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Boxing: Albuquerque's Ray Sanchez III is waiting for a real fight
Photo by Erin FredrichsTribune
Tribune
Fred Contreras carries a victorious Ray Sanchez III around the ring. Sanchez defeated Travis Hartman in the first round of their Friday-night bout at Isleta Casino and Resort. After a minute of feeling each other out, Sanchez unloaded a big left hook and Hartman, Sanchez said, "fell like a sack of bricks." Hartman beat the count but Sanchez pinned him against the ropes and unloaded several shots until the referee stopped the fight.
Photo by Erin FredrichsTribune
Tribune
Ray Sanchez III is escorted by his entourage through the staging area at Isleta Casino and Resort before entering the ring. Sanchez improved his record to 20-1 with a first-round knockout of Travis Hartman on Friday night.
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Duke City fight fans impatient, eager or just anxious to see local welterweight Ray Sanchez III in a real test will have to wait.
"It won't be long," assures Bob Spagnola of Houston, manager of Sanchez.
Friday night, before a sold-out crowd at Isleta Casino, on a card headlined by former champ Martin Castillo, Sanchez rose to 20-1 (15 KOs) with a first-round knockout over an overmatched opponent.
Missouri junior lightweight Travis Hartman, now 8-8 with 4 KOs, came up in weight to fight Sanchez, and, as expected, lost his fourth fight in a row.
After a minute of feeling each other out, the Duke City southpaw switched lefty to righty, then unloaded a big left hook.
Hartman, as Sanchez later put it, "fell like a sack of bricks."
Hartman beat the count but Sanchez pinned him against the ropes and unloaded several shots until referee Russ Mora called it quits at 1:34.
"I wasn't hurt and it was stopped too quick," complained Hartman.
Sanchez agreed with the stoppage.
"If it hadn't been stopped, I would've put him on the seat of his pants with the straight lefts I was getting ready to throw," said Sanchez.
"It was another victory and I was able to throw off a little more rust. It brings me one step closer to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr."
At this point, however, there is no guarantee that a Sanchez-Chavez Jr. fight will ever happen.
"This fight was marking time," said Bruce Trampler, top matchmaker for Top Rank, Sanchez's promoter. "Right now, a Sanchez-Chavez fight is closer to happening than not happening."
In other words, no one is sure.
The Chavez camp had, at first, targeted Arturo Gatti (40-9, 31 KOs), before Gatti was retired by Alfonso Gomez (17-3-2, 8 KOs) two weeks ago in Atlantic City. Then the interest was focused on Gomez. Then it was Paulie Malignaggi (23-1, 5 KOs), one of the many junior lightweight champions.
Now, says Trampler, Sanchez could be back in the picture.
"We're going to have until next week," says manager Spagnola. "Our wishes are obvious: Chavez Jr., of course."
And if Chavez falls through?
"Right now we don't have a `Plan B,' " Spagnola said. "The important thing is we keep moving ahead and get Ray back in Vegas to train. We know what needs to be done, and we'll do this one step at a time."
As for Sanchez, he says he'll fight Oscar De La Hoya if that's what Trampler says.
"I'd like to take on tough journeymen, shake off some more rust first, go eight or 10 rounds."
If the journeyman are like Travis Hartman, however, going eight or ten rounds, for Sanchez, could mean another five years.
In other bouts:
The six-round fight scheduled for Albuquerque featherweight Matthew Esquibel (6-0, 3 KOs) fell through at the last minute when late sub Joel Padilla (0-7) could not be medically cleared in time by Isleta's athletic commission.
Both fights featuring Las Cruces hopefuls ended in disappointment for different reasons.
Austin Trout (11-0, 9 KOs) was just getting warmed up in the second round when opponent Nelson Estupinan (12-6, 9 KOs) overswung an overhand right and landed face first on the canvas with a busted knee 46 seconds in. He was unable to continue.
Las Cruces featherweight Ricky Vasquez (2-0-1, 1 KO) had an off night and was lucky to escape Texan Gino Escamilla (1-0-1) with a draw.
In the main event, former world champion Martin Castillo (32-2, 17 KOs) outboxed veteran Oscar Andrade (36-28-1, 18 KOs) over the course of ten rounds. Castillo, cut under each eye and alongside his right, was given the unanimous win with scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.
