Moreu Jr. gets spot on Tapia card

Up-and-coming Albuquerque super bantamweight Yoruba Moreu Jr. has been added to Tapia Promotions’ scheduled Jan. 9 pro boxing card at El Nuevo Cananas Night Club, 12935 Central Avenue.

According to boxrec.com, Moreu (2-0, two KOs) is matched against Mexican trial horse Alejandro Moreno (24-52-4, 11 KOs) in a scheduled four-round bout. 

“Jacob (Maes, Moreu’s manager) messaged us and asked us if we wanted to get (on the card),” Yoruba Moreu Sr., his son’s trainer, said on Tuesday in a phone interview. “We had a couple of fights fall through, so we might as well jump on it. It’s been too long since we’ve been in the ring.”

Moreu Jr. last fought on Aug. 30, when he defeated Bernardo Solis by third-round knockout in Rosarito, Mexico.

Moreu Sr. said he’d prefer six rounds to four, though there’s no guarantee that Moreno would provide the rounds the younger Moreu is looking for; he’s lost by third-round TKO in his two most recent bouts.

Moreno would offer comparisons between Moreu and two other Albuquerque boxers of note. He lost by third-round TKO to Matt Griego-Ortega in November 2017 and lost by six-round unanimous decision (60-54 on all three scorecards) to Abraham Perez in June 2022. 

TORRES, TOO (PROBABLY): Albuquerque welterweight Josh Torres (28-7, 15 KOs) is a likely participant on the Jan. 9 card, having emerged unscathed from his victory by six-round unanimous decision over Christian Aguirre on Friday on a Legacy Promotions card at the Kiva Auditorium. 

Torres’ boxrec.com listing has him matched on the Tapia card against Texan Marquis Hawthorne (8-25, two KOs), who has lost his most recent 14 fights — 10 by knockout. 

But, Torres told the Journal via text on Tuesday, “As of right now, they are looking for an opponent.”

Also listed on the Tapia card: Los Lunas heavyweight Cody East (6-1, four KOs) and promoter Teresa Tapia’s sons with the late Johnny Tapia, a five-time world champion: Johnny Tapia Jr. and Nicco Tapia. Nicco and Johnny Jr. would be making their pro boxing debuts.

MMA: As first reported by KRQE-TV, Albuquerque’s Chris Brown (12-5) is scheduled to face Guram Gochasvili (4-0) of Tbilisi, Georgia, on Saturday on a Cage Fury FC card at the Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The CFFC middleweight title will be at stake. 

Brown, who trains at Jackson-Wink, won the CFFC interim middleweight title with a victory by unanimous decision over Buddy Wallace in June. Brown has won four of his last five fights. 

Saturday’s card is scheduled to be streamed on UFC Fight Pass.