By David Finger
El Paso prospect Jorge Tovar, 173, headed north to Mescalero, New Mexico where the young undefeated super middleweight dominated Eric Moon, 175, of Atlanta in front of a twice sold out crowd.
For Tovar, he remained in control over six rounds and easily won every minute of those six rounds against a defensive minded Moon, who seldom engaged with the hard punching prospect. But if Tovar was looking to make a statement against the former prospect in Moon, who came to New Mexico on the heels of a six fight winless streak, he came up a little short against a foe who was determined not to get clipped. Moon was determined to not get hurt, even if it meant not throwing more than a few punches a round. Moon, who had been stopped early by undefeated prospects Ruben Cazales and Vladislav Tuinov in 2024 and 2023 respectively, and who had also been destroyed inside of one round by a then undefeated Edgar Berlanga back in 2020, was never expected to derail Tovar’s ascent into contention. But Tovar undoubtably was looking to add his own highlight reel knockout over Moon on his resume and in that he was left wanting as he was forced to battle a fighter who was 100% in survival mode.
Tovar came out aggressively against Moon, who spent much of the opening round covering up on the ropes. Midway through the round Tovar slammed a solid body shot into the side of Moon, but Moon just waved his head “no” and regressed back into his defensive shell. By round two Moon would reveal his one strategy in the closing minute of the round when he appeared to turn to the pro-Tovar crowd and mug to them after Tovar landed another body shot. He then shook his head “no” after Tovar went to the body again and it became clear that Moon was attempting to get inside Tovar’s head and take him out of his game plan.
Tovar, though clearly frustrated with Moon, wisely didn’t take the bait.
By round four, with nothing resembling an offense from Moon, his first “offensive” moment would come when he threw Tovar to the canvas during a clinch. Round five saw Moon land his first, and only, meaningful punch of the night as he caught Tovar coming in with a counter left hand that snapped Tovar’s head back. But Tovar was clearly not hurt by the punch and Moon quickly went back to mugging to the crowd, seemingly turning to someone in the crowd and trying to tell them something.
Tovar looked to push for the knockout in round six but it was ultimately more of the same from Moon and he survived the round. Ultimately the scores were academic as all three judges scored the fight a shutout at 60-54. With the win Tovar, who blamed the lack of a knockout on Moon coming into the fight seven pounds over the contracted weight, improved to 13-0, 9 KOs. Moon sees his record slip to 11-7-1, 6 KOs.
In the co-main event Ciudad Juarez’s Jesus Ariel Moreno, 122, survived his toughest test to date as he won a razor thin split decision over veteran Roberto Pucheta, 123, over six rounds. Moreno had fought almost exclusively in Juarez and had never fought at a high elevation before and it showed as he struggled to find a rhythm early on. Pucheta, a 43-fight veteran, knew how to properly pace himself and keep moving forward, recognizing that Moreno was willing to give him the opening round. By the midway point of round two Moreno seemed to be giving his opponent another round, but the younger prospect upped the pressure in the second half of the round and landed a solid body shot in the closing minute that seemed to close the gap in the second. By round three it seemed like Moreno was starting to find his groove, but Pucheta was willing and able to match him punch for punch for much of the round. Round four and five saw more of the same, with Moreno trying to run away with the fight, only to be frustrated by the game and gritty Pucheta.
Going into round six it was clearly anyone’s fight, and to their credit both men fought like they recognized what was at stake. But neither man was able to run away with it. By the end of that final round it was apparent that either man could have won the round, and the fight, on the judges scorecards.
The judges scorecards ultimately reflected the close nature of the fight, with one judge giving it to Pucheta by a score of 58-56 while the other two judges giving it to Moreno by the same score. With the split decision won More improves to 11-1-1, 8 KOs while Pucheta falls to 14-27-3, 8 KOs.
Undefeated Victor Aranda, 154, had excited fans with his power over the last three years. Having won all five of his professional fights by knockout there was a recognition in his camp that it was time to take on that next natural progression in the development of a power punching prospect: fighting the durable journeyman who doesn’t get knocked out…ever.
Enter Houston’s DePriest Johnson, 155.
Johnson came into the fight with a very uninspiring 4-8 record with no knockouts. But he had never been knockout in his career and only been dropped once. And as the combined record of the opponents in seven of his eight losses was an eye popping 45-1 there was no question that Johnson was very much going to give Aranda some rounds in Mescalero.
And that’s exactly what happens as Johnson used his bag of veteran tricks to block punches and skirt out of danger whenever Aranda got too close. Aranda tried to close the gap, but he was never quite able to pin down Johnson long enough to be able to crack his defense. Johnson would throw just enough punches to keep Aranda on his toes, but not nearly enough to seriously threaten to win any of the rounds. The scorecards were academic as Aranda won a shutout decision on all three scorecards after four rounds.
In a cruiserweight fight, Ronald Baca, 202, scored a stunning third round TKO over Marcos Duran, 197. Duran seemed to be frustrating Baca from the southpaw stance and the cagy veteran was surprisingly not particularly active going into round three. Going into the third it looked like the veteran was going to let himself get outworked en route to a decision loss, but a picture perfect right hand counter to the chin sent Duran to the canvas and Duran rose on wobbly legs. Unable to stand and maintain his balance, referee Robert Velez wisely waved the fight off at 1:42 of the third. With the win Baca improves to 10-4-5, 4 KOs while Duran slips to 2-2, 2 KOs.
Albuquerque’s Shaun Henson, 158, came up short on his bid for his first win since 2013, losing a decision to Damien Munoz, 158, from Levelland, Texas. Henson seemed to be able to outwork Munoz in round one, utilizing the jab effectively. But Munoz began to take control of the action in round two as Henson faded badly midway through the second round. Henson, who hadn’t fought since 2017, clearly was not able to maintain the pace that the young Texan set, and this was almost certainly complicated by the elevation. Munoz began to tee off on Henson in round three but the New Mexican refused to take a backward step and acquitted himself well despite the fact that Munoz clearly dominated the final two rounds. There were no knockdowns but the scores were academic as two judges scored the fight 40-36 while one judge gave Henson a single round. With the win Munoz improves to 3-1, 2 KOs while Henson falls to 2-6, 2 KOs.
In what was undoubtably the fight of the night, Junior lightweights Pedro Rodarte, 130, and Luis Ledesma, 130, fought an absolute brawl over four rounds and had fans in attendance on their feet for much of the scrap. Rodarte looked the part of a solid prospect going in, and although Ledesma had three fights under his belt, he was coming into the ring on the heels of a nearly four year layoff. Perhaps assuming that ring rust would be a problem for Ledesma, Rodarte jumped all over him early. But although Ledesma seemed rattled by the offense from the rookie, he was able to weather the storm and by the end of the round Rodarte had visibly slowed down. Rodarte tried the explosive approach again in round two but Ledesma was starting to land hard counter shots of his own and there was a clear sense that the momentum was shifting at ringside. By the end of round two it was Rodarte who was starting to back up and at the start of round three Rodarte did not appear to have fully recovered. Backing up he seemed to be coming undone, but the young prospect dug deep and found his second wind midway through the round. Rodarte closed with some solid power shots in the closing ten seconds of the round and pushed himself to brawl on the inside with Ledesma in the final round. Finishing the round strong in the final ten seconds may have given Rodarte the edge in round four…and the fight. Although judge Edgar Lopez scored the fight 38-38, he was overruled by judges Rocky Burke and Travis Brown, who both had it scored 39-37 for Rodarte. Ledesma now sees his record slip to 1-2-1, 1 KO, but few would complain if he and Rodarte decide to give it another go in the near future.
In the opening bout of the evening, debuting William Salgado stopped Cruz Reyes at 2:30 of the second round in a super flyweight fight. A powerful body shot sent Reyes to the canvas two minutes into the second round and Reyes was visibly hurt after getting up. A solid shot to the chin sent Reyes down moments later and referee Edgar Lopez waved the fight off after the second knockdown. Reyes falls to 0-2.
At the end of the night, few of the fans at the twice sold out crowd (after selling out the event the Inn at the Mountain Gods opened up another section for seating, which also sold out almost immediately) were undoubtably happy with the action, as it proved to be an exciting, action packed night of fights. Mescalero has proved once again to be a solid venue for boxing, pulling in fans from El Paso and all across the state of New Mexico, and there should be little doubt that boxing will be returning to the Mescalero reservation before long based on how successful the event was on Saturday night.
