Combat sports: New date, new opponent for Sanchez

Albuquerque boxer Jose Luis Sanchez got word on Monday that his fight against Abel Ramos in Las Vegas, Nevada, scheduled for Saturday, was off. Ramos, he was told, had pulled out due to an injury.

Sanchez’s disappointment was short-lived. On Tuesday, he was back — not in Vegas, not on Saturday, not against Ramos, but in Temecula, California on Friday in a super welterweight bout against Nigeria’s Emeka Nwokolo (15-1, 13 knockouts).

Regarding the trade-off, there are positives and negatives.

The Ramos fight was part of a huge card at the MGM Grand, to be streamed on Amazon Prime with two world title fights at the top.

Sanchez’s fight was to be an eight-rounder well down on the card.

On Friday’s card at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, up the road from San Diego, Sanchez- Nwokolo is a 10-round semi-main event.

It’s scheduled to be streamed on Millions Pay-Per-View (millions.co) for $19.99, starting at 7 p.m. MT.

Nwokolo’s NABA super welterweight title (154 pounds) will be at stake.

Despite Nwokolo’s impressive record and knockout ratio, Ramos (28-6-3, 22 KOs) might actually have the stronger resume. In Ramos’ most recent bout, he fought to a 12-round draw against Mario Barrios in a WBC world welterweight title bout.

Barrios is scheduled to face the legendary Manny Pacquiao for the WBC title Saturday in the main event at the MGM Grand.

Sanchez (14-5-1, four KOs) is coming off the first loss by stoppage of his career, TKO’d in the eighth round by Avious Griffin (then undefeated, now 17-1 with 16 KOs) in New York City.

“The Griffin fight, I could have beaten him,” Sanchez, better known by his nickname, “Güero,” said in an interview conducted at the Sanchez Bros. Gym on Old Coors SW, shortly after he’d learned the Ramos fight was off. “I had too much weight to drop for that fight, and I took it on short notice.”

Now, he’s accepted a fight with three days notice — the difference being that he’d had a full camp for Ramos and was already close to weight.

Sanchez and his younger brother, Jason (17-6, nine KOs), have a history of pulling upsets — most recently Jason’s victory by split decision over previously unbeaten Julian Gonzalez in Philadelphia on June 27.

In October 2023, Jose Luis Sanchez defeated previously unbeaten Golden Boy Promotions prospect Eric Tudor by unanimous decision. Tudor has won four straight since then and is now 13-1 with seven KOs.

The upsets, of course, especially against the caliber of opposition the Sanchez brothers have faced, don’t always happen. Their combined 11 losses have come against opponents with a cumulative record of 187-9-1 entering those bouts.

Sanchez would not be the first New Mexico fighter Nwokolo has faced. In January 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky, he defeated San Felipe Pueblo’s Clinton Chavez by fifth-round TKO.

NO SIXTH ROUND FOR BKB: On Jan. 11, the bare-knuckle promotional company BYB (now BKB) Extreme staged a well-attended card at Revel ABQ. BKB would love to return to Albuquerque, but there’s a sticking point.

At Tuesday’s New Mexico Athletic Commission meeting, BKB representative Mel Valenzuela, attending remotely, asked if the commission had made any progress toward permitting a sixth round for BKB title fights. Its scheduled main event on Jan. 11 wound up being scrapped because NMAC rules do not permit a sixth round for an MMA or bare-knuckle fight.

Valenzuela was told that no, nothing had changed in that regard and that the statute in question (15.6.19.9) cannot simply be waived. Like any rule, it would need to be reviewed as part of a process undertaken for that purpose.

For its part, BKB spokesman Don Povia told the Journal in an email, the organization has no plans to change its six-round format for title fights — which he said, complies with unified rules set forth by the Association of Boxing Commissions.

Almost all BKB cards include at least one title fight, Povia said, adding, “We don’t see ourselves returning (to New Mexico) under the current restrictions.”

Commission chairman Ed Manzanares told Valenzuela he would task the NMAC’s newly formed rules committee, consisting of commissioners Stephanie Jaramillo and Monica Lovato, with a review of the rule in question.

NMAC: Jessica Romero is the New Mexico Athletic Commission’s executive secretary. She succeeds longtime executive secretary Richard Espinoza, who has been promoted to another position within the Regulation and Licensing Department.

Romero has worked as a judge at several NMAC-supervised combat sports events. Manzanares said he believed she’d worked as a timekeeper as well.

Manzanares said Romero has hit the ground running.

“She’s had a really good start, organized,” he said. “I think it’s gonna go really well.”

SLAP HAPPY: Raton’s Robert Trujillo, New Mexico’s gift to Dana White’s Power Slap promotion, is scheduled to be back slapping on Friday.

Trujillo (5-1) is matched against Canada’s Dakota McGregor (2-1) in a defense of the New Mexican’s Power Slap lightweight (155-pound) title.

The event will be streamed from New Orleans on Power Slap’s YouTube channel, starting at 7 p.m. MT.