RIO RANCHO — Santa Fe boxer Joaquin Zamora won a unanimous decision Friday night, but it wasn't easy.

Zamora is sort of like an old Chevrolet that has been sitting the driveway overnight on a cold winter's morning. When you put the key in the ignition and turn it, the car reluctantly starts and it sputters down the street until it eventually warms up.

Once it warms up, it just purrs and runs as well as anything on the road.

Zamora had trouble getting his engine started on this night, but that's not unusual. He was knocked down in the first round of his televised fight with Jose Gonzalez of Springfield, Mo.

That really didn't bother Zamora because this was the fourth or fifth time he's been knocked down in the first round. He's the epitome of slow starters.

But Zamora was able to get his boxing into gear starting in the second round and improved his record to 17-2-1 by outpointing Gonzalez (12-5-1) over the last nine rounds.

"I pretty much get knocked down in the first round every time," Zamora said. "No matter how may times I get knocked down, I know I'm going to win."

A sparse crowd in Santa Ana Star Center on Rio Rancho's far northside wasn't so certain.

Zamora often used a rope-a-dope tactic that got him no points. But he was able to land enough blows to catch up and pass Gonzalez. Two judges gave Zamora the win by scores of 95-94, while the other judge had Zamora winning 97-92, though no one was certain what fight he was watching.

"After the first round, I felt I turned it around," Zamora claimed. "He really wasn't hitting me hard. I felt I had him hurt a couple of times."

"This has happened to him several times before" said longtime Santa Fe trainer Al Lovato. "We talk about it, we work on it, but it still happens."

One obvious advantage Zamora had was conditioning. After about the sixth round, Gonzalez was gasping for air, something that happens regularly to fighters who aren't accustomed to the elevations in New Mexico.

"I just want to take some time off," Zamora said. "I just want to go home and sleep tonight. I'll let my managers and promoters figure out when I'll fight again."

In an undercard bout, Arturo Crespin, of Las Vegas, N.M., scored a unanimous decision over Albuquerque's Daniel Gonzales (2-3) to improve his record to 2-0 to the thrill of several hundred fans from Northern New Mexico.