There’s such a thing as a long-awaited rematch.
Then there’s the scheduled rumble Saturday as the main event of the “March Boxing Madness” card at Sky Ute Casino, an event arranged by Left Hook Promotions, as veterans Victoria Cisneros and Layla McCarter will fight.
Neither being a stranger to the town of Ignacio, the pair will meet inside the squared circle for the first time since 2006 and battle for the Women’s International Boxing Federation and Global Boxing Union interim world welterweight championship.
Having strung together 17 consecutive victories since last losing in 2007, the Las Vegas, Nevada-based McCarter – ranked second at the 147-pound limit by the WIBF – will arrive with 40 wins – 10 by knockout – to her decorated name against 13 losses and five draws. Ranked fifth, Cisneros of Albuquerque stands 13-19-2 with six stoppages. Saturday’s bout is slated for 10 three-minute rounds.
Germany’s Verena “The Empress” Kaiser is scheduled to fight in April for the first time since September when she won the two titles believed to be up for grabs in Ignacio.
Kaiser (10-0-0, 5 KO) is still the reigning WIBF/GBU world welterweight champ going into March.
According to information detailed at womenofboxing.com, paraphrasing GBU President Juergen Lutz, the Cisneros-McCarter-bout will “be considered as an eliminator to face Kaiser for the regular championship belts.”
Anchoring the undercard and still seeking his 30th pro win, local icon Elco “The Animal” Garcia (29-10-0, 13 KO) will throw down with Colorado Springs’ Terry Buterbaugh (11-11-3, 5 KO), while Four Corners vet “Ironman” Joe Gomez (20-7-1, 9 KO) of Bloomfield, a couple weeks removed from his 33rd birthday and back in action for the first time since 2015 when he defeated Buterbaugh, will meet Denver’s well-traveled Corey Alarcon (17-20-1, 4 KO).
Always up to travel to the Events Center, regional familiar Steve Victor (2-7-2) is scheduled to fight Daniel Gonzales (12-42-2, 4 KO) of Billings, Montana, returning to the venue after first fighting inside it in 2016. Also no stranger to the site, Zamir Young (2-6-1) will meet a first-time foe in Costa Rica-born Las Vegan lefthander Arturo Izquierdo (4-0-0, 1 KO).
Denver’s Alma Garcia (2-5-0, 1 KO) is set to test 20-year-old Katie Ramirez (0-2-1) of Albuquerque for four two-minute rounds, and Durango’s Miguel “El Coyote” Gallegos (4-1-1, 1 KO) is scheduled to challenge Farmington’s Joe Barela (5-3-0, 2 KO). Barela will return as a competitor in the ring after nearly 10 years for a tentatively-scheduled four-rounder.
Doors are set to open at 5 p.m., with first bell targeted for 7.
