By Cliff Rold
22-year old highly rated Featherweight contender Juan Carlos Burgos (24-0, 17 KO) of Mexico did nothing to harm his path to a title shot on Friday night at the Laredo Civic Center in Laredo, Texas, laying a steady beating onto journeyman fellow Mexican, 28-year old Juan Carlos Martinez (17-12-1, 7 KO), before applying the finishing touch to score a technical knockout in the twelfth and final round.
Originally slated as a Featherweight contest, Martinez missed weight and came into the bout at 129 lbs. Burgos weighed in below the limit at 125 ¼.
Tall and lanky for a Featherweight, Burgos began with his hands held high, popping the jab and looking for long right hands while Martinez used lunging activity to try to bring the guard down and land an overhand right to the head. Burgos methodically worked his left uppercut into the fight by the end of the first and through the second, unleashing the shot again early in the third to send Martinez’s head rocking back.
In the third, pawing with his jab, Martinez appeared to be looking for a countering opportunity but Burgos pounced with three hard left hands. Martinez answered with a right as he collected his feet and came forward to force the action, looking for an answer to the guard and accuracy of Burgos.
A long left jab to the body backed Martinez up early in the fourth but Martinez worked hard, getting inside and ripping a pair to the ribs. Martinez, who had found limited success to the body throughout the fight, kept aiming there and found an opening for a right to the temple near the halfway mark. Burgos responded with selective combinations, connecting with sharper blows as opposed to the wilder shots of Martinez. Tangled in the ropes near the end of the round, Martinez gave Burgos a little shove to the floor and both men shot hard blows in the closing seconds.
Burgos missed on a right hand off the jab to open the fifth, blocking a right and left to the head from Martinez moments later. A minute into the round, Martinez landed a stuttering series of rights to the ribs, Burgos shooting a right uppercut of his own to the ribs in response and daring a grimace from Martinez. Timing looping rights, Martinez landed to the face of Burgos and added a right and left in the final ten seconds for his best round of the fight to then.
Round six saw Burgos with a series of jabs and a lacing right hand thirty seconds in as he sought to slow the momentum of an increasingly bold Martinez. Stepping up his pace, Burgos was able to reassert some control with his accuracy but Martinez still landed between surges and kept himself in the fight.
A series of body shots opened the seventh for Martinez but soon he was absorbing lefts and rights over the top again. Burgos, occasionally looking frustrated, found those shots tougher to land in the final minute, shaking his head once at his own wildly missed flurry. There was no shake of the head in the early going of the eighth, Burgos blasting Martinez with a left hook and right hand and, before the first minute had passed, a long right hand. Martinez professionally continued to apply his strategy, punching back whenever Burgos failed to throw more than one at a time with as much force as he could muster.
Still well behind, Martinez gained a small measure of victory by lasting through rounds nine and ten. Burgos, who had said before the fight he would score the stop before the tenth was through, let loose with both hands, in both rounds, and nailed Martinez with hammering rights and lefts. Martinez took them and kept throwing, no give in the veteran.
Martinez looked ready to drop at mid-ring in middle of the eleventh, a right hand causing a dip in his knees but he planted his feet and banged at Burgos with a right. The brave stand, which meant taking a multitude of shots all night, finally broke Martinez down in the twelfth and final scheduled round. A left to the temple inside the first minute of round twelve was followed by a right and another left to the chin, sending Martinez into the ropes. Another right caught him bouncing off the strands and he went to a knee in the corner as Burgos’s right had continued to rain down.
The referee tolled off the count, Martinez looking into his eyes and rising at eight, nodding that he could continue. Burgos wasted no time executing an ending, a left hook glancing off the glove of Martinez before landing a right hand, left hook, and right hand in succession to force referee Jon Schorle into the fray, embracing a helpless Martinez and halting the action at 1:07 of round twelve.
The loss was Martinez’s seventh in his last ten fights and first by knockout since 2005. The win was Burgos’s third straight by stoppage and first knockout win past the sixth round. Burgos is currently rated number one by the WBC at Featherweight.
The WBC titlist is 27-year old Dominican Elio Rojas (21-1, 13 KO) of Brooklyn, New York.
Prior to the main event, fans were treated to a look at a solid young prospect in 20-year old Yaundale Evans (5-0, 3 KO), 129, of Cleveland, Ohio and a gutsy performance from overmatched 24-year old Gino Escamilla (5-7-1, 2 KO), 128, of Laredo, Texas. Escamilla was dropped twice early in the Jr. Lightweight contest but braved the accurate Evans’s punches to last the full six rounds.
Escamilla began the fight with hurried feet and Evan wasted little time showing why. Patiently coming forward, the southpaw fired a lead right hook to rock Escamilla whose gloved toughed the floor for a called knockdown. Escamilla took the mandatory eight from the referee and returned to the action, still circling the ring and swinging wildly when Evans was close. Evans found contact with right hooks to the body and head but Escamilla kept his feet to the bell, even landing his own hard right in the final ten second to bring a cheer from the local fans.
The hometown favorite beat a hasty retreat to open the second before lunging forward with a flurry of aggression that end with him planted on the canvas from an Evans counter left. Escamilla was up right away but swaying on shaky legs. The referee took a close look and allowed the fight to continue after the mandatory eight and Escamilla held repeatedly to extend his time in the ring when the fight resumed. Between clinches, Evans fired straight, accurate punches and as the round neared its end, Escamilla was firing again, landing a right to Evans face at the bell.
A wild exchange initiated the third and Escamilla stayed close through the first minute, firing constantly from all angles while Evans tried to maintain his defenses and punch through the gaps. The pace slowed as the seconds ticked by and remained contained as Evans patiently let the fight come to him even while moving forward. Switching briefly to orthodox and the back again, the scoring difference allowed another frame to go into the bag for Evans.
The fight continued through the final two rounds as it had played out in the first four, Evans outboxing Escamilla and picking spots to flurry in hopes of a knockout. In the sixth, Evans even went so far as to begin waving Escamilla forward, inviting him to allow Evans a chance at a knockout blow. The opportunity did not come, the bout lasting the full six rounds. Evans was the easy winner at scores of 59-53 and 60-52 twice.
In the televised opener, 21-year old 2008 U.S. Olympian Demetrius Andrade (9-0, 7 KO), 154, of Providence, Rhode Island made short work of woefully outclassed 36-year old Bernardo Guereca (15-10-1, 3 KO), 154, of El Paso, Texas in Jr. Middleweight action. Guereca tried, tossing some haymakers, but it didn’t take long for the fast handed and rangy Andrade to find the mark, landing a sharp right hand counter from the southpaw stance and sending Guereca to the floor. Guereca didn’t beat the count and the fight was over at 1:18 of round one.
The card was televised on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com