Ringside Report Looks Back at Rudy Lovato

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By Daniel Sisneros

New Mexico’s Rudy “Bad Boy” Lovato started out in the world of Kickboxing where he became a multi-belt champion. He turned to professional boxing on Feb. 15, 1986 when he scored a 4 round decision victory over fellow New Mexican Everett Berry in the Lightweight Division. He then began his career as a “Road Warrior” taking fights in his opponents home towns. It was April 30, 1992 when he scored a spectacular first round knockout over California’s Efrin Granillo televised on ESPN.

Sept. 3, 1992 saw Lovato in one of New Mexico’s memorable showdown fights as he faced unbeaten fellow Albuquerquean Steve Hindi (3-0). Lovato rallied in the late rounds, but lost a decision that night. He would continue to be boxing’s “minuteman”, ready to take on whoever called, wherever and whenever the call came in.

June 14, 1997 saw Lovato in one of his greatest performances as he put on a masterful boxing display against Florida’s Tommy Eaglin (15-3, 8 ko’s) over 10 rounds. It was a lopsided unanimous decision on scores of 98-94, 98-92, and 99-91.

It was May 16, 1998 when Rudy finally got a chance to fight for a title belt. He faced Santa Fe New Mexico’s Chris Linson Jr. (13-1-1, 10 ko) at the Palo Solari ampitheatre in Santa Fe. After 12 brutal rounds, Linson was awarded a 115-114, 115-114, 117-112 decision victory to claim the New Mexico State Jr. Welterweight Title.

Rudy’s next fight was another main event, this time he faced another New Mexico favorite in rising star Charles “Poison” Anaya (5-1-1, 3 ko). It was a back and forth technical boxing match until someone in the audience threw a soft drink bottle into the ring that hit Lovato which prompted a stop to the bout. In the interest of safety the bout and the event was halted, and the judges decision was announced in the newspapers the next day. A Technical unanimous decision victory on scores of 79-73, 77-75 and 79-75 for Albuquerque’s “Bad Boy” Rudy Lovato.
He continued his campaign as boxing’s “Road Warrior” fighting in Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Yuma, Boise, Tacoma, and other home towns of local favorites.

It was August 12, 2000 that Lovato would get a 2nd shot at a Title Belt, this time it was for the WBC Fecarbox Jr. Middleweight Title. He would face another unbeaten contender in Kingsley Ikeke (11-0, 6 ko). One Judge had Lovato winning handily with a score of 119-107, but he was over ruled by the other two judges who gave the fight to Ikeke on close scores of 116-114, and 116-113. Ikeke would go on to add the NABO, NABF and NABA Middleweight Titles to his collection as well as fight for the IBF Middleweight World Championship against Arthur Abraham in Germany.

Two fights later, Rudy Lovato got his 3rd shot at a Title Belt, and this time he would have to travel to Tacoma, Washington and face local favorite Shelby Pudwill (13-1-1, 7 ko’s) for the C.A.M. (Canadien American Mexican) Jr. Middleweight title. On this night, Rudy would not be denied, and scored a close but unanimous decision win to take the belt home with him. Lovato continued on, fighting all over the United States, often on short notice. Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Illinois were some of the states that saw Lovato take on World Champions and World Ranked Contenders including: Greg Haugen, Cleveland Corder, Juan Baldwin, Tom Lowry, Emmet Linton, Danny Perez, Yori Boy Campas, Miguel Angel Ruiz, Mark Suarez, and Diobelys Hurtado. Rudy’s final victory came August 13, 2005 in Lewiston, Idaho as he defeated Donnie Fosmire via 12th round knockout to win the WBC Fecarbox International Welterweight Title.

After a professional boxing career that lasted over 21 years, Rudy stepped into the squared circle for the final time on Nov. 10, 2007 at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado, where he was stopped by Joe Gomez (12-1-1, 6 ko) in the 7th round.

Rudy Lovato ended his years of boxing with an overall record of 21-40-4, 7 ko’s. He was a fighter who didn’t worry about picking his opponents, and never had the promoter’s edge to bring him hand picked opponents to pad his record. He was involved in some wild events. He just said “Yes” to any call that came in and took the fight!

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