Boxing: Here are the matchups for the June 8 Tapia card

May 23—Bruce Trampler, vice president and matchmaker at Top Rank, Inc., used to say no boxing match was official until the two fighters climbed into the ring.

Then, one night, he saw a fighter climb into the ring, change his mind and climb out.

Keeping that in mind, here are the matchups for the four featured bouts on Tapia Promotions' June 8 boxing card at Isleta Resort & Casino, as listed on boxrec.com:

Donald Sanchez (5-3, 3 KOs), Albuquerque, vs. Bryant McClain (6-3-3, 1 KO), Rio Rancho, 10 rounds, light heavyweights.

This shapes up, on paper, as the most competitive bout of the four.

McClain would appear to have the edge in experience, but Sanchez's combat résumé of at least 62 fights (50 MMA, eight boxing, four bare knuckle, who knows what else) would seem to at least balance the scale.

McClain, the son of former cruiserweight/heavyweight contender Sean McClain, has been inactive since March 2020. Sanchez hasn't fought a boxing match since January 2020 but has fought bare knuckle four times since then.

Neither fighter has gone past the sixth round in any previous bout.

Josh Torres (26-7-1, 15 KOs), Albuquerque, vs. Daniel Calzada (20-20-3, three KOs), Denver, 8 rounds, welterweights.

Nothing if not durable, Calzada has been stopped just twice in 43 professional bouts. He went six relatively competitive rounds with New Mexican and future interim world champion Brian Mendoza, a powerful puncher, in losing by unanimous decision in 2016.

Torres, riding a four-fight win streak, last fought in February 2023.

Jason Sanchez (16-5, nine KOs), Albuquerque, vs. Mulapi Enjani (10-8-3, six KOs), San Diego, eight rounds, featherweights.

New Mexicans last saw Enjani in the ring in April 2022, when he lost by six-round unanimous decision to Albuquerque's Abraham Perez at the South Valley Sports Complex.

Enjani weighed in at 114 1/2 pounds for the Perez fight, but he weighed 124 1/2, just a pound-and-a-half under the featherweight limit, for his most recent bout.

Sanchez is coming back from the first loss by stoppage of his career, a second-round TKO at the hands of unbeaten Top Rank prospect Bruce Carrington in Florida on Dec. 9.

Cody East (4-1, four KOs), Los Lunas, vs. Hugo Trujillo (5-4-1, 2 KOs), Donna, Texas, six rounds, heavyweights.

East, better known as an MMA fighter, hadn't had a boxing match in almost four years before defeating Brian Jones by third-round TKO in Springfield, Missouri, on April 12.

Trujillo, a native of Mexico City, weighed 282 pounds for his last fight, a loss by six-round split decision to Raphael Murphy (then 16-1) in Mercedes, Texas, in July 2023.

All four of East's victories have come via knockout; Trujillo has been stopped just once.

GONZALEZ OUT, LOVATO STILL ON: Albuquerque junior middleweight Daniel Gonzalez's scheduled fight on Saturday in Salt Lake City has been canceled, along with the rest of the card.

Steve Garcia, Gonzalez's trainer, said the Utah Athletic Commission canceled the card because several fighters were late filing their paperwork.

Meanwhile, Albuquerque's Amanda Lovato (1-2-1) left on Thursday for her four-round light flyweight bout on Saturday against Melanie Timko (pro debut) in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Lovato is coming off her first pro boxing victory, that by four-round unanimous decision over Mollie Backowski in Superior, Colorado on March 23.

THEN THERE WERE TWO: Actually, there always were.

Albuquerque amateur 112-pound boxer Jimmie Perez made the semifinals at last week's Golden Gloves National Championships in Detroit.

Perez and Albuquerque 125-pounder Yoruba Moreu Jr. each came home with a bronze medal.

An earlier story in the Journal omitted Perez as a semifinalist. Perez drew a first-round bye, defeated Hser Htoo of the Upper Mid-West team in his second-round bout, then lost to Cleveland's Marcellus Smith in the semis.