A RETURN TO RENO
New Mexico promotions again schedule cards near each other; Holm up for Hall
Albuquerque boxer Jason Sanchez fights Brazil’s Adeilson Dos Santos on Saturday in Nevada.
Jason Sanchez went to the Biggest Little City in the World in June, seeking to spring a huge upset. It didn’t happen.
Saturday, the Albuquerque boxer returns to Reno, Nevada — seeking not necessarily an upset but nonetheless a victory that would greatly, if not hugely, further his career.
Sanchez (14-1, seven knockouts) is scheduled to face Brazil’s Adeilson Dos Santos (19-6, 15 KOs) in a 10-round featherweight bout on a Top Rank, Inc., card at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. It’s the same venue at which Sanchez lost by unanimous decision to champion Oscar Valdez in a challenge for the WBO featherweight title.
Dos Santos, 19-1 while fighting in Brazil, is 0-5 elsewhere. But those five losses have come against impressive opposition: Kid Galahad (real name Abdul Barry Awad, 17-0 when he fought Dos Santos), Jesse Magdaleno (24-0), Evgeny Smirnov (11-0-1), Michael Conlan (7-0) and Jamel Herring (18-2). Dos Santos has been stopped only twice, by Magdaleno and by Argentina’s Orlando Javier Maciel.
Sanchez is a Top Rank contract fighter, a status he earned by defeating Top Rank fighter Jean Carlos Rivera by unanimous 10-round decision in October 2018. He debuted with Top Rank in February, stopping Daniel Olea by second-round TKO.
Sanchez-Dos Santos is scheduled on a card headlined by a bout between Shakur Stevenson and Joet Gonzales, fighting for the WBO featherweight title vacated by Valdez, who has moved up in weight.
The card will be streamed on
ESPN+, starting at 4:30 p.m.
TOGETHER (ALMOST) AGAIN:
Either they’re not communicating, or they don’t care.
For the second time in less than three months, and for the fourth time in their combined history, New Mexico’s Legacy Promotions and Pat Holmes Promotions are staging pro boxing cards within eight days of each other.
Holmes is promoting at the Marriott Pyramid on Nov. 1. Legacy is promoting at Tingley Coliseum on Nov. 9.
In August, Holmes, a Santa Fean, promoted in Albuquerque for the first time at the Embassy Suites. A week later, Legacy’s Jordan and Aaron Perez went to Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino — Holmes’ traditional base of operations — for the first time.
In the past, the two have promoted in even closer time proximity.
In September 2016, Legacy staged a card in Albuquerque at Hotel Elegante. Three days later, Holmes promoted at Buffalo Thunder.
In May 2015, the two companies actually staged cards on the same night — Holmes at Buffalo Thunder, Legacy at Camel Rock Casino, just 3½ miles away.
Holmes’ Nov. 1 card is headlined by an eight-round welterweight bout between popular Española fighter Antonio “Tone” Martinez (10-5-4, six KOs) and Miguel Gallegos (5-1-1, one KO) of Durango, Colorado.
Of interest is a light heavyweight bout between Albuquerque’s Lorenzo Benavidez (3-1, one KO) and Rio Rancho’s Bryant McClain (5-1-2, one KO).
On Nov. 9, Albuquerque welterweight Josh Torres (21-6-2, 12 KOs) is scheduled to headline a
Legacy card for the eighth time. He’s matched against 39-yearold Mexican veteran Juan Jesús Rivera Garces (19-26, 13 KOs), who has lost his last six bouts and 12 of his last 13.
Of interest is a welterweight bout between Albuquerque’s José Luís Sanchez (10-1, four KOs) and Issac Luna (5-1, one KO) of San Elizario, Texas. Luna is coming off an impressive second-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Albuquerquean Matthew Esquibel.
NOMINATED: Albuquerque’s Holly Holm is among 12 former boxers on the ballot for the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s first women’s induction class.
Holm has become far better known as an MMA fighter than as a boxer, but she compiled a 33-2-3 record in the ring. Her last boxing match was in May 2013.
She’s probably a long shot for induction this time around, given that only two women can qualify unless a third candidate is listed on 80 percent of the submitted ballots. The leading contenders: Laila Ali, Christy Martin, Lucia Rijker and Ann Wolf.
Even so, Holm’s credentials seem more than solid. She campaigned in the ring for 11 years, won multiple world titles in three weight classes, defeated Martin by decisive unanimous decision in 2005 and was 1-0-1 against fellow nominee Mary Jo Sanders.