Championship Boxing Returns to El Paso in Style

Boxing fans were treated to an entertaining evening of bouts on Saturday at the Don Haskins center that included hometown favorite Antonio Escalante, and 2 main events for Bantamweight championships.

Fans were in heaven as doors opened at around 4 for several fights that took place prior to the co-main and main event. Antonio Escalante stepped back into the ring to take on Francisco Camacho in an 8 round Junior Lightweight bout. Escalante dominated the fight coming out in the first round fighting with quite a bit of aggression.

In the 2nd round Escalante looked to end the fight early as he knocked down Camacho twice. Then the crowd was stunned as Escalante was knocked down by Camacho towards the end of the round. The referee called it a knockdown, but it looked like a slip, needless to say, fans weren't pleased at all. Escalante dominated the next couple of rounds finally ending it at the 2:00 mark of the 4th round with a TKO.

In the co-main event WBA Bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno faced David De La Mora. The 2nd round was great, it included De La Mora being knocked down and towards the end of the round he was able to redeem himself by stunning Moreno with a flurry of solid punches. When the round was over it looked like it would be a close, competitive fight.

Moreno dictated the pace for the next several rounds landing more blows than De La Mora. Finally 10 seconds into the 9th round De La Mora's corner decided to throw in the towel and stop the bout. It was quite an unpopular decision with the fans as they booed rather loud. Officially Moreno was credited with a 9th round TKO, successfully defending his title.

The main event featured two experienced fighters in Abner Mares and Eric Morel. The younger Mares is a former NABA Bantamweight champion and fought for the IBF Bantamweight championship in 2010 as well, but the fight vs. Yonnhy Perez ended in a draw. Eric Morel AKA "little hands of steel," is the former WBA Flyweight champion.

Mares fought a skillful bout by outboxing Morel and forcing him to fight while backing up and cornered against the ropes. Mares landed some vicious body shots throughout the fight and was the aggressor all night long. Morel held his own making the fight competitive but in the end Mares' youth and speed proved to be too much for Morel to handle. Mares won the WBC Super Bantamweight championship with a 12 round unanimous decision. It was a great fight card that was filled with excitement on Saturday night, the fans were quite animated as well chanting "Mexico, Mexico" during the main event. Overall, it was a great night of championship boxing at the Don Haskins Center.