Boxing: Even for fighters, there's a first time for everything

In the eight bouts at the Gladiators of Boxing event Saturday at the Far West Event Center, seven boxers made their professional debut.

One bout - Christina Ruiz of San Antonio against Brandi Hainey of Lubbock - had two making their pro debuts.

It also included an aspect common to boxing: the fill-in.

That was Hainey, a trained mixed martial arts fighter who was asked four days before the event if she could take Ruiz's original opponent's place.

Hainey accepted, and in the second round, after having trouble adjusting to the format, she was defeated by Ruiz by a technical knockout.

"I wanted to knee her," Hainey said.

Obviously, she couldn't.

Instead, Ruiz, 23, unloaded a left-right combination about 10 seconds into the first round, steadily piling it on throughout the round, and began the second round with a similar effective combination. It was not long afterward that the referee stopped the fight.

"My trainer (Emilio Ledezma) called it - he had said it would be stopped in the second round," Ruiz said.

Between the first and second rounds, Ruiz turned to the crowd and smiled as soon as she escaped from the corner.

Ledezma had just told her she was well ahead, to just continue what she had been doing.

The fight ended with the same song that accompanied the introductions: rock-band Drowning Pool's hit, ‘Bodies,' by her request - and received one of the night's loudest applauses.

"She didn't hit the floor," Ruiz said, "but I still won."

Ruiz was very confident going into the fight; she raised her gloves repeatedly as the announcer introduced the boxers - "I love to hear the crowd," she said - and felt she just needed to stick to what led to her 7-1 amateur mark.

Ruiz began boxing about a year-and-a-half ago, because "I wanted to keep in shape and I knew I could kick some (butt)."

She teamed with Ledezma, who owns a gym in San Antonio. Ruiz had used another trainer only briefly and already had a nickname, given by her mother: ‘The Bullitt."

"It's cause I'm speedy, I'm fast," Ruiz said.

She - and the fight - were on Saturday.

>> Comeback: Partly because of a leg infection, Valentino Jalomo hadn't fought since last July.

Though he had satisfactory sparring sessions before Saturday, he was worried about the time off.

But his fight against Hanson Thacker couldn't have gone much better.

Jalomo, of Amarillo, controlled the fight's tempo, and he scored his first-career knockout - a TKO, in the second round.

"If I had stayed a little closer to him, I probably could have knocked him out faster," said Jalomo, who improved to 3-3-2.

Not a bad restart to a career, which he is deep into at 31-years-old.

"But I'm a young 31," he said.

>> Dr. Finch: In boxing, there are the staples of the ring, the bell and the ring girls. In Permian Basin boxing, there is Dr. Albert B. Finch, a local gynecologist who said he has been providing ringside medical help for 55 years.

Dr. Finch, 87, was teamed with Dr. Francisco Salcido, who has a local family practice, on Saturday.

Dr. Finch has experience with boxing beyond the gauzes and stethoscope. During his high school years in South Carolina, he fought in amateur bouts. But a particular loss, in which he sustained a cut on his forehead - he still has the scar - pushed him to another field.

The most common issues he deals with are bloody noses, concussion symptoms and, in rare cases, shoulder injuries.

Dr. Finch prefers helping at amateur events, where it's mostly volunteer-staffed and he can watch the up-and-comers, but he respects all boxers.

"It's awful hard to get in the ring and have someone whoop you up and then hug him afterward," he said. "It makes men out of boys."

>> Nicknames: It seems like it's almost a requirement for seasoned boxers to carry a nickname; it can reflect the fighting style, a personality trait or, in Edgar Portillo's case, a song from his favorite band.

When Portillo was 11 years old, he said, he heard a song by his favorite group, Los Rieleros Del Norte - which was formed in Pecos - called ‘El Invencible' (the invincible). He loved it, and he made it his nickname.

"I've had it ever since," Portillo said.

However, a nickname is not strictly applied to boxers. Mixed martial arts fighter Cesar Rodriguez, who lost by knockout to Jeremy Valderaz in the second round, is also known as ‘The Silent Killer.'

"Because I don't talk a lot, man," Rodriguez said. "In the gym, I just work, don't say much."

>> It's official: Most parts of boxing events in the state - from the weigh-ins to the pre-fight examinations - must be certified by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Hector Barragan is a program specialist of the department's combative sports division. He oversaw the weigh-in and examinations Friday and coordinated many pre-fight elements Saturday.

"Our primary function is making sure the judges, the refs, the people in the fighters' corners, are all certified," said Barragan, who is based in Austin.

Barragan began his position with no experience in boxing but 11 years in compliance and investigations with another state agency.

"On fight night, 80 percent of what I do is making sure everything runs smoothly," he said. "Twenty percent is actually watching the fights."

>> The ring: West Texas Combat Promotions rented the ring used Saturday from a company in Lubbock.

Rudi Munoz, president of WTC Promotions, said he plans to purchase a ring soon, but, for now, he has to bring one in for events.

The one used Saturday - it had a WTC logo in the middle of the mat - needed to be a little different because of the mixed martial arts bout on the card:

Typically, a ring needs only four layers of ropes; with MMA fights, it needs five.