Villarruel, 19, makes his career choice: the pros

For Jorge Villarruel, amateur boxer, there was a lot still out there if he so chose: fights to be won, medals to be earned, trophies to be hoisted.

Instead, at the tender age of 19, he chose the pros. The ultimate goal: a title belt.

Villarruel is scheduled to make his punch-for-pay debut on Saturday at Ohkay Hotel Casino on the northern outskirts of Española. He’s matched in a four-round super flyweight bout against Texan Cruz Reyes, whom Villarruel defeated when they met in the amateur ranks.

“It was the right time (to turn pro),” the Albuquerque boxer said during a recent interview at Absolute Fitness on San Mateo NE. “I just felt like the amateurs weren’t doing it for me. It’s time for a new chapter in my life.”

Villarruel decided to turn that page after a decade-long amateur career and more than 100 amateur bouts. Though he won far more of those than he lost, he never reached the heights in the amateurs that some of his New Mexico contemporaries did — never won a national title, nor fought for one.

The highlight of his amateur career might have been a Junior Olympics nationals bronze medal, earned in 2015 when that career was just beginning.

That was the beginning; this was the end. Earlier this year in Lubbock, Texas, Villarruel won his opening bout by split (4-1) decision at the USA Boxing International Open but lost by unanimous decision to Kyrgyzstan’s Zafarbek Kamilov in the second round. That hardly was a negative result, since Kamilov went on to win the gold medal in the 121-pound weight class.

Even so, Villarruel, after consulting with his team — father Jorge Sr., coach Leroy Bazan, advisor Donald Sanchez — decided a decade in the amateurs was enough.

Why? Largely, a matter of style.

In amateur boxing, bouts are judged strictly on the number of scoring blows landed by the two fighters. The force of the blows isn’t supposed to matter, nor are professional boxing judging criteria like ring generalship and effective aggressiveness.

Villarruel first was drawn to boxing as a kid, watching fights on TV with his dad. It was the pro game, not the amateur sport, that he fell in love with.

In the amateurs, he’d grown weary of losing bouts to lighter-punching, hit-and-run opponents.

“In the amateurs,” he said, “You’ve just got to tap them and you’ll get some points. The pros, they score way different.”

Saturday’s bout against Reyes is only one round longer in duration than a three-round amateur bout. Still, Villarruel is looking forward to being more judicious with his punches — picking his shots — and punching with 8-ounce gloves, not the more pillowy 10-ounce gloves he wore as an amateur.

“I think I’ve got the power (for the pros), too,” he said.

He’ll be fighting Saturday at 115 pounds, rather than the 121 weight class in which he was campaigning in the amateurs. He and his team see that as another positive in the move to the pros.

Sanchez, who’s been fighting professionally for 20 years — MMA, kickboxing, boxing, bare knuckle — and had his first pro fight at age 21, respects Villarruel’s decision to turn pro now.

He likes the young man’s potential.

“We’ve got big plans for him,” Sanchez said. “He’s shown he has the work ethic and the discipline to put (the work) in.

“He’s pretty composed and doing very well right now.”

THE CARD: Saturday’s card at Ohkay Casino is Santa Fe promoter Pat Holmes’ first event since February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the sport down for the better part of a year.

Holmes’ welcome has been warm; the card is a sellout in the Ohkay ballroom, capacity 1,200.

As listed on boxrec.com, the card consists of seven bouts, all four-rounders and each featuring at least one New Mexican.

Santa Fe’s Jerome Rivera, a former UFC fighter, is scheduled to make his pro boxing debut against Rony Liranzo (0-1) of the Dominican Republic.

Action is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m.

ANOTHER GUERO: Villarruel’s nickname is “Guero,” Spanish for “light-skinned” and a moniker he shares with Albuquerque veteran pro Jose Luis Sanchez (14-6-1, four KOs).

Not to worry, fight fans; the two Gueros will never face each other in the ring. Sanchez campaigns at welterweight (147 pounds) or junior middleweight (154).