Brian Vera wins unanimous decision at Gloves & Guitars in Fort Worth

by Hector Sanchez of North Texas Fisticuffs

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Other winners included Miguel Buendia, Samuel Clarkson, and Joel Hernandez.

Stacey Verbeek

Brian Vera vs. Taronze Washington at Gloves & Guitars

It was a quick night of fights at the Fort Worth Convention Center at the latest edition of Paulie Ayala’s “Guns and Guitars” professional boxing on Saturday night, but it was very exciting for all in attendance. The main event between middleweight contender Brian Vera (20-6) and Taronze Washington (14-16) did not dissapoint. Under his new trainer, Ronnie Shields, Vera showed a different side of his boxing game. Known as a brawler and hard puncher, this time under the tutelage of Shields, Vera showed his boxing style of throwing his jab and following up with his right hand. In the first two rounds, Vera was throwing his jab confidently and following up with a hard right hand as the quick Washington counterpunched and moved around the ring. Vera was even smiling at his opponent as they traded punches in the ring. Vera then stepped up the action and started landing harder punches as Washington would get in quick short punches but with no effect. At the end of the second, Washington got in a nice quick left in to the head of Vera and Vera just smiled.

In the third, Vera continued to force the fight, but the smooth Washington continued countering as he got in close. As Vera moved forward and connected with his jab, he occasionaly threw a looping right hand to the head of Washington. Washington then got in a fast right hand on Vera and then they started trading punches till the end of the round as Washington danced at the end of the round. It was apparent that Washington was finishing up good at the end of the rounds in an attempt to look good for the judges. Although it looked like Washington was tired, apparently he was not.

In the fifth round, Vera connected with both hands and forced the action as before as Washington countered and moved around the ring. Vera really came on at the end of the round and finished with landing hard punches. In the sixth round, Vera came out headhunting as he started pounding Washington around the ring and against the ropes. Vera continued to use his jab and following up with hard right hand punches, and then Washington got in one of his quick left hands. I was told to watch for the quick left hooks from Washington, and he continued to land them throughout the fight. I noticed the pattern of Washington which was to take a few punches in close, then land the quick left. At the end of the round, Vera landed some good shots on Washington, and Washington got in his left hook at the end.

At the beginning of the seventh round, Vera started pounding Washington on the ropes with both hands and Washington landed his left again. Vera continued to force the action as Washington countered and then landed a hard quick right to the head of Vera. At this point, it appeared that Washington’s left eye was swelling, and Vera’s left eye was swelling too. They both traded very hard punches at the end of the round and Vera smiled as the bell sounded.

In the final round, Vera goes after Washington and they trade punches in the middle of the ring. Vera landed a nice uppercut on his opponent and then Washington got Vera in the corner and landed a hard right and left. The crowd began to get very loud as they went toe-to-toe with Washington, who attempted to land a hard right but missed. Vera then landed a good combination on Washington and they slugged it out till the bell sounded and Vera smiled as he went to his corner. It was a good winning start for Vera after not fighting for approximately six months, but he has made improvements under Shields, his new trainer. Vera won the WPBA Middleweight International Championship by unanimous decision. After the fight, Vera told NTF, “This was a work in progress for us, balance and more control, and not panicking in the ring.” He also said, “I felt a lot better in the ring with my jab and the jab is everything.”

Miguel Buendia (8-1-1) vs. Rasool Shakoor (5-8-2) - In what was scheduled to be a six round super featherweight fight between the “fighting marine” Miguel Buendia (8-1-1) and Rasool Shakoor (5-8-2), it only lasted one round. Buendia didn’t waste any time in the first round as he quickly landed a huge overhand right to the head of Shakoor and down to the canvas he went. After the count, Buendia attacked his opponent and then landed a vicious left hook to the body and he went down again. Buendia then landed another left hook and Shakoor goes down again. The fourth time Shakoor went down by yet another left to the body, and the fight was stopped. Official time was 2:42 of the first round.

Stacey Verbeek

Samuel Clarkson vs. Terence Anderson at Gloves & Guitars

Samuel Clarkson (4-0, 4KO’s) v. Terence Anderson (2-8) - In what was anticipated to be a quick and exciting fight, Cedar Hill’s Samuel “Main Event” Clarkson (4-0, 4KO’s) continued his undefeated and knockout ways against the game Terence Anderson (2-8). Probably to Clarkson’s surprise, his opponent threw the first punch with a quick right hand that may or may not have landed. After that, Clarkson started to land a barrage of punches on his opponent and he was going for the kill. Yes it was early, but so far, this is what I expected to see from seeing him before. The southpaw Clarkson went after Anderson, and as he was pummeling him on the ropes, he landed a huge right hand to the head of Anderson and he hit the canvas. He made the count and finished the round. Unfortunately when the second round started, the “Main Event” Clarkson landed a colossal right hand on the head of Anderson and knocked him out. It only took him 19 seconds of the second round and it was over. After the fight, Clarkson said, “In the first round I went out real patient and worked my jab, and when I felt he couldn’t hand the pressure, I closed it.”

Manuel “The Punisher” Rojas (5-0) and Jaime Villa (8-10) - In the super featherweight fight between Manuel “The Punisher” Rojas (5-0) and Jaime Villa (8-10), it was expected to be a long match because of the careful and calculated style of Rojas. In the first round, the shorter Villa came ready to fight as he forced the action quickly against Rojas, who counter punched and it appeared to be an even round. The second round was more exciting as Rojas landed a nice uppercut on Rojas, but he took it well. Villa then landed some good body punches on Rojas and he countered them. At the end of the round, they went at it toe-to-toe to the excitement of the crowd, and they both finished well, landing hard punches. As the third round began, the game Villa began to force the action as they traded punches. Suddenly in the middle of the round, Rojas landed a huge left to the body of Villa and he hit the canvas. The official time of the knockout was at 2:06 of the third round.

Joel Hernandez (3-1) v. Guadalupe Perez (2-6) - In the super bantamweight division, the tough Joel Hernandez (3-1) went against Guadalupe Perez (2-7). I had seen Hernandez before; he was coming off a tough loss back in October of last year and it was clear that he was ready to get back to the winning ways. In this four-round fight, Perez began by landing some good body punches on Hernandez, and then they went toe-to-toe early in the round. Perez then landed a huge left and it had Hernandez off balance and looking somewhat dizzy. Hernandez then threw a low blow and Perez countered with a overhand right and a good body punch. The second round was non-stop punching from both fighters. Hernandez was given a warning for landing another low blow and at the end of the round. In the third round, Hernandez pushed the action and started landing hard rights as Perez countered. Hernandez then landed a big right but Perez took it well. This was the biggest round of the fight for Hernandez as he stood in his corner after the bell sounded. In the final round, Hernandez landed a hard left and right to the head of Perez and then a big right by Perez on Hernandez appeared to stun him, but he shook it off. Hernandez then followed it up with a combination as Perez backed up. Perez was bleeding from the mouth at this point as they both landed heavy punches as they went toe-to-toe till the end. Although Perez was game, Hernandez won the fight by majority decision.

Arthur Trevino (6-7-3) vs. Raul Carrillo (1-4) - The next super featherweight bout was against hometown favorite, Arthur Trevino, who was coming off a first round knockout in his last fight against Derrick Jones (1-4) back in January. This time he went against the southpaw Raul Carrillo (1-4) and Carrillo came out taking it to the crafty Trevino. After feeling each other out, Trevino landed a good right hand on Carrillo. As they were in the corner, Carrillo began to land some punches and Trevino countered his way out. In the second round, Carrillo landed a combination to the head of Trevino and was putting the pressure on. Carrillo then landed a nice uppercut and then followed it up with a short uppercut. Trevino then landed a good left and Carrillo got in yet another uppercut. Suddenly as they were in the middle of the ring, Trevino landed a huge right hand and Carrillo went flailing to the canvas head first and appeared to be knocked out. Trevino put everything in that punch and it was vicious. Although Carrillo recovered before the bell, the official time was at the tenth second of the third round.

John Vera (2-0) vs. Ubaldo Torres (0-3) - Junior middleweight and undefeated Fort Worth favorite John Vera (2-0) went against El Paso’s Ubaldo Torres (0-3) in what ended in a way I had never seen before. As they just started to feel each other out in the ring, the southpaw Vera landed a punch that Ubaldo blocked as they were on the ropes and something snapped. The snap was Ubaldo’s left arm being broken, and immediately, Ubaldo dropped his arm in pain and the referee stopped the fight. The fight was stopped by TKO.

Special guests introduced at the fights (although not correctly as to who the world champions were) were former world super featherweight and lightweight champion Jesus Chavez (44-8, 30KO’s), former featherweight and super featherweight world champion Troy Dorsey (16-11, 11KO‘s), 2008 Olympian Luis Yanez (6-0), and Top Rank fighter Roberto Marrquin (21-1,14KO’s) from Dallas.

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