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Golden Boy Boxing Comes to Houston, Texas

On Saturday, January 26, 2019, Golden Boy Promotions brings championship boxing back to Houston, Texas. The event will be held at the Toyota Center, home of The Houston Rockets, and will feature two World Championship bouts, two North American Championship bouts, and a chance to see some up and coming Texas talent on the under-card. The card will also be the first Golden Boy Promotions event to be streamed live on DAZN, and will be watched by boxing fans from all over the world.

In the main event, World Boxing Organization Junior Middleweight Champion Jaime Mungia (31-0, 26 KOs), of Tijuana, Mexico, defends his title against number 3 ranked challenger Takeshi Inoue, (13-0-1, 7 KO’s) from Japan.

Mungia, just 22 years old, has been tearing through the junior middleweight division since turning pro in 2013, and it took him just five years to earn his first world title, dominating and knocking out former Olympian Sadam Ali in May of 2018. Mungia wasted no time in getting back into the ring, defending his title twice since then, with a unanimous decision win over Liam Smith in July of 2018 and third round TKO over Brandon Cook in September of 2018, on the Canelo vs GGG 2 undercard.

Mungia adds some excitement to an already talent packed junior middleweight division, that includes Jermell Charlo, Jarrett Hurd, Erislandy Lara, Tony Harrison, Austin Trout, Kell Brook, and Canelo Alvarez, and it’s inevitable that he will be in some mega-fights in the not so distant future.

In the co-main event, Jesus Rojas(26-2-2, 19 KO’s) of Puerto Rico, defends his WBA Featherweight World Title against number ranked contender Xu Can (10-0, 1 KO) in a 12 round bout.

Under-card will feature:

Former Argentine Olympian, Alberto “Impacto” Melian (3-0, 2 KO’s) vs Edgar “El ciclon” Ortega (10-1-2, 5 KO’s) of Mexico, in 10 round bout for The NABA Super Bantamweight Title.

San Antonio’s Joshua “Professor” Franco (14-1-1, 7 KO’s) vs Lucas Emmanuel Fernandez Leone (12-2-1, 9 KO’s) of Argentina, in a 10 round bout for the vacant NABF Bantamweight Title. This bout will be a rematch of their March 2018 bout, where Leone beat Franco by TKO in the ninth round.

Vergil Ortiz Jr. (11-0, 11 KO’s) of Dallas, Texas vs Jesus “Chuito” Valdez Barrayan (23-4-1, 12 KO’s) of Mexico, in a super-lightweight bout scheduled for 10 rounds.

Alex Rincon (5-0, 5 KO’s) of Carollton, Texas vs Jeremy Ramos (10-5,4 KO’s) of Colorado Springs, Colorado in a super-welterweight bout scheduled for 6 rounds.

George Rincon (5-0, 2 KO’s) of Carollton, Texas vs Andre Byrd (6-4-2,1 KO) of Jacksonville, Florida, in a super-lightweight bout scheduled for 6 rounds.

James “The Beast” Wilson (7-0, 6 KO’s) of Hollywood, California vs Sylvester “Doc” Barron (9-10-1, 3 KO’s) of Anacortes, Washington, in heavyweight bout scheduled for 6 rounds.

January 26, 2022 promises to be a fun night of world championship boxing in Houston, Texas and we encourage all boxing enthusiasts to come out and enjoy the show. Tickets are priced at $150, $100, $60, $40, $25 plus taxes, fees, and service charges and can be purchased online at www.ToyotaCenter.com, by phone at 1-866-4-HOU-TIX, or at The Toyota Center Box Office.

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Best of The Year 2018

2018 was a busy year for Houston and it’s participants in boxing. We had some great ups and a few downs but as always we showed the world that Houston is a premier fight town. With that said, Clutch City Boxing would like to bring you our initial “Best of Year” awards.

Professional Fighter of The Year

Regis Prograis:

Regis had an outstanding year and dominated every fight he had in 2018. Not only did Regis dominate but he did it against tough competition, and it’s debatable whether he even lost a round of professional boxing competition in 2018.

Runner up: Jermall Charlo

Amateur Fighter of The Year

Quinton Randall:

“Quick Draw” had an outstanding year representing the United States in international competition, as a member of U.S.A. Boxing Elite Men’s Team. Randall also held the number one spot in the national rankings for most of the year, along with being ranked in the top five in the world at 152 pounds for most of 2018. Randall was also named Captain of The U.S.A. Boxing Elite Men’s Team in 2018, a position that he still proudly holds.

Runner up: Darius Fulghum, 2018 National Golden Gloves Champion at 201 pounds.

Fight of The Year

Armando Frausto vs Jonathan Lecona Ramos:

Frausto and Ramos engaged in a six round war that saw both fighters display intelligence, high level skill, extraordinary conditioning, toughness, and grit. Both boxers fought well and there were several different changes in momentum during the bout. All six rounds were fought at a torrid pace, with Lecona-Ramos earning the split decision victory and The A.B.O. Regional Bantamweight Title.

Runner up: Noe Lopez vs Rafael Munoz Jr

Comeback of The Year

Alfonso “El Tigre” Lopez:

After taking a year off due to injuries, Lopez returned to the ring in June of 2018, and immediately won The A.B.O. Light-Heavyweight Intercontinental Jaguar Title, via 8th round stoppage, over the game Francisco Cordero. Lopez then returned to the ring in November and defended his title over Milton Nunez, in a dominating performance that Lopez won every round of, while administering a boxing lesson that resulted in a win by stoppage in the fifth round. 

Coach of The Year

Rudy Silva:

Coach Silva and his Elite Boxing Club had another great year of success in 2018. Coach Silva has a strong stable of boxers, including just to name a few, Olympic Champion and professional prospect Marlen Esparza, and U.S.A. Boxing Western Elite Qualifier Champions, Ephraim Bui and Michael Angeletti. With the wins of Bui and Angeletti, Silva ran his total of U.S.A. Boxing National Champions to nine!

Upset of The Year

Randy Fuentes TKO 5 over Craig Callaghan
Runner UP: Eric Abraham ko 2 over Robert Silva

Performance of The Year

Jose “El Catracho” Garcia vs Christian Faz:

Garcia put on a near perfect performance in his win over Christain Faz, that resulted in a TKO in round five. Faz was a game and tough opponent who never stopped trying his best, but Garcia came in with a tremendous game plan, that he stuck to for the entirety of bout, and led to success. I sat at ringside for this bout and I was very impressed by the poise and discipline Garcia showed, as well as his extraordinary conditioning. Garcia picked up the A.B.O. Regional Featherweight Title in his impressive win.

Prospect of The Year

Josue Morales Serrano:

Josue fought an amazing eight times in 2018, and was especially impressive in his eight round bout against 2016  Bronze Medal Olympic Champion, Nico Hernandez. “El Zurdo de Oro”  displayed elite level defense and ring generalship in this bout and gave Hernandez all he could handle for the entire eight rounds. Most impressive in 2018 was Josue’s willingness to fight anyone, at anytime. He took on an Olympic champion on November 17, 2018, then came back to the ring two weeks later on December 1st, fighting Golden Boy prospect Bam Rodriguez. Morales-Serrano took tough loses that may have had some political influences against Hernandez and Rodriguez, but finished the year strong by amazingly taking and winning a bout on December 22nd in Mexico!

Most Potential

Ivan Vasquez:

Twenty four year old Vasquez, 3-0 with 3 knockouts, had a very successful year in 2018, winning both of his bouts of the year by knockout. Vasquez displayed solid technical skills, poise, effective aggression, and most importantly a relaxed demeanor in the ring. Vasquez, a second generation boxer, is proudly continuing the boxing tradition in his family, while operating at an advanced level that belies his limited, professional  experience. Clutch City Boxing is especially excited about watching the progression of Vasquez as he continues to gain more experience and knowledge in the professional ranks, and we expect to see big things from him in 2019.

 

 

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Jermell Charlo Loses Title by Questionable Decision

The W.B.C. super-welterweight title changed hands last night in Brooklyn, New York by a very questionable, unanimous decision.  The judges scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113, all for Tony Harrison over Jermell Charlo, were very suspect and indicative of the need for nationwide reform on professional boxing judging.

Although Harrison did good in some aspects, mainly footwork and general movement, he didn’t do nearly enough to win a decision. Harrison didn’t throw enough punches nor was he aggressive enough to win rounds and his strategy seemed to be merely to survive. He did land some jabs but they weren’t consistent and the jabs were more of a defensive or “Don’t hit me” jab than an effective, offensive jab.

Charlo threw more punches, landed more punches, landed the harder punches, and hurt Harrison on several occasions. Watching the bout live, Clutch City Boxing had Charlo winning by eight rounds to four over Harrison. The only rounds that we felt Harrison won outright were rounds four and six, with rounds one and ten being a maybe for the reluctant warrior.

Jermell Charlo did make some mistakes and his corner seemed to be ineffective for the most part, as far as helping him to make the correct adjustments. Charlo seemed to be too tense as well as being focused only on landing hard punches, rather than just boxing and letting the knockout come naturally. With Charlo being naturally emotional and excitable, he may be better served to have a more experienced and mature corner. His corner’s advice of “Put more pressure on him” just didn’t seem to be helpful or effective.

Even with Charlo just looking for hard punches and the knockout, he still did the better work and won at least eight out of the twelve rounds. Also, as mentioned by Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis, Charlo was solid defensively, easily blocking and/or avoiding most of the punches thrown at him last night, while still fighting aggressively and landing solid punches.

How the three judges who scored the fight could unanimously gift the bout to Harrison, for merely surviving twelve rounds is a mystery.  The best Harrison could have hoped for was a draw, and even that would have been stretching it, but to give him a unanimous win was either a case of the judges being unqualified or corrupt, there are no other possibilities in this case.

 

 

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Lopez Successfully Defends A.B.O. Title

Saturday, November 17, 2018  -   saw the return of The El Tigre Boxing Promotions group to Humble, Texas with it’s Texas Title Night 2 professional boxing card. The event was held at The Humble Civic Center, and featured nine evenly matched bouts. The exciting night of professional boxing featured some of the finest local talent in the area as well as some tough, out of town talent from around the nation and as far away as Mexico City, Mexico. There were several upsets and three title matches that kept the crowd on it’s feet throughout the night. The results were as follows:

John Vanmeter (Uvalde,Texas) TKO 2 over Christian Morris (Lake Charles, Louisiana) at super-featherweight

Manuel Guerra (Reynosa,Tamaulipas, Mexico) UD 4 over Marc Perales (Galveston, Texas) at flyweight

Michael Klekotta (Houston, Texas) UD 4 over Adam Ealoms (College Station, Texas) at junior-middleweight

 

Roger Ibarra (Houston, Texas) KO 1 over Jaren Jones (Port Arthur, Texas) at super-middleweight

Juan Antonio Velazquez (Houston,Texas) KO 1 over Jamie Chester (Lafayette, Louisiana) at lightweight

Ivan Vasquez (Houston, Texas) TKO 2 over Jabrandon Harris (Bryan,Texas) at middleweight

The first title bout of the night(Texas State Cruiserweight Title), featured Eric Abraham (Schenectady, New York) vs Roberto Silva Jr. (Houston, Texas).

Both fighters threw and landed hard punches in the first round but it immediately appeared apparent that Abraham was the more fundamentally sound boxer, with his superior movement , solid defense, and straight punches. Silva brought an exciting style to the first round but his wide hooks and lunging punches seemed to mostly have been blocked or avoided by Abraham.

Silva started the second round doing exactly the same thing he did in the first round, lunging in with his punches and throwing wide hooks, but now it seemed that Abraham was more prepared, dodging Silva’s lunges and landing crisp, straight left hands from the southpaw stance. Around the halfway mark of the round Abraham landed a strong, straight left, which seemed to have buckled Silva a bit but Silva kept moving forward. Abraham took a half step back, allowed Silva to close the distance with his lunging style, and landed a devastating right hook that knocked Silva down and out. Referee Sam Garza immediately knew Silva was out and didn’t even bother a with a ten count, making Abraham the winner by second round knockout, and new Texas State Cruiserweight Champion. [Winner Abraham by 2nd round knockout for The Texas State Cruiserweight Title].

In the co-main event Jonathan Lecona Ramos and Armando Frausto went to war in a six round bout that was definitely the fight of the night. Both fighters fought well and both fighters took turns taking over the bout at different points in the fight. Frausto had the more aggressive style and Ramos had the more calculated style and both were effective with their chosen style.

After six rounds of action the judges felt Ramos did the better work, giving him a split decision over Frausto and making him the new A.B.O. Regional Bantamweight Champion. [Winner Jonathan Lecona Ramos (Mexico City, Mexico) SD 6 over Armando Frausto (La Marque, Texas) for The A.B.O. Regional Bantamweight Title].

The main event featured A.B.O. Intercontinental Light-Heavyweight Champion Alfonso “El Tigre” Lopez (Huntsville,Texas) defending his title against Milton Nunez (Miami,Florida).

The bout began with both boxers taking a round or two to feel each other out, while boxing measured and cautiously. Lopez with sharp, straight punches, and Nunez with unorthodox, overhand rights.

In the third round Lopez seemed to have found his comfort zone and began landing hard body shots and uppercuts to go along with the straight lefts and rights he had already been landing from the start of the bout.
Nunez did try to answer back with his own shots but it was all Lopez from this point on, and it seemed only a mater of time before Nunez was stopped or the contest would be stopped.

Lopez continued giving a lesson in boxing to Nunez throughout the fourth and fifth rounds and also landed a left hook to the body of Nunez in the fifth that knocked Nunez to the canvas. Nunez was able to beat the referee’s ten count and continue but barely managed to get through the round. Although Nunez is a hard punching veteran that has been in with the likes of Daniel Jacobs, Sergio Mora, and Gennady Golovkin, his skills were no match for those of the well schooled Lopez.

In between the fifth and sixth rounds Nunez’s corner signaled to referee Sam Garza that their boxer was unable to continue, putting an end to the bout.
Lopez looked sharp in making the first defense of his A.B.O. Title and appears to be getting closer to his goal of contending for a world title in the near future. [Winner Lopez by 5th round TKO for The A.B.O. Intercontinental Light-heavyweight Title].

Promoter: Felix Ramirez - El Tigre Promotions
Commission: Texas Combative Sports Program
Judges: Immer Guzman, Barry Yeats, and Kellie Isaac
Referees: Gary Simons and Sam Garza
ABO Supervisor: Francisco “Paco” Leal

*all photos used courtesy of VEH Video Productions*

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Alfonso “El Tigre” Lopez set to defend A.B.O. Title

On November 17, 2021 at The Humble Civic Center, American Boxing Organization, Light-Heavyweight  Champion, Alfonso “El Tigre” Lopez is set to defend his title in an action packed card filled with some of the best local talent in the area. The card has two confirmed matches already set that are both sure to be competitive match-ups and a ton of area boxers signing on to accept any challenge thrown their way.

Boxers already signed on to display their talents include Armando Frausto (La Marque, Tx), Christian Morris (Lake Charles, La), Marc Perales (Galveston, Tx), Ivan Vasquez (Houston, Tx), Monica Flores (Alvin, Tx), Roberto Silva Jr (Houston, Tx), Saul Mendez (Katy, Tx), and Roger Ibarra (Houston, Texas).

In a match already signed and confirmed, the card will feature a grudge match between two boxers making their pro-debut, Jabrandon Harris (Bryan-College Station,Tx) and Jaren Jones (Port Arthur, Tx).  These two have a long-standing grudge that goes back to their amateur days and both boxers did not hesitate to agree to fight the other in their respective pro debuts.

Another confirmed match-up will feature  Michael “The Bodysnatcher” Klekotta (Houston, Tx) vs Adam “AD” Ealoms (Bryan-College Station, Tx) in a bout sure to be a potential “fight of the night”.  Both boxers are known to be fearless competitors that are always willing to take on any challenge and both are looking to make a strong showing on November 17, 2018.

The main event will feature A.B.O. Light-Heavyweight, Intercontinental Jaguar Champion, Alfonso “El Tigre” Lopez making his first defense of the title he recently won in this same venue. I was able to speak to Lopez concerning his upcoming defense and he stated that although his challenger hasn’t been confirmed, the team at El Tigre Promotions is busy working on bringing the toughest challenger available to The Humble Civic Center on November 17 and he is well into his training camp, training with and sparring with the best in the area.

General admission tickets are only $35 and ringside tables are also available for those interested. Tickets can be bought by contacting any of the participating boxers and their camps, as well as by contacting eltigrepromotions.com or clutchcityboxing.com.

For your convenience tickets are also available at Carniceria and Taqueria Irapuato at 5222 Barker Cypress, Houston, Texas 77084, as well as at The Heights Cigar Lounge at 240 West 19th Street, Houston, Texas, 77008, and Little Cancun Restaurant at 17950 West Sam Houston Parkway, Humble, Texas, 77346.

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High Stakes 2

Saturday, October 6, 2021 saw the return of the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time) Boxing Promotions group to Houston, Texas, with it’s “High Stakes 2” professional boxing card. The outdoor event was held in the parking area of The Mancuso Harley Davidson (Crossroads) location in Jersey Village. The card featured five bouts between local and out of town prospects that kept the crowd entertained throughout the afternoon. The co-main and main event were title bouts, (Texas Title and A.B.F. Title) and the card even produced a couple of upsets. The results were as follows:

The opening bout saw featherweights Chaise Nelson (Mansfield, Ohio) and Jahaziel Vasquez (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico) battle for four rounds with Nelson emerging as the unanimous decision winner. [Winner Nelson]

In the second bout, heavyweights Juan Torres (Houston, Texas) and Allen Melson (Houston, Texas) fought each other in a four rounder that was competitive until Melson seemed to run out of steam in the fourth round. In that fourth round Torres began landing hard, unanswered punches, forcing the referee to stop the bout. [Winner Torres] by TKO.

The third bout featured the United States debut of highly touted Gagan “Pitbull” Sharma of India versus Nathaniel Tadd (Puerto Rico) in a four rounder fought at super-middleweight. The bout began with Tadd employing his unorthodox movement and footwork while Sharma went right to work throwing hard punches and applying suffocating pressure. Both boxers landed solid punches in the first round but Sharma was able to win the round and take the momentum by landing several solid  body punches to end the round. The second and third went much like the first with Tadd still trying to find an answer for Sharma’s pressure while struggling to get his own punches off. Midway through the third round Tadd got caught trying to switch from the orthodox to southpaw stance while throwing a combination, and was knocked down by a short, right hook from Sharma. Tadd was able to beat the count but from there the bout was all Sharma, as he kept Tadd pinned on the ropes for the remainder of the third and throughout the whole fourth round, while he landed hard punches to the head and body. The scores were unanimous with all three judges giving every round to Sharma, giving him an impressive win in his first bout in the United States. [Winner Sharma] by decision.

The fourth bout and co-main event was a six round contest that matched Joe Sombrano (Pleasanton, Texas) against Noe “Skinny Boy” Lopez of Houston, Texas. The bout was for The Texas Super-Lightweight Title and did not disappoint. Both men started the first round fighting at a torrid pace and both landed hard punches. Sombrano moved forward throwing sometimes straight and sometimes wide punches, while Lopez controlled the round and pace with his superior footwork, ring generalship, and the crisper punches landed. The second round continued in the same manner as the first but early in the round Lopez seemed to have stopped and grimaced after landing a combination on Sombrano and finished the round throwing almost exclusively left jabs and hooks. Even with the sudden change in strategy Clutch City Boxing saw Lopez winning the second round. The third round picked up where the second ended and continued in much the same way, except now Lopez was relying solely on his left hand, only throwing the right to the body a few times when the fighters got tied up in clinches. Clutch City Boxing gave the round to Lopez on superior ring generalship and the sharper punches landed, mainly the left hook, but Sombrano was now landing his overhand right much more frequently and although we saw him losing the round, he had his best round of the bout up until that point. Sombrano brought his momentum from the third round to the fourth and was landing combinations to the head and body of Lopez when Lopez took a knee near the ropes. Lopez wisely took an eight count and gathered himself, being able to finish the round strongly, but the fourth was still a two point round for Sombrano. The fifth and sixth rounds saw both fighters fighting hard and with determination, Sombrano moving forward and fighting aggressively, ending many combinations with the overhand right, while Lopez moved well and counter-punched effectively, but still mostly only with left hands. Clutch City Boxing saw Sombrano edging the fifth round and Lopez taking the sixth giving the bout to Lopez by one point on our card. The official ringside judges Ray Zaragoza, Kellie Issac, and Barry Yeats saw the bout differently, scoring the bout 56-57, 55-58, and 55-58 all in favor of Sombrano.

The unanimous decision win earned Sombrano the Texas Super-Lightweight Title and in the opinion of Clutch City Boxing the fight of the night against the game Lopez. Although Lopez made no excuses, Clutch City Boxing would later find that Lopez did indeed injure his right shoulder sometime in the early rounds. A solid win for Sombrano, who came to fight and never wavered, but credit also goes to Lopez for making the bout a close and entertaining one, using only his left hand for the majority of the bout.

The main event brought together two outstanding prospects in former local amateur standout D’Angelo “King” Keyes (Houston, Texas) and Johnny Arellano (Austin, Texas) in an eight round bout fought at super-lightweight, for the American Boxing Federation (ABF) USA Super-Lightweight Title. Keyes came into the bout with an excellent record of 7 wins and 0 loses while Arellano came into the ring with a record of 8 wins and 1 loss. Arellano, who had a significant height and reach advantage was also making his ring return after being inactive for approximately four years.

The first round saw Arellano immediately begin to establish his jab and straight right hand, sometimes as the aggressor and other times countering Keyes as he came in throwing combinations with both hands. Although Keyes did land combinations on the inside at times and occasionally with an overhand right as he was coming in, Arellano had the better ring generalship and sharper punches landed, especially the one-two. Clutch City Boxing scored the first round for Arellano. The second through fourth rounds were similar to the first with Keyes trying to employ an aggressive, mauling style with limited success, while Arellano stood his ground and landed his straight punches from long range almost at will, and also punishing Keyes with uppercuts and hooks when Keyes was able to close the distance. The only difference between rounds two through four was that Arellano was having more success each round while Keyes had fewer positive moments. Clutch City Boxing scored rounds two through four for Arellano.

By the fifth round Arellano was in complete control of the bout and although Keyes was still trying and giving a remarkable effort, he just didn’t seem to be able to make the proper adjustments to turn the fight around. Rounds six and seven saw Arellano battering Keyes around the ring, while landing almost every punch he threw while Keyes resorted to lunging in while throwing wide hooks, with little success. Clutch City Boxing had every round in the bout scored for Arellano at this point. As the eighth and final round began the ringside doctor signaled to the referee that he wanted to take a look at the cuts and swelling on the face of Keyes and a halt to the action was called so the doctor could do so. After taking a hard look at the injuries on Keyes’ face the doctor advised the referee to stop the bout, despite Keyes asking the doctor to let him continue.

Arellano showed little to no ring rust and put on a dominating performance, which earned him the ABF (USA) Super-Lightweight Title. D’Angelo Keyes took a tough loss but all credit to him for taking on a tough challenge and displaying indomitable spirit.

Commission: Texas Combative Sports Program
Promoter: Goat Boxing Promotions-Antoine Williams
Judges: Ray Zaragoza, Barry Yeats, and Kellie Isaac
Referees: James Green and Danny De Alejandro
ABF Supervisor: Clare Burke

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“El Catracho” Garcia wins A.B.O. Featherweight Title

The main event of last night’s Leland D Promotions,”Pistolero’s in Pasadena” professional boxing card in Pasadena, Texas, saw Jose “El Catracho” Garcia win the A.B.O.(American Regional) Featherweight Championship, over Christian Faz by fifth round technical knockout.

Faz, fighting out of Dallas, Texas via Houston, Texas, came into the bout as A.B.O. (American Regional) Featherweight Champion and Garcia, fighting out of Houston, Texas came into the bout on a seven fight undefeated streak, which put him into position for his shot at the A.B.O. title.

Coming into the main event, the crowd at the Pasadena Convention Center had already been treated to five excellent under-card bouts, and were ready for an action packed main event, cheering loudly for both contender and champion during their walk-ins and ring entrances.The high energy crowd was also very vocal and supportive of their respective favored fighters during their introductions as well as the introductions of referee James Green, along with judges Barry Yates, Eva Zaragoza, and Gary Simons.

Garcia and Faz did not disappoint, starting off the first round getting straight to business, throwing and landing heavy punches, and both trying to assert his dominance over the other. Both boxers did great work during the fist round with Garcia landing more combinations but Faz landing the harder punches, in an even round fought at a brisk pace, that left the crowd cheering wildly.

The second round was a continuation of the first with both men coming on strong, throwing and landing hard punches, and neither man backing down. A good round by both boxers but Garcia did the best work of the round with quick, linear punches thrown with good technique, and the better footwork. Although Faz likely lost the round, it was still a hotly contested round and he was able to cut Garcia over his left eye, as well as land heavy counter punches, and shots to the body.

Garcia’s corner, which consisted of legendary Houston boxing Coach Ray Ontiveros and Ray Ontiveros Jr, did an excellent job with Garcia’s cut between the second and third rounds though, stopping the flow of blood from the cut for the remainder of the contest. They also did an excellent job instructing Garcia between the second and third rounds because he came out for the third round motivated and determined to take control of the bout, by turning up his punch rate,and landing solid punches from all angles. Faz was still game and had his moments, but it started to become evident that Garcia came into the bout the better prepared boxer in conditioning, technique and strategy.

In the fourth round Garcia continued working at an amazing rate, landing combination punches throughout the entire round and moving very effectively. Faz began to take more punches while landing less but he was still landing hard punches to the body when he could and still appeared determined to turn the fight around, moving forward the whole round and trying to land a momentum changing punch. It was clearly a Garcia round though and he seemed to be catching his second wind as Faz looked to be fading.

In the fifth round Garcia landed at will while Faz definitely looked to be on his way out. While Faz was still trying, he seemed to be spent and Garcia was now able to land hard combinations without getting hit with anything hard in return. Near the end of the round Garcia ducked a wide left hook from Faz and came up with a left, right, left, right combination to the head that knocked Faz down hard. Faz gamely rose from the canvas at the count of five and he advised referee James Green that he was ready to continue, but his corner wisely motioned to the referee they wanted the fight stopped and he did so, making Garcia the winner by T.K.O. at two minutes and thirty four seconds of the fifth round.

With his win Garcia ran his record to eight wins with zero loses, and he became the new American Boxing Organiztion (A.B.O.)American Regional Featherweight Champion.

The undercard results were as follows:

Richard Hutton (Houston, Texas) won a four round decision over Kenyotta Henderson (Tyler, Texas) at 180 pounds
Oscar Sanchez (Houston, Texas) and Julio Macotela (San Antonio, Texas) fought to a four round draw at 126 pounds
Adrian Santoyo (Houston, Texas) won by TKO over Keith Miles (San Antonio, Texas) at 160 pounds
Jimmy Strickland (Houston, Texas) won a four round decision over Adam Ealoms (Bryan/College Station, Texas) at 154 pounds
Ivan Vasquez (Houston, Texas, via Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico) won by T.K.O. over Christopher Jackson (Tyler, Texas) at 170 pounds

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Fighter Profile / Gagan “Pitbull” Sharma

gagan pitbull sharma

Amateur Record:  42-3   All India Bronze Medalist

Pro Record:  5-1  with 2 wins by knockout

Weight: Super Middleweight

Height:    5’10

Stance: Left Handed

I recently was able to interview All India Bronze Medalist and Captain of The Super Boxing Leauge’s Dehli Gladiators, Gagan “Pitbull” Sharma. A humble and friendly young man but at the same time, highly ambitious, this young man is sure to bring excitement when he steps into the ring.

The “Pitbull” has signed a contract with Martinez Boxing International and has come to Houston to advance his professional boxing career under Coach David Martinez.  Coach Martinez has been busy building, training, and managing a growing stable of elite, professional boxers and has brought in Sharma with hopes of a World Championship in the near future. Intrigued by the enthusiasm and excitement of Coach Martinez concerning his newest prospect, I decided to learn more about him and conducted an interview with Sharma, prior to a recent workout at Martinez Boxing Gym.

Clutch City Boxing: Sharma, how did you get started in boxing and where did you begin your boxing journey?

Pitbull Sharma: I began my boxing journey at home in Chandigarth, India, being trained by my father and brother.  My father was a boxer in his youth but had to stop in order to support his family, and I began boxing because I loved it and I want to keep the family boxing tradition going. My father and my brother have supported me 100% throughout my boxing career and they are the main persons responsible for guiding me through the amateurs and up to this point in professional boxing.

CCB:  Sharma, what are some of your accomplishments in boxing thus far?

PS:  As an amateur I won a bronze medal in an All India Boxing Tournament and as a professional I am the Team Captain for The Super Boxing League’s, Dehli Gladiators.

CCB:  I’m not familiar with The Super Boxing League, can you tell me a little more about that?

PS:  The Super Boxing League is a professional, tournament styled boxing league, started by Amir Khan. The league features eight weight classes and the best boxers from India and Asia compete against each other in four round bouts.  In my last bout, which was a Super Boxing League bout, I knocked out an opponent from Thailand, in the fourth round.

CCB:  What is your boxing philosophy and how would you describe your boxing style?

PS:   My approach, philosophy, and style is based on my boxing idol and favorite boxer Mike Tyson, which is seek and destroy, behind a peek-a-boo, defensive guard.

CCB:  Sharma, I noticed your first professional bout resulted in the only professional loss on your record, how did that come about and what gave you the determination to continue after starting off with a loss?

PS:  I have no excuses I fought a tough opponent, who is still undefeated to this day, and I lost by a split decision on points. From the very beginning of my amateur and especially professional career, I have always wanted to fight the best competition available.  I chose to fight an undefeated boxer in my pro debut, rather than build my record fighting mediocre opponents who would offer little resistance, just to build my record. It was a great way to start my professional career, and a learning experience, and I have since made the necessary adjustments to win my last five bouts.

CCB:  You seem to have a fearless approach and that’s very commendable, especially in today’s boxing culture. From what you are telling me, it seems like you are ready and willing to fight anyone

PS: Yes sir, I came to Houston, Texas because I wanted the best training possible, so that I can win a world title. It makes no difference to me who I fight, I just want to fight, and I want to fight the best competition available.

CCB: So if Coach Martinez told you today that he lined up a world title bout for you, you would not hesitate to take that bout this early in your career?

PS: Like I said before sir, I came here to win a world championship and fight the best competition available. Nothing would make me happier than to fight for a world title, and I will accept any challenge at any time.

CCB: One last question Sharma, when will we get an opportunity to see you in the ring?

PS: We don’t have any contracts signed for any bouts as of this moment, but we are working on something for late September or early October. I’m ready right now though, I’ve been training hard and sparring the best sparring partners in town.  I can’t wait to get back in the ring and show Houston, and the world what Pitbull Sharma is capable of!

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Houston Boxer Martin Allison competes in The Open Houston Invitational Championships 2018

I had the pleasure of attending The Open Houston Invitational 2018, as well as assisting in the corner of elite 152 pound boxer Martin “Marty Too Smooth” Allison this weekend. The event was held at The CDM Boxing Gym at Greenspoint Mall and featured many great amateur bouts from boxers and teams from all over Texas as well as a few out of state boxers and teams.

“Marty Too Smooth” Allison, one of the best 152 pound boxers in The State of Texas, brings excitement and technical expertise to the ring, along with elite footwork. He’s trained and cornered by Coach Ernest Tobias, one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the Gulf LBC. Coach Tobias has been a participant of boxing for many years in Houston as a competitor and coach, and has one of the best boxing pedigrees in town, having been educated in the sweet science by legendary boxing coaches Joe Delgado, Santos Montemayor, and Kenny Weldon.The amount of boxing champions on the regional, state, national, and world level taught by Delgado, Montemayor, and Weldon is off the charts, and Coach Tobias is proudly passing on the lessons he learned from his coaches to his students with great success.

It’s a personal pleasure of mine to be able to take part in bouts fought by Allison and cornered by Tobias as both are at the top of their respective games and I’m able to sit back and learn, while offering a little motivation and “outside of the box” strategy to compliment the elite coaching and boxing these men produce.

Martin’s bout was fought against fellow, elite 152 pound boxer Alex “All Hands” Donis, and was a great bout to both watch and be a part of. Both kids fought a great fight and both displayed championship level skill, determination and heart. The bout featured skillful boxing, hard punches landed, momentum changes, and was fiercely fought from the first bell until the final bell.

In the end Donis was announced as the winner and although we felt we did enough to garner the decision by winning the first and third rounds, as well as landing more clean, effective punches to the head and body, we enjoyed the experience and wish “All Hands” Donis the best of luck.

We were also happy to be able to watch some great bouts fought by some of the best talent in the area. A bout that stood out to me was a 132 pound, Elite, Open Division bout fought by Giovanni Marquez of Marquez Boxing and Oscar Perez of Perez Boxing. This was another fiercely contested bout with hard punches landed, momentum changes, and elite level boxing. I was fortunate to be able to record this great bout and it can be seen at The Clutch City Boxing Youtube channel.

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Fighter Profile / Alex Morales

Alex Morales:     Weight: Super-Middleweight/ Stance: Orthodox/ Pro Record: 2 wins 2 by knockout, 0 loses, 0 draws

In a recent personal conversation with Everett “Bigfoot” Martin, he suggested that I focus more of my time and energy on the young fighters in Houston who may have not had the chance to achieve some of the things he and other Houston “OG’s” have, but are out there trying to represent Houston.  I agreed wholeheartedly, thanked “Big Foot” and he finished the conversation by telling me, “Lou, those young guys need the recognition and attention more than us old guys do, we had our time, it’s their turn to shine.”

With respect to “Bigfoot” here is the first of this form of article I’m calling “Fighter Profiles”, introducing a young man with a very inspiring story, local super-middleweight Alex Morales.

Lucky Lou: Alex how did you get started in boxing and where did you get your start?

Alex Morales: I got my start at Mena’s Boxing Club with Coach Howard Mena. I need to back up a little though and explain the circumstances. I have known Coach Howard for many years as a family friend but up until about three years ago, I hadn’t seen him in a long time. He contacted me out of the blue one day and told me he had just opened up a boxing gym near the area where I lived and asked if I would come help him build the gym. I helped him put everything together in the gym and after we were done, he said he wanted to train me in boxing. I was 25 years old, badly out of shape [about 250 pounds], had a poor diet, smoked cigarettes, and didn’t drink anything but cokes.

LL: So I assume you weren’t very enthusiastic about starting up in boxing at the time?

AM: No sir, I resisted, told him I thought I was too old to start and didn’t initially listen when he said I could be a boxer. I think I may have even told him, “You’re crazy old man, it’s too late for me to start”.

LL: What changed your outlook?

AM: Well Coach Howard is a stubborn man and he kept insisting so I eventually gave in and went to his gym.

LL: Was it hard at first?

AM: Yes very hard, I went there thinking I was going to punch bags and what not, but before I could punch even one bag coach Howard made me work on something he called “The Line” which is just what it’s called, a line, taped to the floor that is used to perform a series of balance exercises. With me being overweight at the time and not used to these type of exercises, “The Line” was tough and to make it worse it’s almost the only thing I did for about a month because that’s what Coach Howard said I needed work on!  So during that time I met the other two coaches there, Joe Rodriguez and Ricky Stoner, and I started to become addicted to the workout, especially once I was able to do more than just the line exercises!

Although I was getting in shape I would still get discouraged and “quit” for a couple of days here and there, but I always came back.Slowly my weight started dropping and my conditioning began to become the conditioning of a boxer, meaning soon I would be ready to begin sparring.

LL: The fun part, right?

AM: I went into it with no fear and I sparred whoever was available, because by this time I had been bitten by the boxing bug and knew this was something I wanted to do. So many times I was sparring with professional boxers from the area and from Mexico, and took my fair share of butt whuppings, but it built mental toughness and endurance. No matter how bad it looked at times, the old man [Howard] kept telling me that I was going to be a world champ one day and I started to believe it was possible.

About a year and a half into my training I was ready for my first amateur fight, which was going to be held in Pasadena, at The Dynasty Boxing Promotions Gym. A funny thing happened before my first bout though.

I was busy working at a plant and training for my first amateur fight when I started talking to my foreman one day about my upcoming match. I didn’t know my foreman personally but we started talking and he asked me when and where I was going to fight. I told him at The Dynasty Boxing Promotions Show and he immediately laughed and said, “No you’re not”. I was a bit confused and he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, read it and said my name wasn’t on the sheet. You see my foreman ended up being Jesse Morales, Owner/Operator of Dynasty Promotions Boxing Gym! I had been training to fight at his show but had not been matched up yet, which is why my name wasn’t on the bout sheet! Luckily I was able to get matched and I did fight, and win at that show, which was the beginning of my boxing career.

LL: You mentioned earlier that you have only been in boxing for about three years, and with two professional wins already under your belt, your amateur career must have been pretty short?

AM: Yes I had two amateur fights fighting under the Mena’s Boxing Club banner and I ended up training and fighting out of Dynasty Promotions Boxing Gym, under the instruction of Jesse Morales for my last three amateur fights. When I left the amateur ranks I had a 4-1 record. My last amateur bout was my proudest moment in the ring so far because my opponent was really good, and tough, he was left handed, and I came into that bout with nothing physically because of a bad weight cut. My opponent was actually maybe the better boxer that night, but I was determined to stop him inside the distance,and going on mostly pure determination, I was able to stop him and get the win. Once I got that last amateur bout in, my Coach Jesse Morales told me I was ready for my first professional bout. Although I was now training full time at The Dynasty Promotions Boxing Gym, I brought in Howard Mena and Joe Rodriguez to help me prepare for my first pro fight, because I knew I needed their help as well, and I wanted them in my corner.

LL: This obviously worked well because you got that first win along with another win since then, leaving you with a 2-0 with 2 KO’s record at this time correct?

AM: Definetly! With Jesse Morales, Howard Mena, and Joe Rodriguez in my corner, I won my first pro fight with a tremendous, one-punch knockout in 43 seconds! My second pro bout was a little tougher because my opponent had an iron chin and was trying his best to win, but I still was able to stop him in the fourth round.

LL: Well Alex it’s been nice getting to know you better and your story is a very inspiring and motivating one for anyone out there that may be out of shape and headed to a road of bad health. You were able to not only leave behind some bad habits and lose weight, you got yourself into fighting condition, which is something very few people can do, with the great demands that boxing makes on a persons mind, body and soul. Is there anything you want to say in parting?

AM: Yes, I want to thank Howard, Joe, and Ricky at Mena’s Boxing, along with Jesse Morales at Dynasty Boxing, for everything that I have learned from them and all the hard work they have put into me. I give it my all everyday because my coaches have always given me their all. I’m still working to perfect my diet and conditioning routine and I believe I can compete as a middleweight in the future. I know I have a long way to go and a lot to learn but I live life one day at a time and I know that I will be a Champion one day! This is my story, Alex Morales super-middleweight, soon to be middleweight boxer and future world champion.