Espinosa faces tough Sanchez

It’ll be a heckuva fight. That’s the forecast of Mexican-born trainer Robert Aguallo who expects a bell-to-bell brawl between former World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight champion Luisito Espinosa and No. 9 contender Augie Sanchez in Las Vegas on Jan. 6.

Aguallo declined to predict the outcome but guaranteed that the scheduled 10-round bout will be "spectacular."

The fight is in the undercard of the World Boxing Association junior lightweight title match between champion Joel Casamayor of Cuba and challenger Roberto Garcia of Oxnard, California. Both bouts will be shown on pay-per-view TV in the US by the Showtime network.

Aguallo said Espinosa is ready for Sanchez who’s coming off a 160-day suspension for losing to Naseem Hamed on a fourth round knockout in Connecticut last August.

"Luisito will fight (at) 128 pounds," said Aguallo yesterday in an e-mail to The STAR from his San Francisco home. "I am extremely confident in his condition as always Luisito is training to his full potential. We’ve had great sparring and a perfect training camp. He’s four pounds from his fighting weight. We’ve surrounded ourselves with good boxing people – Sonny Marson who comes with 40 years of experience and Marco Gomez. All that’s left is to fight on Jan. 6."

Aguallo identified Espinosa’s sparmates as hot prospect Juan Arrias and unbeaten Joaquin Guallardo.

Aguallo, 33, was a former US Golden Gloves featherweight titlist. He never turned pro and retired from the ring in 1987. He has worked with former world champions like Seoul Olympian Henry Martinez, Tom (Boom Boom) Johnson, and Hector Lizarraga and traveled around the world for fights.

Aguallo explained that Espinosa agreed to face Sanchez because "he’s dangerous, he’s a power puncher, he’s young, he’s a top 10 fighter, and had an extensive amateur career." Sanchez nearly made it to the 1996 US Olympic team, losing a pair of close decisions to Floyd Mayweather in the run-up.

Aguallo continued: "Sanchez’ weakness is he’s a straight-up, flat-footed fighter (with) a questionable defense, weak chin, and lack of experience, especially against featherweights or junior lightweights. Being that Luisito and Sanchez are both promoted by America Presents, we were destined to fight so this is probably the best time. Luisito is 33 years old and doesn’t have time to sit on his No. 4 ranking. He doesn’t have two more years which is probably how long it would take for a mandatory fight with a champion. We have to make our move now because promoters and champions are not knocking on his door to fight him. There’s no incentive to fight Luisito."

Aguallo stressed that Espinosa didn’t agree to fight because of the money. He will receive $15,000 to fight Sanchez.

For Espinosa, this is a make or break fight. He’s fresh from a fifth round stoppage of journeyman Ramon Aragon of Mexico in Detroit last October. It was his first win since halting Kennedy McKinney two years ago. A decisive win over Sanchez will boost Espinosa’s chances of fighting the winner of the WBC featherweight title duel between Guty Espadas and Erik Morales in February.

Sanchez, 23, was badly battered by Hamed and needs a big win to bounce back into serious contention. Against Hamed, Sanchez took early control and floored the brash Englishman of Yemen descent twice in the second round only for referee Mike Ortega to rule them slips. In the third round, Sanchez drew blood from Hamed’s nose. But in the fourth, Hamed proved too strong and blasted Sanchez into submission. Sanchez was on the canvas for several minutes before he was brought to his dressing room on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital for tests.

Ringside physician Dr. Michael Schwartz examined Sanchez in the ring and said "He was very lethargic in his responses – his talking was slurred and he had some abnormal neurological responses in his pupils." Sanchez was later given a clean bill of health by doctors who only diagnosed a contusion in his left eye.

Is Sanchez damaged goods? Will Espinosa send Sanchez into final retirement? Or will Sanchez rebound at Espinosa’s expense?

Aguallo was non-committal. "I don’t promise anything because I cannot see into the future," he said. "But all I can tell you is that Luisito and the team have prepared ourselves for this fight. If it’s God will, then we’ll win."