Martinez falls short in her bout against Vellinga
In a packed and boisterous house Saturday at the Ohkay Hotel Casino, San Ildefonso native Angelo Sanchez made quick work in his return to the boxing ring in his first competitive bout in nine years.
“It went a little bit quicker than I wanted and anticipated,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I had a good experience. I did my job so I’m definitely pleased and satisfied with the end result.”
The end result was a knockout of opponent Joe Garcia halfway through the opening round.
For fellow local Leanna Martinez, of Cordova, things did not go quite as well. She lost on points 40-36 and 39-37, 39-37 to Maryguenn Vellinga, as she made her way back to the ring after a 2½-year absence while she fought a tougher foe in autoimmune health issues.
It was quite the tussle, Sanchez said of that one, as he watched it before his own bout.
“It was a good show,” he said. “The crowd was going wild. We had some good finishes. Leanna came up short, but she went out on her shield. It was a great battle. She fought her heart out.”
In other fights on the Holmes Production card, “The Return,” Santa Fe’s Jerome Rivera stopped Rony Lorenzo out of the Dominican Republic in the second round.
Fernando Paredes, of Lake Elsinore, California, beat late substitute Alfredo Solorzano, of Albuquerque, 41 seconds into the first round.
Tyrell Allee, of Omaha, Nebraska, went the distance with Albuquerque’s Tyler Mitchell, with Allee taking the decision 2-1, wining two cards 39-37, while one judge had it 39-37 for Mitchell.
Albuquerque’s Jorge Villarruel took a unanimous decision from Cruz Reyes, of Muleshoe, Texas, taking all three cards 40-36.
Sanchez said he was able to quickly get the measure of Garcia.
“The guy was taller than me so I had to adjust to his range,” Sanchez said. “I was getting hit from farther away than I wanted. Once I got ahold of his range, I punched my way in with my big overhand.”
And that was the beginning of the end for Garcia.
“I got to the inside, controlled the ring,” Sanchez said. “He was moving backwards and I pressed forward and caught him with an overhand right. Then I caught him with a hook and caught him with another overhand. He fell back into the ropes and he didn’t want to get back up and that was the end of the fight.”
And with that, probably the end of his competitive fighting career, said Sanchez, 41, who did most of prior work in the ring as a mixed-martial arts fighter.
“I put in the hard work and that’s what it comes down to,” he said. “I don’t plan on stepping back into the ring any time soon. But I didn’t plan on fighting this one. Right now, I’m going to focus on other aspects of my life. Running my business doing youth work. That’s going to be my focus, giving back instead of progressing myself as a fighter.”
Martinez, however, said that despite the loss, this was just the beginning of her comeback.
“I think I’ll be fighting again in January on the next card,” she said. “My plan is to go right back into training. January is right around the corner, so I’ll take a couple of weeks off and go right back into training.”
The big thing about this three-round bout, Martinez said, was that she felt good and strong and came out of it relatively unscathed.
“It was a tough fight, a non-stop fight with a lot of action,” she said. “I felt like it should have been closer than it was. My strategy was to be aggressive and establish my jab and be first, be really busy, stay inside and not be on the end of her reach. I felt like I did that as best as I could. She kept pushing me to the ground when I was inside and that made it difficult. But I felt like I did what we were training for.”
Martinez said she still felt strong when the fight was over and was happy with the way her body responded.
“It was a loss, but it wasn’t really a loss to me because of what I have overcome,” she said. “It’s been so many issues the last two, two-and-a-half years with my health. Me being able to fight at a professional level and as a professional athlete is sort of a miracle. Considering my health issues, how much I overcame, this is a win for me. This really wasn’t even supposed to happen. Medically it wasn’t supposed to happen. The doctors never would have foreseen this. And they wouldn’t even want me fighting. That was a huge accomplishment from where I came from to right now.”