Albuquerque’s Torres could face tough test vs. Olvera
Borg scheduled to fight Saturday for 2nd time in less than four months
At age 29, some 11 years into his professional boxing career, Albuquerque welterweight Josh Torres is still looking for that elusive big break.
A victory Saturday night over Tucson journeyman Alfonso Olvera at Tingley Coliseum would not qualify.
A loss, though, could put that big break beyond Torres’ reach.
Torres (20-6-2, 12 knockouts) and Olvera (11-5-3, four KOs) are scheduled for the 10-round main event of an eight-bout Legacy Promotions card. It is the first pro boxing card to be staged at Tingley since January 2010.
The vacant interim WBC Latino welterweight (147-pound) title will be at stake.
The two fighters’ records suggest Torres should be a solid favorite. A closer look, though, suggests “Pit Bull” will have all he can handle — and that records can be deceiving.
Torres is the New Mexico welterweight champion, by virtue of his victory by seventhround TKO over fellow Albuquerquean Cristian Cabral in June 2018. But Torres has not held a title sponsored by a major sanctioning body since losing the WBC-USNBC junior welterweight belt by majority decision to Cameron Krael in Grants in August 2015. Krael was 7-7-2 at the time. Torres is riding a five-bout win streak, but his most recent loss came via majority decision to Phoenix’s Jose Marrufo (9-52 at the time) in September 2016.
One of Olvera’s 11 victories came against Marrufo, by unanimous decision, a month before Marrufo defeated Torres.
Olvera’s two most recent bouts also tend to underscore the threat to Torres he represents. He fought to draws against two fighters with impressive records, Herbert Acevedo (15-2 at the time) and Carlos Villa (14-31) earlier this year.
Saturday’s card also features Albuquerque junior middleweight Jose Luis Sanchez (9-1, four KOs, his only loss to Torres more than six years ago) and the longawaited return of Albuquerque super flyweight Matthew Griego (9-0, eight KOs).
Griego, beset by injury and promotional difficulties, has fought just once in the past 20 months. He’s matched against Mexico’s Leonardo Torres (4-12, one KO) in a scheduled six-rounder.
Sanchez, coming off an impressive victory by fifthround TKO over Four Corners veteran Joe Gomez Martinez, is matched on Saturday against Mexico’s Jose Pena (3-1 one KO) in a scheduled six-rounder.
BORG’S BACK: Albuquerque MMA bantamweight Ray Borg went almost 17 months without a fight, mostly because of his young son Anthony’s serious medical condition.
Saturday, he’s scheduled to fight for the second time in less than four months. He’s matched against Brazil’s Gabriel Silva (8-0) on UFC on ESPN 4 in San Antonio, Texas.
Borg (11-4) is coming off a loss by unanimous, though hotly disputed, decision to Casey Kenney on March 30.
The Borg-Silva fight is on the prelim portion of the card, scheduled to be televised on ESPN starting at 4 p.m.
After a long association with FIT-NHB and a shorter stint at Jackson-Wink, Borg now trains principally at Jackson’s MMA Acoma.
MENDOZA UPDATE: Rio Rancho welterweight boxer Brian Mendoza, who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, Nev., is booked for his second bout as a Top Rank, Inc., contract fighter.
Mendoza (17-0, 12 KOs) is matched against Gilbert Venegas Jr. (11-1, seven KOs) on an Aug.17 Top Rank card. Mendoza made a splashy Top Rank debut in May with a one-punch, second-round knockout of Carlos Mohamed Rodriguez.