Hometown favorite and unbeaten junior lightweight Archie Ray Marquez scored a unanimous decision victory (79-72, 80-71, 77-74) over the tough Derrick Campos in front of an energized crowd in Friday’s co-feature. The event was promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, LLC.
Avalos (15-0, 12 KOs), of Lancaster, Calif., lived up to his billing as an aggressive, exciting fighter, but was out-boxed by Nieves (17-2-3, 8 KOs), of Puerto Rico, in the opening round. Not deterred, he came out in the second and remaining rounds determined to do exactly what he does best: swing hard and swing often.
Avalos plastered Nieves with combos against the ropes in the fourth round, sending the 29-year-old to the canvas. Nieves got up, but immediately faced an onslaught of punches that floored him again and left him unable to beat the count..
“Avalos turned the fight with one shot,” said ShoBox’s expert commentator Steve Farhood. “As soon as Nieves backed to the ropes, in essence, the fight was over.
“He kept his poise and took what was given to him, and, when he turned it up, it turned out that Nieves couldn’t handle it.”
The 20-year-old Avalos, who was facing his toughest opposition yet, seemed surprised that the fight didn’t go past four rounds.
“I’m beyond happy, but I didn’t think it would end that quickly,” Avalos said. “I thought it would go into the sixth round. He was a good fighter, I take nothing from him. I was just the better fighter tonight.”
Marquez (9-0, 6 KOs) took his biggest step-up in opposition yet against the vastly more experienced Campos (20-8, 11 KOs), of Topeka, Kansas. The 21-year-old Albuquerque native struggled to find his power against Campos, 28, who had never been stopped inside the distance.
Marquez may have easily out-pointed Campos, but, according to former undisputed light heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver, Friday’s challenge proved that he needs to throw more combos and face a more aggressive fighter to help develop his skills.
“I like his style, but he needs to work on his power,” said Tarver, who served as ShoBox’s guest analyst. “He needs to turn his opportunities into power shots, rather than boxing away. I look forward to seeing him again and I think he has a bright future.”
Nick Charles called the action from ringside with the Farhood serving as expert analyst and Tarver as special guest commentator. The executive producer of “ShoBox” is Gordon Hall with Richard Gaughan producing and Rick Phillips directing.
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