Romero Wins Title at Olympic

Danny Romero, a boxing coach from Albuquerque, N.M., realized early that his son, Danny Jr., was destined to be a boxer.

“I’ve been training him since he was 5,” the elder Romero said. “Everybody used to tell me that he had all the moves. He started jumping rope just like a fighter.”

Romero built a makeshift ring in his back yard, where he trains his son, now 19, and the other fighters in his stable.

Romero scored a second-round technical knockout over Brian Lonon of Las Vegas to win the vacant North American Boxing Federation flyweight championship Thursday night before an announced crowd of 1,400 at the Grand Olympic Auditorium

Romero knocked down Lonon three times in the second round before referee Vince Delgado stopped the fight with one second left in the round.

Romero (16-0 with 14 knockouts) floored Lonon with a right to the chin. After Lonon (18-2) got up, Romero knocked him down with another right to the chin before using a combination to knock him down a third time.

“We had studied the tapes and we knew he was awkward, and I was going to fight him with my best and that’s my jab “ said Romero, who weighed 111 1/2. “And that’s what set the tempo for the big right hand.

“We didn’t prepare for a second-round knockout, I prepared for 12 rounds of hard, hard work and as you saw it paid off in two.”

In his third fight after a 2 1/2-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine, John Tapia of Albuquerque scored a unanimous 10-round decision over Antonio Ruiz of Mexico in a super-flyweight bout.

Judges Henry Ellispuru and Lou Moret each had it 100-90 for Tapia and judge Jose Corbian had it 97-93. Both fighters weighed 113 1/2.

Tapia, who had his boxing license revoked by the New Mexico State Athletic Commission in October of 1991 after a third positive test for cocaine, is 24-0-1 with 14 knockouts. Ruiz fell to 15-5-3.

Does Romero want to fight Tapia because they’re from the same town?

“I’ve seen him and he’s a tremendous fighter,” Romero said. “We’re in two separate weight divisions. We’re from the same town and we’re striving for the same thing--to build a great boxing town. Why press that fight now?”