Promoter Fresquez happy to be back at Isleta Resort
New MMA series to open up on Feb. 25
Lenny’s back, and Isleta’s got him. And vice versa. From 2002-10, Albuquerque businessman Lenny Fresquez promoted 19 professional boxing cards at Isleta Resort & Casino (known for a portion of that span as the Hard Rock).
Then, Fresquez left Isleta, taking his promotions and his star attraction, boxer/ MMA fighter Hol- ly Holm, to Route 66 Casino Hotel.
Tuesday, Fresquez and business partner Mike Winkeljohn announced the first of a new MMA series — Jackson-Wink Fight Night — to be staged at Isleta’s Bingo Showroom on Feb. 25.
Tickets, priced from $30-$200, went on sale Tuesday.
“It’s good to be back at Isleta,” said Winkeljohn, who cornered Holm to 17 victories in 17 boxing matches there before his star pupil moved to Route 66 and then to MMA.
At a news conference, Fresquez said the return to Isleta is linked, in part, to the launching of a reality TV show that he and Winkeljohn are marketing. Most of the filming will be done at Jackson-Wink MMA, just east of Downtown.
Fresquez said the relative proximity of Isleta, just off I-25 some 11 miles from midtown Albuquerque, was a factor in the decision to return. Route 66 is located on I-40, some 19 miles away.
“It would be very costly for us, with our cameramen and everybody, to be transported from the gym to Route 66 and back,” he said. “Logistics had a lot to do with it.”
The move to Isleta, Fresquez said, is not being made because of problems at Route 66.
“Route 66 has been very good to us,” he said. “In the future, we may go back . ... Never burn a bridge; it’s too small a town.”
Holm, who attended Tuesday’s news conference to talk about her Feb. 11 UFC featherweight title fight against Germaine De Randamie, still has a promotional agreement with Route 66. She will make one more personal appearance there, Fresquez said.
Though under a different name and at a different venue, the Feb. 25 event is another MMA promotion staged by Fresquez and Winkeljohn. They promoted two cards at Route 66.
By any name and at any venue, said Greg Jackson, Winkeljohn’s partner at Jackson-Wink, such cards provide financial support and invaluable experience for his fighters.
“What I like about what’s happening now,” Jackson said at Tuesday’s news conference, “is the ability to get our fighters fights.
“We have the biggest fight team in the world — it’s us and American Top Team, probably, out of Florida — and to keep our guys working and busy and growing and pushing forward, I think, is a very important thing.”
Jackson-Wink flyweight Joby Sanchez (8-2) is matched against El Paso’s Jesús Urbina (8-3) in the Feb. 25 main event. Four professional and six amateur fights are planned.
Of the 18 fighters listed as participants — a couple of matches aren’t yet filled — 15 are from New Mexico.
Regarding the reality show, Fresquez called the Feb. 25 card “the incubator for how we’re laying the groundwork . ... We’re trying to get all our ideas in it, what avenues we’re gonna go down and who the biggest entertainers are (among the fighters).
“It’s reality TV, so we need big personalities.”
Fresquez said he and Winkeljohn are talking with several online streaming services as a possible home for the series.
“We’re talking to everybody,” he said. “Netflix has a lot of interest in us right now, but whoever pays us the most money is who we’ll go with.”