Wham! Smasho! Lights out.
It came that quickly, at 54 seconds of the fifth round.
Roberto “Araña” Vásquez landed a devastating combination on Venezuela’s Edgar Velásquez, and although I couldn’t ascertain whether it was the left or the subsequent right that really put the latter on the canvas, it was immediately clear that the Venezuelan wouldn’t get up in time. He was out like a light.
The Panama News had Vásquez ahead on points, but in a thrilling and increasingly even bout, through the first four rounds. In the first round it might have been a slip, or, as the ref called it, might have been a knockdown, but scored the latter way as it was La Araña ended up ahead by two points after what otherwise was a fairly even and hard-fought round. Vásquez increased his lead by taking the second round, in this reporter’s opinion, but not without fierce resistance from his opponent.
Then Velásquez began to get a bit more effective with his counterpunches. Call the third round a draw.
The fourth round was as good as boxing gets, with the Panamanian in the spider trunks beating the Venezuelan into the ropes, only to be immediately repaid in kind. Call the fourth round another draw, but the hint of fatigue began to show in Velásquez as those three minutes of very busy fisticuffs came to their conclusion.
Then, in the next round, the big crunching combination and time to get a cab back to the office after a long working day. It was nearly two in the morning.
The sudden conclusion to the Vásquez-Velásquez fight, taken in from about a dozen rows back in the terreno section, came at the end of a mostly forgettable night of boxing. The July 16 fight night at the Figali Convention Center was very well attended, but though that may be the main measure of success the card would have been better without two or three of its bouts.
Ah, but why should a reporter complain when another night on the job unexpectedly netted him that most horribly fascinating --- or at least horrible --- of classic scoops? Yep --- a tale with ye olde cannibalism angle!
The bitee was Wilmer Gómez. José Torres Tafur got disqualified in the third round for holding Gómez’s head with one arm and beating it with his free fist, then biting Gómez on the neck, throwing him down to the canvas and stomping on him. This wild and crazy incident came, in this reporter’s estimation, with Torres Tafur leading by a point after two excellent rounds of boxing.
Torres Tafur took his taste of Gómez tartare, without any condiments. Unlike Evander Holyfield, Wilmer Gómez went home with his ears uneaten.
After the disqualification an out of control Torres Tafur wanted to fight some more, and only a few cooler heads prevented the ensuing brawl from spreading way out of control. As the announcer explained the ruling over the high-distortion PA system, an awfully large part of the crowd chanted “cueco, cueco...” --- I’m not sure whether they were casting aspersions about the referee, Gómez or Torres Tafur, or whether it was mainly a matter of a whole lot of guys desperately needing to show the other guys that they’re not queer.
But this fight night was videotaped, and when the replay was shown on the screens above the ring, the crowd’s vicarious lust for human flesh was satiated, its statement on sexual orientation was made and its curiosity about the referee’s ruling was laid to rest with a chuckle.
The matter now rests with the boxing commission, which will surely not be amused. The commissioners are expected to draw a sharp line between acceptable professional boxing techniques and McDonald’s playground fight tactics. And while boxing authorities will likely keep him out of the ring for awhile, the crude simplicity of Torres Tafur’s tastes probably keeps him off of the Emeril show as well.
But quite frankly, were it not for this mad interlude I might have fallen asleep well before Vásquez and Velásquez got into the ring.
Good thing I didn’t crash out. Vásquez showed that he could throw devastating punches in combinations, and that he can take a hard punch too. At the bottom line he emphatically served notice that he’s a bona fide contender for the world junior flyweight crown.
As originally arranged, a fight for the WBA championship for the winner was part of the deal. Then Velásquez objected to the chosen referee and Panama’s boxing commission and the two fighters’ camps agreed to a switch, which in turn led the WBA to withdraw its offer over the principle of their not being consulted about a change in officials.
But officiating played no role in the outcome of this fight. La Araña made all that moot. Now, even if the WBA is determined to assert its prerogatives by denying Vásquez an immediate title shot, his way to the top is within sight.
