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The press conference for Saturday night’s Mayhem event, featuring Holly Holm and Mary McGee, was held Thursday, May 9th, 2013 at the Route 66 Casino. The six-bout event takes place in the Legends Theater at Route 66 Casino at 7PM Saturday, May 11th, 2013.
First Bout:
Manny Rocha (Pro-Debut) vs. Flory Olguin, Jr. (Pro-Debut) (4 rounds at Cruiserweight)
Flory Olguin, Jr. is making his pro-debut at 48 years old. Olguin is fighting in memory of his father, boxer Flory Olguin, Sr., who passed away in November.
Rocha was not in attendance.
Second Bout:
Gabe Gabaldon (Pro-Debut) vs. Brandon Salazar (Pro-Debut) (4 rounds at Lightweight)
Both fighters will be making their pro-debut on Saturday. Salazar is honored at the opportunity for this fight, and wishes luck to Holly Holm.
Third Bout:
Cris Leyva (1-0) vs. Manuel Eastman (1-3) (4 rounds at Light Middleweight)
Neither fighter was in attendance.
Fourth Bout:
Rocky “Torito” Romero (2-0) vs. Michael Coca Gallegos (1-10-1) (4 rounds at Welterweight)
“I’ve heard some good things about my opponent,” Gallegos said. “He’s a good fighter, should be a good fight, come out and watch us.”
Romero sees Gallegos as a worthy opponent and describes his record as “deceiving”.
Fifth Bout:
Matthew Baca (2-1) vs. Armando Gonzales (2-2) (6 rounds at Lightweight)
Baca thanked God, his family, and girlfriend for the support. “It’s been a great camp and I’m ready. I’m going to come back strong from my last fight.”
Gonzales was not in attendance.
Main Event:
Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm (32-2-3) vs. Mary “Merciless” McGee (20-1) (10 rounds at Light Welterweight for the IBA and WBF Women’s Championship)
Saturday’s event will be Holm’s final boxing match before her transition to MMA only. The IBA Light Welterweight Champion, who is also the 14-Time, 3-Division World Champion, will face former NABC Lightweight Champion Mary McGee of Gary, Indiana.
Prior to bringing the fighters up, McGee’s manager Lori Steinhorst had this to say: “I’m honored to be a part of her [Holly’s] last fight. The most important thing to me is that she [Mary] has learned to love the people of New Mexico and the people of New Mexico have shown her a lot of love, so this is her moment.”
Promoter Lenny Fresquez of Fresquez Productions said, “This fight was not easy to make. A lot of people don’t want to fight Holly. I give a lot of props to this lady [Mary], she’s fearless.”
Mary McGee: “I love New Mexico, the people have welcomed me here with open arms. This opportunity does mean a lot to me, I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Well, do you know the caliber of fight you’re in?…The fight might not be fair for you.’ There’s several things that I’ve heard, but at the end of the day, I’m a fighter, and I train to win fights. I worked my hardest because these are the things you do if you’re a true champion. You step up to the plate and you take true fights. I have a lot of respect for the things that Holly did in her career and I feel that with the opportunity that I can do the same.”
Holly Holm: “…I know that I have a very tough opponent in front of me. There’s been a lot of good and bad surrounding the last conference and just around this whole boxing/MMA. I’ve really just shut everything right now as far as MMA because I really wanted to focus on this fight because I have very tough opponent in front of me and I don’t need to overlook that. I want to make sure to take everything that this fight has and make the most of it. In the gym we always, you know, the way we refer to it is ‘hitting a wall’, and I don’t want to do that. That fighter only gets in there and hits a wall and doesn’t do everything they wanted to do and then the fights over. The opportunity is passed and you didn’t make the most of it. I’ve really just been focusing on this fight. I don’t want it to pass me up. There’s just been a lot of emotions around it and I think one of the biggest things people have been asking me is, ‘How emotional is this and how do you feel?”, and I think a lot of that is coming from the negativity. On the other side, my hearts just really not wanting to pursue this anymore. I want to try a new path. Everybody’s asking ‘What about this fight, what about that fight?’, and I’ve just been telling them, well all I know is May 11th I’m fighting Mary McGee, and I’m very proud and very honored to be able to share this with you.”
“This training camp has been similar but different. We’ve been working on a lot of things, to capitalize, things that I want to do in the ring that I haven’t done. Maybe I’ve done it in practice, but I haven’t shown it to you, and I want to showcase it. My coaches put a lot of time into helping me capitalize on those things. I’m never satisfied when the fight’s over but I guess that’s a good thing because it’s kept me wanting to learn. I’m hoping to give my best performance.”
Tickets for the event range from $25 to $200, and are available at the Route 66 Casino Box Office, or online at www.rt66casino.com or by calling (505)884.7484.
Doors open at 5:30PM and the first bout begins at 7:00PM.
For more information on the event visit www.fresquezproductions.com or www.rt66casino.com.
