Popular Torres earns tough decision
More active effort seems to dictate judge’s scoring
Todd Manuel is a tall, awkward welterweight boxer who switches repeatedly — or, at least, did Saturday night — from a right-handed stance to southpaw.
It’s not clear Josh Torres ever quite figured him out.
No matter. Albuquerque’s Torres outworked Manuel over six rounds to take a victory by lopsided unanimous decision at Revel Entertainment Center.
Torres improved his record to 25-7 with 14 knockouts. Manuel, of Rayne, Louisiana, is 21-22-1 with six KOs.
Saturday’s main event, an eightround flyweight bout between Albuquerque’s Matt Griego-Ortega and Puerto Rico’s Bryan Aquino, continued past the Journal’s deadline.
After Torres’ victory, the popular Albuquerque fighter said Manuel’s so-so record belied the ring savvy the Louisiana fighter displayed during Saturday’s bout.
“This man is no joke,” he said of Manuel.
The judges scored the bout 60-54, 59-55 and 59-55 for Torres. The Journal saw it 59-55, giving Manuel the third round.
After two opening rounds in which not much happened but Torres won on the Journal’s card with more activity and the occasional body shot, Manuel came out for the third in a southpaw stance.
It wasn’t clear if the switch bothered Torres, but the third was Manuel’s best, which he took on the Journal’s card with a couple of clean shots to Torres’ head.
From there, however, Torres gradually took control and left the outcome in no doubt.
In undercard bouts:
Maximus Moya, Albuquerque, 131.8 pounds, defeated Jazzma Hogue, Fruitland, 134, by four-round majority decision.
Moya (3-0, two knockouts) had scored first-round knockouts in his first two bouts against inexperienced opponents. Hogue (4-11-1, no KOs), a professional boxer since 2010, gave him the first test of his pro career, crowding him and denying him punching room.
Staying patient, Moya slowed Hogue’s advance with body work and finished strong in the fourth round with a barrage of flush right hands — a round he needed, it turned out, to get his hand raised. The judges’ scores were 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38; another round scored Hogue’s way would have produced a split draw.
The Journal scored it 39-37 for Moya, giving Hogue the second round.
“He was really up in my face. I was just trying to do the work I could do, get the job done,” Moya said. “Definitely a learning experience. … You’ve got to get used to it, because there’s a lot of tough fights out there.”
Steve Trujeque, Albuquerque, 117.2 pounds, defeated Jose Vialpando, Albuquerque, 118, by secondround TKO.
In the night’s opening bout, a Trujeque victory seemed unlikely after Vialpando dropped him with a big right hand early in the first round. But Trujeque rose at the count of eight and had the better of the action the rest of the way.
The second round was all Trujeque, as he pounded away at the head and body with little response from Vialpando. Referee David Rios called a halt at the 2:40 mark.
The bout was Trujeque’s pro debut. Vialpando is 0-2.
“That’s the story of my life,” Trujeque said in the ring after the fight. “I get knocked down and I get back up.”