Disorder at the Border : a Mexican war in Texas
The night Roman and Escalante settled their childhood beef in the ring
It all started 12 years earlier when Antonio Escalante’s dad sent him to the bustling Juarez market to buy some eggs. Hanging around at the same location, Miguel ‘Mickey’ Roman and his crew zoned in on the fellow teenager. Words were exchanged and eggs smashed across the floor as the feisty youngsters were pushed together for an impromptu scrap.
A dozen years later, with the grudge still simmering away, the pair reconvened in the paid ring. By now two respected pro pugilists, Roman (bottom right) boasted a 28-6 record while Escalante (bottom left) was 22-2. Swapping the tough Mexican neighbourhood of Juarez for the Texan stronghold of El Paso, the king of the border would be definitively settled.
Photo Credit - Bad Left Hook
Entering the ring on February 26, 2010, following Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia’s razor thin victory over Ashley Theophane, Escalante was clearly the better boxer and more comfortable at range. Roman, meanwhile, enjoyed taking matters inside the kitchen, as Teddy Atlas explained at ringside, to land his own big shots.
Atlas was joined by Joe Tessitore for the ESPN broadcast of Friday Night Fights. It was all destined to be the kind of scrap that would exemplify the FNF offering during its fruitful run in the sport. Two flawed Mexican warriors, neither afraid of facing defeat, egged on by a packed crowd inside the arena. It had all of the ingredients of a cracker.
Sporting his customary camouflage gear, Miguel Roman came straight out firing in round one, looking to push Escalante back. A typical Mexican style, Roman let the hands go before mostly ending on the left hook. Escalante was more comfortable when he created space and ripped combinations off the jab. As advertised, there was plenty of leather landed in the opener.
In round two, Escalante, a two times Golden Gloves winner as an amateur, stepped off to exhibit his pedigree. He was able to move around a bit against an opponent who was all about putting you under pressure, testing your fortitude and character, dragging you in the trenches.
Escalante’s excessive movement was concerning for Atlas and Tessitore. The pair feared for his later round gas tank and mental concentration. Roman found a little success with the left hook as Escalante dropped down to his right side.
Roman continued to apply pressure in round three. Every time Escalante reset, Roman was right back on top of him. The underdog’s work to the body was diligent, but Escalante was again doing a good job of maintaining range and using the jab to hold space.
Fighting like a man who had a high WBA ranking to protect, Escalante was planting his feet more and launching bombs in round four. Looking to deter Roman, he stood in the centre ring, ducking and dodging, showing the full range of his skillset. Roman didn’t care, he continued motoring forward, throwing hard left hands to the mid section. Investing for the later rounds.
In round five Escalante came out swinging but was put in his place by Roman who potentially hurt him with a little body shot, followed by a left hook to the head. Roman smelled blood and closed the distance well, unleashing some heavy shots as Escalante found himself increasingly pushed back.
Round six saw Teddy Atlas’s scorecard awarding the first four rounds to Escalante with Roman only picking up the fifth. Atlas had it 49-46 to Antonio overall. Escalante dropped some tasty flurries just to try and keep the relentless Roman at bay. Roman really dug in with those body shots. Referee Rocky Burke, mostly an observer to this point, had to jump in a couple of times to split them apart.
Keen to stamp his authority on the seventh round, Escalante was busy winging away with combinations. As a consequence, his wide elbows allowed Roman to touch the body hard. Over the last minute Escalante was leaning forward, trying to protect the ribs as the torso assaults understandably drained his energy.
Round eight was a really good round for Escalante. Determined to repel the constant pressure of his childhood rival, Escalante’s sharp hands led to strong combinations. Every shot was thrown with vicious intent and he dropped Roman with 15 seconds remaining.
Smiling at the camera, Roman even offered a hug to Escalante at the end of the round. Sporting mangled features and a blood riddled nose, the fight was swiftly slipping away from Roman.
On the run: Oscar chose to run for the final Trinidad rounds (Photo - The Ring)
Escalante was moving so much it threatened to turn into running in round nine as Roman stood in the centre of the ring, arms folded, making an exaggerated gesture. Teddy Atlas referenced ringside promoter Oscar De La Hoya who once circumnavigated the ring during the final three rounds of the Felix Trinidad fight and we all know how that strategy cost him dearly. Atlas also made a good point that Escalante’s refusal to engage allowed Roman to shake off any cobwebs and reset himself in round nine, which Roman arguably won.
The tenth and final round saw Escalante pitching with blood pouring from his nose. Deciding to momentarily end his ceasefire, Escalante stood and traded with Roman. Escalante’s shots were wider but his faster hands were finding the target. At the end they both went arm-in-arm around the ring accepting the adulation of the crowd. It’s fair to say that the childhood beef had now ended.
WINS FOR THE HAMMER AND SHORT DOG
Padraig McCrory scored a solid 10-round points win over Steed Woodall in the Falls Park on Friday evening. I was ringside at the Feile Fight Night and wrote a report for Boxing News magazine so won’t go into much detail here. That said, ‘The Hammer’ has done really well with his career after nearly quitting the game altogether following suspect amateur decisions, to now headlining in front of his home crowd.
Jamie Conlan has the SSE Arena booked for the first week in December so things could get even bigger for McCrory who may face Jason Quigley in an all-Irish world title eliminator.
On the Feile undercard there were wins for a variety of local boxers including Sean McComb who had a great scrap with Alejandro Moya of Spain. Former Olympian Kurt Walker has skills but lacks punching power. The Lisburn boxer beat a Nicaraguan over eight rounds.
It’s good to see Lewis Crocker active again and settled. Crocker relocated to Scotland to train with Billy Nelson and scored a trademark stoppage in the fourth round. Big heavyweight Martin Bakole was in the corner assisting Nelson.
ShoBox The New Generation served up another three exciting contests on Friday evening in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with the main event providing the most glowing highlight of them all. Heavy-handed super-featherweight Jordan ‘Short Dog’ White detonated a pinpoint left hook on 17-0 southpaw Eridson Garcia, leaving the Dominican flat on his back and out in round one. White’s hefty entourage, including Bill Haney, went crazy as their man pushed closer towards title contention.
On the undercard, Paul Kroll and Guido Emmanuel Schramm fought to an eight-round majority draw. This is the second consecutive draw for Kroll on ShoBox. His last one came against Marquis Taylor who went on to upset unbeaten prospect Yoelvis Gomez on Showtime.
In the show opener, Julian Gonzalez defeated Johnny Spell over eight rounds. Spell was a neat boxer who had never stepped up in class. Gonzalez’s powerful left jab-left hook controlled the range and earned him the win.
Meanwhile, on DAZN, Elijah Pierce fought back from a difficult start against contender Mike Plania to plant the Filipino on the canvas in round three with a straight left hand. Headlining the show, Pierce is one of the main players of New York promoter Brandon Rhodes’ OTX Overtime Boxing venture. There was a special WBC belt attached, as well as bonus payments for first or last round KOs in all bouts. If any fight ended in a draw the combatants would fight for an additional round to decide the outcome. We briefly discussed this, as well as the entire AJ-Whyte charade, on last Sunday’s pod (link above).
NUTHOUSE NOTES
The Jake Paul roadshow continued on Saturday evening when he defeated Nate Diaz on points. The Dallas atmosphere was excellent. I’d heard of Nate Diaz, who boxed as a southpaw, but was not familiar with his body of work in the world of combat sport. Diaz was the only man to hit the canvas here (in round five) but as Paul tired it actually became a pretty fun fight.
Out in Spain, former contender Mike Perez scored a facile first-round knockout of dire opponent Adnan Deronja. It’s hard to criticise Paul and Diaz for putting in 10 rounds of action and label it celebrity boxing whenever the likes of Bosnia’s Deronja are masquerading as credible pugilists. Cuba’s Perez deserves better.
Anthony Joshua faces replacement Robert Helenius
Anthony Joshua’s next fight on August 12 will go ahead against Robert Helenius after the original opponent was forcibly withdrawn. Dillian Whyte is apparently shocked and devastated after returning an adverse finding to VADA following random testing. Whyte needn’t be so shocked given the fact that he has experience in the world of adverse findings and trace amounts, having been caught out twice before.
In 2019, after the Oscar Rivas fight, we asked repeatedly to see the B sample as Eddie pleaded with fans to make judgement once they knew all of the facts. I’m not sure the facts ever came to light and by the time Whyte retires we’ll be on to the E, F and G sample.
Just like Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller and other doping dopes, Big Dill can’t stop himself at the chemist’s counter. Guilty or not, will any worthwhile boxing promoter ever touch him again after yet another disreputable episode? You better believe they will.
Thanks for reading! Drop a little heart or even a comment if you get a minute. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Speak to you all next week…
About Steve: Experienced boxing writer, author of 8 books and podcaster of over 400 eps. 20 years in the sport. Covered hundreds of shows for newspapers and Boxing News magazine. Chief video script writer for Motivedia channel and BN+. For enquiries: stevenwellings1982@gmail.com.
I'll add the Roman fight to my watch list, his shootout with Miura was quality with a brutal end
Disappointing to see Dillian Whyte fail another drug test and get pulled from the AJ fight. I actually think Helenius might be a better opponent to get back his confidence though.