19.03.08 – By Ted Sares: Recently, the suspect records of heavyweights Tye Fields and Faruq “The Dream” Saleem were reviewed and the analysis revealed what most of us already knew–their records were padded with “easy” fights.
But the issue of deceptive records is a global phenomenon as well. As one of a multitude of examples, let’s look at the interesting record of Feliciano Dario Azuaga Ledezma, alias “El Indio de Oro,” who fights out of Paraguay. This bantam weight has an eye popping slate of 72 (KO 61) – 11 (KO 7) – in 87 outings.. Ledezma has a chill factor (“excitement factor”) of 78%. He chills or he gets chilled. The problem is that with almost mathematical certainty, he gets chilled when he steps up, and chills when he steps down.
El Indio was KOd by Simphiwe Nongqayi in August 2007 in a bid for the WBF super flyweight title. He has since won three fights, all by knockouts. Two were over Walter “El Coyote” Satler, now 0-7. In fact, of the Coyote’s seven career defeats, four have come at the hands of El Indio. The combined record of his last three opponents is 0-32.
Ledezma has also taken a liking to Arnaldo Elias Romero Orrabalis, alias “Polvorita” and also from Paraguay. Ledezma has beaten Polvorita, 2-23-2, seven times. He also stopped Argentineans Enrique Roque Ramon Ocampo, 0-27-2, twice. Ocampo, alias “Chirolita,” is winless at 0-26 (KO -2 and has suffered 17 KOs.
El Indio also found time to dispatch the immortal Brazilian Jose Carlos Amaral twice. Jose, fighting since 1993, currently has a record of 1-52 with 29 losses coming by way of knockout. Yes, his record is 1-52!
However, when Ledezma fights better opposition, he gets into big time trouble. Tough Sergio Manuel “Rocky” Medina, 30-1, iced him twice. In fact, the last time he beat a fighter with a winning record was in December 2003 when he KOd Erich Ramon Sanabria Franco, alias “Chispita,”14-8-1 at the time. In 2002, he stopped Julio Cesar Garibaldi, 1-0. In 2001, he beat Bolivian “Sugar” Castro, 4-2-3. In 2000, he stopped Argentinean Julio Oscar “Clerico” Oliva in 25 seconds of the first round.
Maybe his career best came in a SD loss to Argentinean Juan Domingo “Panza” Cordoba, 33-5-3 coming in, in a 2001 fight held at the Gimnasio Ian Bartney in Mendoza, Argentina. Ledezma was 49-1-2 coming in.
On March 15, 2008, “El Indio” stepped down again and TKO’d Basilio Pedro Morel Mendiola (alias El Mono) in the second round. It was his fourth win over the hapless “El Mono” who now has an alarming record of 0-20 (KO 18).
It’s pretty clear what this is all about. Certain fighters play a certain role. Some seemed to have found a comfortable way to lose. Said another way, they are savvy enough to survive without undue risk, but at the same time provide enough excitement to guarantee more fights. Their ability to come back time and again is their meal ticket. They are a promoter’s dream; they represent reliability and virtual certainty. Indeed. it’s not if; it’s when.
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