(SEPT 6) Christina Fuentes
has traveled from Laredo, TX to New York twice this year. She
came to fight; more accurately to box professionally, each time
against better known, higher ranked, favored opponents.
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Photo by Christy Cappillino/Heather
Hardy vs. Mandy Fuentes
In February Fuentes stepped in
against Heather Hardy, the current "hot" New York female
fighter, in the main event of what was the curtain call for
Roseland Ballroom as a boxing venue. Fuentes lost a razor thin
decision.
Photo by Uprising
Promotions/Eileen Olszewski vs. Mandy Fuentes
On Friday night at the Brooklyn
Masonic Temple, the Laredo fighter was matched with current IFBA
flyweight titleholder, Eileen Olszewski, in a non-title bout,
and after eight back/forth, bell/bell action rounds came away
with a split draw against the talented Olszewski. In boxing, as
with most sports, it's tough to win a "road" game and Fuentes is
a prime case study of that premise. Either of the two decisions
could have gone to either fighter, but Fuentes heads back to
Laredo without a win but not without a tip of the cap from the
usually hard-to-please New York fight fans.
The Olszewski/Fuentes bout was the main event on Ronson Frank's
Uprising Promotions six bout professional card at the overheated
Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene section of the Borough of
Churches. The program kicked off with four amateur bouts (one
female) as appetizer for a sold out house of sweating fans
packing both levels of the 107 year old stone structure which
was overmatched by the early September heat and humidity, not
being endowed with modern day cooling apparatus. But the fans
were treated to a fast moving card, the highlights of which were
a six round bout between local battlers Italy Martinez and Ian
James and the capper on the evening, Olszewski and Fuentes.
Fuentes started fast taking the fight to the IFBA champ in the
first two rounds and while Olszewski adjusted in the third
stanza, Fuentes left hooks to the body and head gave her the
edge after the first three rounds. Olszewski's adjustments, on
offense and defense, led to her scoring effectively on the
inside although Fuentes would meet each surge of offense with a
rejoining reply of her own. Rounds four and five were very close
and each fighter could probably claim one of the two rounds;
which fighter and which round was probably a case of too close
to call.
Olszewski, realizing she was behind on any reasonable scorecard,
stepped up the pace in the last three rounds, getting off first
with her jabs, bulling Fuentes into the corners and the ropes,
but the game Texan stayed with the New Yorker and while the
sixth and eighth rounds were clearly Olszewski, the seventh
round was a close call. The bout ended with both fighters in the
middle of the ring trying to squeeze whatever was left in their
offensive arsenals in before the end. After the bell, both
corners hoisted their fighters into the air in a celebratory
salute of victory and there was a judge at ringside who agreed
with each of the corners: Frank Lombardi scored it 78-74
Olszewski, Tom Schreck had it 77-75 Fuentes and Eric Marlinski
called it even 76-76. Lombardi had six rounds for Olszewski, and
two for Fuentes, while Marlinski called those two "even"
rounds for Fuentes. Schreck had it 5-3 in rounds for Fuentes. It
was that close and in the final analysis, the split draw seemed
to me to be the right call.
Official Scorecard of Judges/PDF
Olszewski who came to the bout at 112.2 pounds has her record go
to 9-5-3, while Fuentes, 113.4 is now 3-6-4. Eileen Olszewski,
showing no sign of her 45 years, continues to look forward to
what has already been a standout career in the
flyweight/bantamweight ranks. Christina Fuentes returns to
Laredo without the satisfaction of a win, but with an overload
of plaudits from New York fight fans for her willingness to go
where the tough fights are and as an affirmation that it's
sometimes important to look beyond a fighter's W/L record.
