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Chris Cozzone: Young professionals have the potential to be heir apparent
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"Dude, you're in denial," were the words spoken to me the other night by a student of mine.
"Boxing's dead here," this student added.
We were talking about men's boxing. Women's boxing in New Mexico - led by Holly Holm, Monica Lovato and Jackie Chavez - is thriving.
With the final fight of Johnny Tapia - possibly our greatest champion (at least our most popular) - slated for Feb. 23 at Isleta, no heir apparent seems apparent. Men's boxing could easily slip into another lost age.
We've had Õem before - dozens of empty eras devoid of world-champion caliber talent - but over time, dominant fighters emerged.
Of late, the state hasn't produced a Tapia or a Danny Romero, but we do have a new pack of young professionals who all have a chance to emerge as contenders.
Several boxers made promising debuts this year.
On Jan. 5, Albuquerque bantamweight Marcos Acosta (1-0) made his debut in Las Cruces in a televised bout. This past weekend, super bantamweight David Proa scored an impressive knockout in his debut.
On the same night, junior middleweights Adrian Lopez (0-0-1) of Socorro and Gabe Montoya (0-0-1) of Santa Fe fought what could be the four-rounder of the Year that resulted in well-deserved draw.
Awaiting his debut is Santa Fe bantamweight Anthony Vialpondo.
Las Cruces' amateur superstars Ricky Vasquez and Sammy DiPace are also in the wings, depending on next year's Olympic trials; as is Archie Ray Marquez of the Duke City.
Albuquerque featherweight Matthew Esquibel (4-0, 3 KOs) led the pack of fighters who made their pro debuts in 2006. Other up-and-comers in the state to keep an eye on from that group include Willie Villanueva (3-0), Gabriel Holguin-Gutierrez (0-1), Felix Abner (2-1, 1 KO) and Daniel Gonzales (2-0, 2 KOs), brother-in-law of Danny Romero.
With this batch of boxers there's plenty of potential.
All we need now are enough fight cards for these guys to keep busy and keep improving.
Villanueva is the lone fighter from this group slated for the Tapia undercard against a foe to be determined.
It's premature to determine whether we might get a world champion out of our latest horde of pro prospects. But at least we have some promising fighters to keep interest alive in men's boxing until the next Tapia comes along.
