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Monday, July 30, 2007

BOXING Lovato Captures Split Decision

By Rick Wright
Journal Staff Writer
    ACOMA— That parade down U.S. 285/84 will have to wait. First, Española's Monica Lovato and her boyfriend will celebrate her hard-earned, newly won world boxing title with a two-week vacation in Puerto Rico.
    The Enchilada Ranchera at El Paragua will taste just as good, though, when she returns— or, perhaps, better than ever.
    Lovato, bigger, sturdier and more polished, won a split decision Saturday night over a tough, relentless Mariana Juárez of Mexico. The victory gives the Española native the previously vacant IBA bantamweight (118-pound) title.
    The exciting bout was the finale of an action-packed, well-matched Juan Romero-promoted card at Sky City Casino.
    Lovato now is 11-4 with four knockouts. Juarez, of Santa Ursula, Mexico, now living in Aurora, Colo., is 14-5 (eight KOs).
    Judge Chris Tellez scored the bout 98-92, Lovato. Joel Perez saw it 96-94 for Lovato, Bill Gantt 97-93 for Juárez.
    The Journal scored it 96-94, Lovato.
    Lovato joins Albuquerque welterweight Holly Holm as a New Mexico women's world boxing champion.
    If Española has had a world champion before, neither Lovato nor Rio Grande Sun sports editor George Morse was aware of it.
    Through tears, Lovato said, "It feels great. It's a dream come true. This is for my family, my friends and all of New Mexico.
    "I never thought I would have a world title. I never even thought of this until now."
    After a bout fraught with give-and-take that produced a five-round swing between two official judges, Lovato gave Juárez her due. "Mariana is very tough," she said. "I knew it was going to be tough."
    A disappointed Juárez said she thought Lovato was tough, but that two of the three judges and an enthusiastic, pro-Lovato crowd were even tougher.
    "I don't know what to say," Juárez said. "You saw the fight. I thought I won, but ... I don't know. Maybe there'll be a rematch, but not here. California or wherever, but not here."
    Lovato said she was confident her victory was deserved.
    "I was slipping a lot of her punches, and when she put on pressure, I put pressure right back," she said. "I felt I won six out of 10 rounds."
    Juárez was a replacement for Melinda Cooper, who pulled out two weeks before the bout. Lovato had said she expected to be able to solve Juárez's style as the fight progressed.
    That never really happened. Juárez, quick and fast-handed but essentially without form, spent much of the fight simply walking forward— turning from righty to lefty and back within a few seconds.
    "We didn't expect that, so we just took it one round at a time," Lovato said.
    The New Mexico southpaw countered effectively in the early and middle rounds, making Juárez pay for her aggressiveness with solid straight lefts.
    In the seventh, however, a warning for holding from referee Rocky Burke seemed to ignite something in Juárez. She blasted Lovato with a half dozen or so unanswered shots to the head in that round, and appeared to make steady gains through the remainder of the fight.
    The Lovato-Juárez bout didn't conclude until after 11 p.m., because the start of Saturday's card was delayed an hour due to traffic jams on I-40 just west of Albuquerque.
    Lovato provided a satisfying, if tardy, conclusion to a card that featured six bouts and 35 rounds of spirited competition.