Oscar De la Hoya Brings Big Time Boxing Back to Houston,Texas
H-Town Ring Announcer Jeremiah Gallegos
MUNGUIA VS INOUE FIGHT WEEK SCHEDULE
Here’s the Mungia vs Inoue, Junior Middleweight World Championship fight week schedule. Events
will start on Wednesday January 23, 2022 with the media workouts, and will end with the January
26, 2019 live event and post-fight press conference. Hope to see everyone there!
MUNGIA VS INOUE / January 26, 2022
MASTER FIGHT WEEK SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23: MEDIA WORKOUT(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)
11:00 AM FAN ARRIVAL at BBVA COMPASS STADIUM NORTH PLAZA
location: BBVA Compass Stadium- North Plaza
2200 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX 77003
11:00 AM MEDIA CHECK-IN BEGINS (MUST ALREADY HAVE PRESS PASS)
*Media Parking: North Lot, off of Prairie Street
12:00 PM MUNGIA vs INOUE MEDIA WORKOUT BEGINS (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)
location: BBVA Compass Stadium- North Plaza
2200 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX 77003
12:00 PM - George Rincon and Alex Rincon
12:20 PM - Vergil Ortiz Jr.
12:40 PM - Takeshi Inoue and Xu Can
1:00 PM - Jesus Rojas
1:20 PM - Jaime Mungia
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24: FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE
11:00 AM MEDIA CHECK-In BEGINS (MUST ALREADY HAVE PRESS PASS)
@ Toyota Center, Labranch entrance at Labranch and Polk
12:00 PM MUNGIA VS INOUE PRESS CONFERENCE
1510 Polk Street, Houston, Texas 77002
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25: WEIGH-INS (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)
Location: Pitch 25 Restuarant and Bar
2120 Walker Street, Houston, Texas 77003
2:00 PM DOORS OPEN FOR FAN ARRIVAL
2:30 PM MUNGIA VS INOUE OFFICIAL WEIGH-INS BEGIN
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26: MUNGIA VS INOUE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
Location: Toyota Center
1510 Polk Street, Houston, Texas 77002
4:00 PM TOYOTA CENTER DOORS OPEN
4:20 PM FIRST FIGHT BEGINS
8:00 PM DAZN LIVE BROADCAST BEGINS
AFTER MAIN EVENT POST-FIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE
Location: Toyota Center - Press Interview Room
Cris Morales returns to the ring at The Thursday Night Fights Series
After taking some time off from the prize ring, former local amateur standout and current 5-1 professional prospect Cris Morales, returns to action on Thursday January 17, 2022 at The Humble Civic Center.
Morales has been out of the ring since November of 2017 but has been working hard for his return, training at the Martinez Boxing Gym in Mid-town Houston for months. For his return bout he will be facing grizzled veteran Guadalupe “The Butcher” Perez, in a bout that promises to bring excitement.
From a fighting family of boxers, Morales has been away from competition for a while but hasn’t been far from a boxing ring during his time off, training and sparring in the gym regularly, as well as participating in The Kenny Weldon Sparring Celebration, in honor of the late Kenny Weldon, in May of 2018.
The Thursday Night Fights series will also feature Jonathan Foreman (5-0,5 KO’s), Chance Battenberg (1-0,1 KO) and Dondrell Haynes (3-0, 3 KO’s) as well as several other bouts as Promoters Joe Dumas and Roy Foreman do their part to help keep local boxing alive in Houston and the Houston area.
The event will be held this Thursday January 17, 2022 at The Humble Civic Center at 8233 Will Clayton Parkway, Humble, Texas 77338. Doors open at 6:15 PM and first fight will begin at 7 PM.
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.
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.
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.
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*
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.