Carrasco sets record for fastest win

By Andy Rivera

EL PASO, TX — In all my years covering boxing, I witnessed something Saturday night that I had never seen before.

After both fighters were introduced and the bout appeared ready to begin, one fighter abruptly quit and walked out of the ring. The crowd sat in stunned silence, many wondering what had just happened and why the fight never even started.

As my colleague and friend David Finger reported regarding the women’s bout, the unexpected moment left fans and ringside observers confused.

The question now becomes: how should the result officially be ruled?

Should it be recorded as a TKO victory for Carrasco, or should it go down as a disqualification?

In fairness to Carrasco, she did everything asked of a professional fighter. She trained for the fight, made weight, and stepped into the ring ready to compete. She fulfilled her obligation.

Should she be penalized and denied a victory because her opponent chose not to fight?

In my view, the answer is no.

Carrasco showed up prepared to do her job. If a fighter refuses to continue after the bout has been formally introduced and is ready to begin, the opponent should not be punished for that decision.

By David finger

In what was the third fight of Ring Wars XXII fight card last night in El Paso, a talented New Mexican female prospect made her professional debut and ended up setting a world record.

It nonetheless has to be considered the only “dud” on the card, as debuting amateur standout Ariana Carrasco, 152.7, from Las Cruces, New Mexico, scored a first round TKO over fellow rookie Tennielle Young, 145, at 0:00 of the opening round.

Yes, you read that right.

Fans may have remembered years ago when then undefeated Efe Ajaba faced off against a journeyman named Curtis Harper on a Foxsports televised fight out of Minneapolis. Harper, apparently upset about his pay, immediately stepped out of the ring as soon as the bell starting the fight sounded. Referee Celestino Ruiz wisely disqualified Harper, and the “fight” made the rounds online as it has been shared in the years that followed on social media sites like Facebook and TikTok. Fight fans found the bout curious and most assumed they would never see anything like that again in a boxing ring again.

Well, it happened again.

Young, who came into El Paso from Columbus, Ohio, was obviously not ready to become a professional boxer as she was visibly close to having an anxiety attack as soon as she stepped into the ring. With the Ohioan close to tears as the ring announcer introduced her, her trainer could visibly be seen trying to calm her down and put her mind at ease. But when it came time to introduce her opponent Carrasco, the ring announcer hyped up the New Mexican by going over her very impressive amateur resume before formally introducing her to the fans in attendance. It was an impressive resume, including over eighty amateur fights, twelve national championships, and a member of Team USA. It was also enough to push Young over the edge and she decided that boxing was not the career for her. As soon as referee Rocky Burke signaled for the fight to start Young decided to make her way back to Ohio and stepped out of the ring. Burke wasted no time and waved the fight off. After this reporter confirmed with the supervisor and referee Burke at ringside, they confirmed that the fight would be entered not as a disqualification as had been the case with Harper but as a first round TKO loss, making this a record for the fastest knockout in boxing history.

It is unclear if the commission will revisit this decision and elect to consider this a DQ after a review, but as of now history was made as Ariana Carrasco sets a world record en route to kicking off her professional career. For Young, she probably is a sweet person, but it is clear boxing is not something she needs to be doing and it would probably be for the best if this is her last foray in the boxing ring.