Dallas fighters win in Arlington on ESPN Friday Night Fights

by Hector Sanchez of North Texas Fisticuffs

Ray Ximenez Jr. put on a boxing clinic.

Photo by Edward Garza

Ray Ximenez, Jr.

Just as expected, Dallas-Fort Worth boxing fans were treated to a great night of professional boxing at the newly opened College Park Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. This event was brought to North Texas by Israel Navarro of Showcase Promotions. A promoter with a new vision for boxing entertainment and according to him, this is only the beginning. The 7,000-seat arena was a perfect venue for local boxing fans: not too big, not too little. It has the amphitheater style seating and you can’t get a bad seat, including wide screen monitors. This is good news for the boxing fans in both Dallas-Fort Worth and the surrounding area. Plans are in the works for another boxing event possibly in June, and on a quarterly basis. Navarro has a multitude of ideas and plans to bring more professional boxing to Dallas and the surrounding cities, which is great news for all the boxing area.

Main event

In the main event, the serious and all-business Mike Dallas, Jr. (18-2-1) of Bakersfield, Calif., took on “Silky Smooth” Miguel Gonzalez (20-3,15KO’s) from Cleveland, Ohio. This was a 10-round light welterweight fight that went the distance. Dallas, who has an outstanding record, was coming into this fight with two losses. Despite that, he put on an impressive fight against the crafty southpaw Gonzalez. Gonzalez was coming into this fight with an impressive KO in the second round over Humberto Toledo (39-6-2). In the first round, Dallas began by trying to connect with long right hand punches, and the southpaw Gonzalez used his quick jabs to counter. Gonzalez described his fighting style to that of Sweet Pea Whitaker, in addition to power like a heavyweight. It is true that he had the Sweet Pea style, although the power that he described didn’t seem to have much effect on Dallas. There was a lot of holding in the next two rounds by Dallas, and he was warned by the referee several times. The taller Dallas continued to use his height and long right hand to his advantage in the middle rounds. In the fourth round, Dallas was able to connect with a barrage of punches as Gonzalez was on the ropes, to the enjoyment of the crowd. After a few low punches by Dallas and a constant attack on Gonzalez, the bell sounded and he went slowly back to his corner. In the fifth round, Dallas came out bouncing around the ring and landing with his left jab and connecting with his right hand. Toward the end of this round, they both duked it out in the middle of the ring. In the seventh round, Dallas landed a huge straight right that made Gonzalez’ head go back, and Gonzalez fired back with more of his good counter punches. Toward the end of the round, Dallas got Gonzalez on the ropes and connected with both hands. At the end of the round, Gonzalez continued to counter punch, and the round ended. In the ninth and tenth rounds, Gonzalez began to put on the pressure but Dallas continued to connect with his right hand. At this point, although it seemed a close fight because of no knockdowns, Dallas was ahead on the cards. In the final round, Gonzalez tried his best and landed two good left hooks to the body of Dallas, but he was not able to hurt him. They punched it out to the sound of the bell, but it was a little too late for Gonzalez. Dallas won by unanimous decision.

Co-main event

On the co-main event, 2008 Olympian Shawn Estrada (14-0), who came into the fight four pounds overweight, put on a good outing against Terrance Wood (8-2-1) of Bay City. It didn’t seem to matter about the weight, because Estrada’s plan was a fast-forward punch and pounding of Woods the entire fight. He was able to walk down his opponent most of the fight and didn’t seem to get tired even though this was his first fight at eight rounds. Woods was at a weight disadvantage which was approximately 19 pounds, but despite that he was able to take all that Estrada had for him. Around the seventh round, Wood’s right eye was noticeably beginning to swell, but it didn’t look like it was bothering him. Although Woods at times was able to land a few punches on Estrada, he was the one who was getting the worst of it. Woods at times shrugged off the hard punches of Estrada, and was wobbled a few times in the fight. In the end, both fighters put on a competitive fight for the more than 1,500 boxing fans at the new UT Arlington's College Park Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. The final cards had Estrada ahead 78-74, 80-72, 80-72. Estrada plans to return to the ring possibly in May of this year to continue his 14-0 winning streak.

Local talent

In an anticipated fight of the night, The “Latin Legend” Luis Yanez (5-0-1), another 2008 Olympian from Dallas, put on an exciting and memorable fight against Jamal Parram (5-4) of St. Louis. Despite being out of the ring for about a year and coming into this fight with a draw against his last opponent, Yanez backed up all his words from the initial weigh-in. From the beginning of the fight, Yanez landed most of the punches on Parram, but Parram was able to block most of them. In the third round, after taking most of Yanez’s punches, Parram started to go on the attack. He was able to land some good punches and get Yanez on the ropes at times but no serious punches landed. In the third round, a rejuvenated Yanez starting landing some heavy punches with both hands on the backpedaling Parram. Although Yanez landed some great punches, Parram was able to withstand the barrage and didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Parram was very focused as he moved around the ring and he was being very cautious. On the other hand, Yanez was always on the offensive. In the fifth and the beginning of the sixth round, Yanez began to get stronger and started landing some heavy body punches. And in the middle of the sixth round, Yanez landed a wicked left hook to the body of Parram and he went down to the canvas in pain. After a few seconds, he got up and the fight continued. Yanez quickly went after him, but Parram composed himself and he was able to hang on until the end of the fight. Yanez went on to win on all the cards by a unanimous decision. The undefeated Yanez is scheduled to fight Joseph Rios (10-6-2) in March of this year in El Paso.

The pride of Pleasant Grove, Ray Ximenez Jr. (6-0), put on a boxing clinic against the Floridian, Lamar Charlton (1-2-1) in an action packed four round bantamweight fight. This was a fight that I was anticipating to see because Ximenez is a young fighter who has outstanding boxing skills and speed in both hands. He is an exciting fighter in the ring who lets his hands do all the talking as opposed to talking about it at the weigh-in.

Coming into this fight, Ximenez had told NTFS that he had a good camp and that he put in a lot of road work for his endurance, and that is what his opponent seemed to lack. Ximenez always comes into the ring and never seems to get tired, and it was the same for this fight. Ximenez said that his camp had told him to work the body of Charlton and that is what he constantly did in the first two rounds. Ximenez continually put on the pressure and connected with lightning in both hands to the body and to the head. Ximenez had Charlton on the ropes in the first round and connected with pinpoint accuracy, while the crafty Charlton countered. In the second round, Ximenez landed two hard rights and it appeared that it slightly buckled Charlton and Ximenez followed up by pounding him on the ropes. Although Ximenez connected solidly, Charlton appeared to be taking his punches well. But at the end of the second, Charlton looked somewhat tired as he went to the corner. As the third round continued, Ximenez was the stalker and Charlton was the counter puncher. In the middle of the round, Ximenez landed several hard body punches on Charlton. Ximenez then followed up and got Charlton in the corner and landed with both hands. He then landed a flurry of punches on his opponent and it appeared that the referee was about to step in. Charlton survived the round by countering and the bell sounded. In the final round, Ximenez continued to be the pursuer of Charlton all around the ring landing with lightning speed with both hands as Charlton countered. At 1:57 of the final round, Ximenez went in for the kill and pounded Charlton on the ropes and the fight was stopped. Ximenez won by TKO and continues on with his undefeated record. Ximenez, who can fight both orthodox and southpaw, used this tactic to confuse his opponent at will. I was starting to call him the “Flash or Phlash,” but now I may just start calling him “Lightning” because of the unpredictability of his hand speed. Nevertheless, Ximenez has a good future ahead of him, and NTFS will be looking forward to his next step into the ring.

In another four round battle, Jose Rodriguez (3-0) took on the exciting Alex Lopex (2-3) from Fort Worth. These are two fighters I had seen before and I knew fireworks were going to happen. Lopez was coming into this fight with a fresh KO over Fort Worth’s Arthur Trevino (5-6-3), so I was expecting to see fists flying, because he leaves it all in the ring. On the other hand, I had seen Rodriguez from Dallas, who had won his last two fights and he also had a KO on his resume over Martin Camarillo back in June in Frisco.

At the sound of the bell in the first round, Rodriguez landed a big left to the head of Lopez and it was on. This left hand of Rodriguez continued to land on Lopez throughout the fight. Lopez the southpaw then connected with his own left to the head of Rodriguez. As the round went on, Rodriguez landed several good left hands and Lopez countered. Just as you might have expected, Rodriguez caught Lopez with a short left to the head, and then he followed up with a huge left hook and Lopez goes down to canvas. Lopez hung on until the round ended. The second round continued and Rodriguez landed two more hard lefts to the head of Lopez and then he had him on the ropes. They then move to the middle of the ring and trade punches. Although Rodriguez is the taller puncher, this did not seem to bother the tough Lopez. At the end of the end of the round, they both traded punches and the bell rang.

As the crowd was getting into it, the third round began and Lopez came out swinging. He was throwing out his jab and trying to connect against the patient Rodriguez. They then got in the middle of the ring and slugged it out to the roar of the crowd, obviously hoping for a knockdown. Rodriguez then got Lopez on the ropes and began to pound him with hard lefts and rights, as Lopez countered. Rodriguez then slowed down and the crowd started chanting “Jose, Jose,” and he raised his hand for more. They slugged it out and the bell sounded. In the final round, the face of Lopez looked wore down, but he didn't. They came out to the middle of the ring and Rodriguez landed a big left to the right side of the face of Lopez, and he just smiled. Rodriguez then got him on the ropes and Lopez slipped away. But not for long, as Rodriguez then drove him into the corner and landed some heavy shots. They then moved to the middle of the ring and then the fans began to chant “Alex, Alex,” in hopes that he can somehow get a last second knockout. They finished in a classic toe to toe at the end as the bell sounded. Although Lopez gave it all he had, he was not able to outscore Rodriguez. Rodriguez went on to win by unanimous decision with an undefeated record.

Angel Sigala (7-2) from Arlington went against Corey Washington (3-7-1) of Fort Worth, middleweights. In the first two rounds, the southpaw Sigala forced the action as the calm Washington just followed him around the ring. Washington was able to land a good left at the end of the first, but Sigala was getting in the most punches. This pattern continued in the second round as Sigala had Washington on the ropes and connected at will. Because of Washington’s slow movement around the ring, it appeared that he was not really into the fight. Although he was getting hit by most of the punches at this point, he didn’t appear to be hurt. The third and fourth rounds were almost a mirror of the second round as Sigala seemed to land the most punches as the plodding Washington tried to connect but his punches were long and slow. Sigala won on all cards by unanimous decision.

The pro debut by Matt Patton was against Deanthony Bonner (pro debut), a last minute substitute on the card. The southpaw Patton started out well and forced the action in the first round and appeared in good shape. In the second round, Bonner picked up the pace and quickly landed a right and left and Patton landed on the canvas. He got up and then Patton put him down again with a right hand, then he finished him off with a straight left hand at 2:21 of the second round.

In attendance was Dallas’ own Roberto Marroquin (21-1, 14 KOs) who fights for Top Rank and who has won his last two fights by unanimous decision. He is awaiting word from Top Rank for a soon to be announced fight this year. Also on hand was former WBA and IBO bantamweight World Champion Paulie Ayala from Fort Worth.