs) by a sixth round TKO. Carbajal, who came into the fight having lost three out of his last four bouts, dislocated his arm in the 5th round and couldn’t come out to fight for the 6th. Z Gorres, 25, hasn’t looked good since being defeated by Fernando Montiel by a 12 round split decision in February 2007.
Gorres fought to a controversial 12 round draw with Vic Darchinyan last year in February. That fight, like the bout against Montiel, wasn’t close at all as Gorres appeared to be dominated by both Montiel and Darchinyan.
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Former World Boxing Council lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo (60-9-1, 59 KOs), now fighting as a welterweight, stopped an over-matched Carlos Urias (41-22, 30 KO’s) in the 2nd round. Castillo, 35, hasn’t fought at lightweight since 2005 due to problems making the weight. However, Castillo doesn’t appear to have the size or the power to compete at the upper levels in the welterweight division and has struggled since moving up in weight.
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Unbeaten super featherweight contender Brandon Rios (21-0-1, 14 KOs) stopped journeyman Daniel Valenzuela (4-8, 2 KO’s) in the 2nd round of a scheduled eight round bout. It’s unclear why precisely Rios, 23, who’s ranked number #10 in the World Boxing Council super featherweight division, would be fighting and opponent like Valenzuela, who came into last night’s bout having lost six of his last seven fights.
Surely, someone better could have been dug up for a fighter ranked as highly as Rios, don’t you think? Last year, Rios looked poor in fighting to a 10-round draw against Manuel Perez (12-4) in a bout in October, 2008.