Miller gets a shot at a UFC contract; NM Boxing HOF inductees announced

Albuquerque MMA welterweight Ty Miller gets a violent audition for the big time on Tuesday when he faces New Yorker Jimmy Drago on Dana White’s Contender Series at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

White, UFC president, has been staging the DWCS since 2017, holding 10 events annually. White awards UFC contracts at his discretion to fighters who win impressively — and on rare occasions to those who perform exceptionally well in defeat.

New Mexico fighters are not strangers to the DWCS.

Jordan Espinosa (Luttrell-Yee) and Bevon Lewis (Jackson-Wink) earned UFC contracts with DWCS victories in 2018.

Heavyweight Don’Tale Mayes (Jackson-Wink) did the same in 2019.

Jackson-Wink featherweight Steve Garcia was not offered a contract after his first-round DWCS KO of Desmond Torres in August 2019 because he came into the fight overweight. But he clearly got White’s attention and made his UFC debut the following February.

Garcia now is riding a six-fight win streak and is one of the UFC’s hottest fighters.

Santa Fe’s Jerome Rivera, like Garcia, was initially passed over by White despite having won impressively on a DWCS card in 2020. But he signed with the UFC as a late replacement just a month later.

Miller (5-0), a Sandia High School graduate who trains at FIT-NHB, has two victories on the FightWorld circuit, two on CFFC promotions and one on an LFA card, a first-round KO of Ryan Charlebois in June 2024. His most recent fight on an LFA card was ruled no contest due to an accidental eye poke.

LFA cards typically are streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Drago, Miller’s DWCS opponent, is riding a three-fight win streak. Both fighters weighed in on Monday at 170.5 pounds.

UP NEXT: MMA heavyweight Josh Hokit (5-0), who trains in Albuquerque at Jackson-Wink, is scheduled to face Brazil’s Guilherme Uriel (6-1) on the Aug. 19 DWCS.

Hokit last fought on May 9, defeating Eric Lunsford by first-round KO on an LFA card in Santa Cruz, California.

New Mexico Boxing Hall of Fame

Membership in the New Mexico Boxing Hall of Fame will grow by nine when the 2025 induction class is honored on Sept. 27 in Roswell. The new inductees:

FRANKIE ARCHULETA: The Las Vegas, New Mexico native wound up his career with a record of 27-10-1 (10 knockouts), active as a pro from 1997-2012. He’s one of four fighters to have defeated Johnny Tapia, having done so by split decision in his hometown of Las Vegas in March 2004.

ISIDRO CASTILLO: A Hobbs promoter and matchmaker, Castillo has promoted primarily in his hometown but also in Las Cruces, Farmington and west Texas. Other promoters have relied on his matchmaking contacts in populating their own cards.

LARRY CISNEROS: A native of Questa, Cisneros ran up a 17-0-1 record in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado before going national. Though he campaigned mostly in California, he came back to New Mexico several times — most notably in June 1947, when he defeated the veteran Chalky Wright at UNM’s Zimmerman Field. The great Joe Louis was the referee. Cisneros, active from 1937-48, compiled a 72-15-6 record.

JOHN DE LOS SANTOS: A three-time state Golden Gloves champion, the Roswell boxer compiled an amateur record of 52-7 with 52 knockouts.

JOE HIDALGO: A longtime Las Cruces boxing coach, Hidalgo has worked with past inductee Louie Burke at Las Cruces PAL and at his own House of Pain boxing gym.

GUADALUPE LOZOYA: Originally fighting out of Hobbs, Lozoya was a three-time state Golden Globes champion. He now coaches boxing in Las Cruces.

LEVI MARTINEZ: The Las Cruces boxing judge has worked hundreds of fights and dozens of title fights all over the world. As an event supervisor for the International Boxing Federation, he oversaw the Aug. 10, 2024 IBF featherweight title fight between Mexico’s Luis Alberto Lopez and Albuquerque’s Angelo Leo — a fight won by Leo via 10th-round KO.

RAY SANCHEZ III: A powerful puncher, the Albuquerque southpaw fashioned a pro record of 21-3 with 15 KOs from 2001-08.

SIJU SHABAZZ: After a long and successful amateur career that produced a Golden Gloves national title in 2007 and two USA Boxing national silver medals, the Las Cruces super middleweight went 6-3 in the pros from 2012-17.