Young Stable of Stars Set to Shine In San Antonio

San Antonio's boxing scene is absolutely on fire. Josh Franco just defended his version of the super flyweight title. Mario Barrios a former world champion was involved in the fight of the year and the Pay Per View extravaganza of the year. On top of that there are countless other Alamo City stars who are bursting onto the scene, Bam Rodriguez, Hector Tanajara, Ramon Cardenas, Rick Medina, "Goyo" Gregory Morales all call the Alamo City home.  Boxing is engrained into the fabric of San Antonio it's a fighting city composed of fighters. That goes for the stars mentioned above as well as the developing stars, the under-the-radar. hidden gems that are also at no shortage in San Antonio.

 Cameron Davies, a San Antonian, who is famous for creating "Cruising Kitchens" designing and fabricating extravagant mobile Kitchens has put a major investment into some of these up-and-coming super prospects. Creating a state-of-the-art gym for them to train and sharpen their skills at, and is completely dedicated to putting on regular shows to build his fighter's records and prepare them to fight at the highest level. He has invested the time and money into building a stable of exciting young fighters who will have an opportunity to shine this Saturday at their home gym. 

Davies's stable includes exciting featherweight knockout Artist "World Star" Henry Arredondo who sports a 7-1 record, who has been a major ticket seller in San Antonio for the past few years. Building up a quality resume that includes a highlight real of spectacular one-punch knockouts. Arredondo's lone career loss comes at the hands of Eros Correa, a dispute decision, that was originally announced for Arredondo, a decision that no one flinched at because everyone seemingly thought World Star was the rightful winner but was moments leader corrected and given to Correa. A decision that got a lot of attention from boxing media, because they seemed to have gotten it right the first time, among the vocal critics was two-time welterweight world champion "Showtime" Shawn Porter who on his podcast acknowledged he thought the San Antoninian had clearly won the fight.  Arredondo will look to bounce back from his lone career defeat against veteran Charles Clark.

Next up is Floyd Schofield who is known as " Kid Austin" is from Austin, Texas, and got his boxing start at  Richard Lord’s Boxing gym, which was home to the legendary fan favorite all-action James Kirkland.  Schofield, is more of a pure boxer and has lightning-quick reflexes and an equally as quick jab. he also packs surprising power as was on full display when he fought Ricardo Esquibel on Telemundo and ended his night just 1 minute and 40 seconds with a tremendous left hook that dropped Esquibel like a building imploding on itself that was aired live on Telemundo. Schofield sports a perfect 6-0 record and will take on  Roberto Almazan in a six-rounder on Saturday night.

Perhaps the crown jewel of Davies Entertainment's stable is the young former  Amateur standout and national champion the undefeated blue-chip featherweight prospect Xavier Nunez. Nunez, who hails from Corpus Christi,  sports a perfect  2-0 record, and despite still being a teenager has already fought on a major card and garnered national attentional. Nunez kicked off the Charlo-Castano undercard with a spectacular fourth-round stoppage of David Alfaro in the  AT&T Center in San Antonio. Corpus Christi has had a former world champion Jessie Benevidez who held the WBO Super bantamweight belt (from 91-92)  ad challenged for a world title in the featherweight division. The same division Nunez competes at.  A division former world title challenger and Corpus Christi native Jerry Belmontes can certainly win a world title at.

Ortiz & Franco Complete Texas Two-Step: 5 Texans in all Win on Saturday

Multi-time Trainer of the Year award winner Robert Garcia has one of, if the not deepest stable in professional boxing. This is typically a great thing, except when two of the fighters in your stable have major fights on the same day. That's exactly what happened on Saturday night as undefeated blue-chip prospect Vergil Ortiz had a homecoming date at The Star in Frisco against a former world title challenger and WBA Super Flyweight champ  "The Professor" Josh Franco of San Antonio had a title offense against Australian rival Andrew Moloney. Garcia was stuck with the tough decision of having to pick one corner to work. He opted for Franco and left the unbeaten protégé in the hands of other members of the Robert Garcia Boxing academy as well as Ortiz Sr. The decision worked out perfectly as both men scored sensational victories

Over in Frisco, Ortiz who has blown past everyone he has stepped in the ring with, got off to a rougher than expected start. After a fairly even and uneventful first round, Egidijus Kavaliauskas of Lithuania rocked Ortiz with an uppercut that landed perfectly on the chin of the Texan. The Lithuanian fired one power shot after another that seemingly put Ortiz to the canvas however referee Lawrence Cole ruled it a slip.  Facing real adversity for the first time in his career, it would be interesting to how the young upstart would respond and respond he did. From that point on Ortiz would dominate in typical fashion. Staying composed and working behind the jab, Ortiz was able to stabilize himself and end the round well. He then seized control of the fight starting in the third and dropped Kavaliauskas with a shotgun of a jab followed by a short left hook. The hometown hero didn't go for the kill and stayed in control. Working calmly behind the jab and attacking the body Ortiz dominated the next several rounds. Setting up the eight, when a body shot sent the "Mean Machine" to the canvas for a second time.  Ortiz stayed on the prowl and put Kavaliauskas on the canvas for the third time and again Kavaliauskas made it up, but not for long. As a barrage of uppercuts from the Texan again dropped Kavaliauskas. Sensing the end was near Ortiz unleashed a vicious series of power shots that send Kavaliauskas one last time just before the bell. This time for good as Laurence Cole waived the bout off at the end of the 8th round. 

A few hours to the north in Tulsa. Oklahoma at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Alamo City native Joshua Franco put together a career-best performance in outpointing Andrew Moloney. Dominant from the opening bell on. The Professor took Moloney to boxing school. Scoring with a blistering right hand that could not miss Franco built up a big lead in the middle rounds. Momentum seemed to change in the seventh when the two exchanged right hands and Franco was put down to the canvas. Live speed it did appear that Moloney landed a glancing blow that dropped an off-balance Franco. However, the replay showed that Moloney's right hand missed and Franco was the one that landed and the knockdown was overturned. Franco cleared his had got back in control and dominated the Australian the rest of the way nailing him with laser-like right hands from the midrange. Constantly throwing first and keeping Moloney on the back foot. Moloney rallied in spurts in the ninth as well as in the final round but every time he did he was matched every step of the way by the San Antonian. Going to the cards it was academic as all three judges scored unanimously 116-112 in favor of the champion. 

Two Dallas-based, southpaw brothers, Alex and George Rincon scored dominant, unanimous decision victories on the undercard at the Star in Frisco. Big brother George Rincon used his jab and straight lefts to overwhelm Brooklyn, NY-based opponent, Nikolai Buzolin. Rincon won every round on every card 80-72 on each of the three cards. Alex Rincon was equally as dominant in defeating  Sanny Duversonne. The younger Rincon brother put on a competitive boxing clinic to take all 8 rounds on two of the three cards and seven of the eight on the third and move his record to 9-0 (6) 

Down in Orlando, Florida on a card promoted by Nelson Lopez and Marshall Kaufman, San Antonio-based Ramon Cardenas, moved his record to 20-1 and captured the WBA continental bantamweight title by defeating veteran Marvin Solano of Nicaragua. Making it a perfect 5-0 for Texas fighters. For Cardenas it's the second division he has won regional titles in and could be on his way to a world title fight in 2022.

Figueroa vs Fulton: Moved to September 18th

24-year-old  unified 122-pound champion Brandon "The Heartbreaker" Figueroa of Weslaco is coming off of a career-best performance. A seventh-round KO  via body shot of unbeaten WBC super bantamweight champion Luis "Pantera" Nery. The Rio Grande Valley native was set to defend that title as well as his WBA strap against WBO champion Stephen Fulton on September 11. However, with the collapse of the Canelo Alvarez fight that was tentatively scheduled for September 18th. The historic, Mexican Independence Day weekend, that date is now open. The date has previously been filled by superstars like Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, and of course Canelo Alvarez and is a bit of a tradition in the boxing world. The date is now open and can highlight two of PBC's premier young superstars in a unification bout. The bout will likely take place at the Park MGM’s Park Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the bout will air on Showtime

The Heartbreaker is the younger brother of former lightweight champion  Omar "Panterita" Figueroa jr, the two train at Panteritas  Boxing Gym in Weslaco, which is owned by Omar Sr and then switch over to train with famed trainer Joel Diaz in Indio California. Diaz has trained 13-world champions

Spence out of Pacquiao Fight with Detached Retina

The highly anticpated showdeon between IBF/WBC unified welterweight champ Errol "The Truth" Spence of Desoto, and legendary eight-divison world champ Manny Pacquiao is offically off. The Texan was forced to pull out with detached retina. A detached retina or retianl detachment is "an emergency situation in which a thin layer of tissue (the retina) at the back of the eye pulls away from its normal position. Retinal detachment separates the retinal cells from the layer of blood vessels that provides oxygen and nourishment. The longer retinal detachment goes untreated, the greater your risk of permanent vision loss in the affected eye." according to the Mayo Clinic. Typical recovery time is 2-4 weeks according to multiple medical sources. Spence, 31, said on Twitter that he has seen three different doctors and all have said the same thing.

The fight was scheduled for Saturday, August 21, at the T-Mobile Arena and is still going off. Spence we be replaced by WBA champion Yordenis Ugas. Ugas (26-4) is a quality replacement and has won three consecutive fights since a close and very controversial decision loss to Shawn Porter in 2019. He was upgraded from "Regular champ" to "Super Champ" due to the extreme inactivity of Manny Pacquiao or won the super designation from Keith Thurman in July of 2019 but has not fought since. Back in January Pacquiao was designated as "champion in recess" by the sanctioning body.

Spence, took to Twitter and said "I came back from worse" perhaps referring to a horrific car wreck he suffered back in the fall of 2019. Spence has fought just once since the accident a 12-round unanimous decision victory against former two-division world champ Danny Garcia. Pacquiao responded on Twitter saying " I pray for a full and complete recovery for @ErrolSpenceJr"

Emerging Dallas Based Brothers Back in Action

Houston native Jermall Charlo holds the WBC middleweight title while his twin brother Jermell holds three-quarters of the brass at 154. Brothers dominating is no longer an oddity in boxing, especially if those brothers come from the Lone Star State. San Antonio is home to WBA Super Flyweight champ Josh Franco and his brother Bam Rodriguez, our prospect of the year 2020, is very likely to join his big brother as a world champion in the very near future. So both H-town and Alamo City each have brothers dominating the scene. So, what about Big D? 

Enter the Rincon brothers. Dallas has a pair of undefeated brothers that are hard-hitting, blue-chip prospects that certainly have all the makings of world champions. Big brother George is an 11-0 junior welterweight and little brother Alex is a 6'3 (8-0) junior middleweight. Both are southpaws and both and both are in action this Saturday at the Star in Frisco on the Vergil Ortiz vs Egidijus Kavaliauskas card. The pair haven't fought on the same card in two years. When on the undercard of Vergil Ortiz- Antonio Orozco at The Verizon Theatre in Grand Praire when both men scored a sensational second-round knockout for their hometown fans.

Since then both have taken an interesting path, both men looked to be in their grove and on their way from transitioning from prospect to contender status. When Alex hit a string of bad luck. He was twice scheduled to fight, and each time the fight got called off. First, an opponent missed weight but 20 pounds, and then a hand injury got him scratched from a January 2020 card in San Antonio.  A card that George scored a sensational first-round knockout over Diego Vicente Perez. Following the knockout, Rincon suffered an odd medical event which caused him to pass out. Everything ended up ok and medically Rincon was fine. He was also garnering a lot of media attention and being recognized as a premier prospect at the 140-pound division. The pandemic followed shortly thereafter and delayed things a year for George. Despite being sidelined for reasons out of their control both brothers bounced back spectacular in Q1 2021. Alex scored a six-round unanimous decision at the Amerian Airlines Center in which he won every single round on each card. George then bounced back in March at the Dickies Arena in March on the Ortiz-Hooker card and captured an eight-round UD in which he won every round as well.

The Rincon bros certainly have a ways to go till they become world champions or even get into the title picture. However, both brothers have the skills and a path to get there. Alex is a 6'3 southpaw with real pop who can out-jab and outbox his opponents on the inside and can beat them up on the inside. He has a style and a skill set that makes him a massive challenge for anyone and being in a division where the best are willing to fight the best and take on all comers Alex can move into a title picture rather quickly. George is 11-0 and probably closer to moving from prospect into contender territory a win Saturday night will go a long way in helping him get there. A southpaw, master boxer-puncher with a deep amateur pedigree and very good pop for the division. George has everything you would look for in a world champion and at 29-years-old is already in his physical prime and can be moved along quickly. This couldn't happen at a better time for the elder brother. In his division, all four major world titles are held by one man, Josh Taylor,  who may vacate all four of those belts in the next year or so. in favor of moving up to 147 to chase bigger paydays. That would open up real opportunities for Rincon and all of the young talent in the weight class to fight for a world title much quicker than expected.

Vergil Oritz Closes in on World title Fight

Vergil Ortiz is one of, if not, the brightest young stars in the sport. Having won all 17 of his pro bouts by way of knockout, plus capturing Prospect of the Year awards by all major boxing publications. The undefeated welterweight will be taking to his talents to The Star in Frisco, only about 30 miles from where the Grand Prairie native grew up. For a 12- round bout for the WBO international title, with former world title challenger, Egidijus Kavaliauskas. The scarp amounts to little more than a litmus test for the Texan. 

Kavaliauskas, fought  WBO welterweight champ and Pound for Pound elite Terence Crawford in 2019. Kavaliauskas was surprisingly competitive throughout the first three rounds and may have even dropped a staggered Crawford in the third round. It was however ruled a slip. Bud, flipped the switch, hit the gas, and turned the fight around. Dropping the challenger twice on his way to a 9th round TKO victory. Vergil Ortiz is currently ranked number one by the WBO meaning he could get a call at any time to fight Crawford. Following Ortiz's last fight, a KO over fellow Texan Maurice "Mighty Mo'  he already made the call out of the long-reigning champion. Saying he didn't care if he was ready he wanted to fight Crawford. Crawford went on to say that he should go fight Kavaliauskas. Ortiz abide.

The Ortiz/Kavaliauskas is fairly academic, no fighter is to be looked past, but the Grand Prairie native has far superior skills and firepower. So the entire world is expecting Ortiz to continue his KO streak. The only question is how does he do it? Can he do it without struggling and do it more impressively than Crawford fif to try and force the hand of either the Champion to accept the fight or force the hand of the organization to mandate Ortiz fight, Bud. 

This fight is a litmus test for Ortiz, how far has he progressed and how close is he to the absolute elite in the division The elite in the division is Terence Crawford and Errol Spence of Desoto and Manny Pacquiao who square off in a few weeks. Ortiz wants to fight both and has not minced words on the subject. He wanted to fight Hooker and spent a lot of 2019 calling him out. He got the fight and delivered a spectacular performance. He wants Crawford and then Spence and will likely have to go through them in that order. Crawford is set to fight the two-time former welterweight champ, Shawn Porter. Should he win. The Crawford vs Ortiz fight becomes all too simple. Both fighters have struggled to work with PBC to fight their elite stable of 147-pounders so a Crawford-Ortix fight kind of makes itself organically as its ways to make and better options aren't easily available. 

If Oritz is successful in the fight, and that's certainly possible a Spence fight sets itself up as the premier fight in the sport. It would replace Spence/Crawford as the fight everyone is talking about and the biggest money fight in any division south of Canelo and it would make a Spence-Ortiz fight the premier money-making fight in any of those divisions. It all starts, Saturday night, at The Star in Frisco, Ortiz needs to win and win spectacularly to force a Crawford fight and go from there.

San Antonio’s Little Man Could Be Boxing’s Next Big Thing

WBA super Flyweight world titleholder "El Professor" Joshua Franco is just 25 years old and is about to do something most world-class fighters don't do in their entire career. When he steps into the ring against former WBA  Super Flyweight champion Andrew Maloney, the San Antonio native will be partaking in his second trilogy. Despite it just being his 21st professional fight he will have completed a trilogy with the durable Oscar Negrete and former world champ Andrew Maloney. In just his last seven fights dating back to the Fall of 18 Franco has fought two fighters six times. Even more shockingly the Texan hasn't lost a single one of these fights. He is 2-0-2 with one ND. The no decision was against Maloney last November and was the rematch of their thrilling fight earlier in the year in Which El Professor took his Australian rival to class. Beating him up and dropping him on his way to taking a unanimous decision. 

Franco fought rugged contender Oscar Negrete in 2018 and twice more in 2019. fighting him to a draw in the first fight and then outpointing him in the rematch in April of '19 and then settling for a disputed draw with him just three and a half months later. Mixing in a sensational knockout over Jose Alejandro Burgos in a homecoming fight at the Alamodome in January of 2020. 

It's not often that 115-pounders headline major cards but Franco, an all-action boxer-puncher has broken the mold. He has headlined several cards and each of his last three was either co-main events or main events and aired on ESPN. The reason is quite simple, the San Antonian is never in a boring fight. Every time he steps in the ring, win, lose or draw, he gives the fans their money's worth. 

Franco signed with Golden Boy as a teenager and ever since he has been providing pure gold for boxing hardcore. The first time most fans saw him was on the Canelo-Liam Smith undercard at AT&T stadium in September of 2016, in a fight that captured everyone's attention because of the electric uppercut that a then 20-year old Franco was landing with laser-like, precision from the outside that kept dropping and stunning his opponent Bryan Bazan. Despite being mild-mannered, and refusing to take part in trash talk  Franco has done his talking in the ring and has done it exceptionally well. Should he successfully defend his title against Maloney next Saturday, the sky is the limit for Franco and mega fights can be made in the relatively near future. Legendary multi-divisional world champions Like "Chocolatiatio" Roman Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada, Kaz Ioka, and Donnie Nietes all compete in the same division, and given Franco's exciting style and name-value, fights with any of those names aren't just possible they make perfect sense for all parties involved.

 Franco's younger brother Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez was our 2020 prospect of the year and sports a perfect 13-0 (9) record and looks to join big brother as a world champion in the very near future. Rodriguez a 108-pounder will look to become a world  titleholder in that weight class as soon as 2022

Listo Gaitan, Jake Ysasi and other local talent Showcased on The Boxing Showcase

Photo: Hector Sanchez, InTheRing.net

Local Hero Rafael "Listo" Gaitan scored a sensational third-round TKO of an overmatched, but every game, and late replacement, in Joel “El Chapo” Guzman, a muay-Thai fighter turned pro boxer making his professional debut. A large crowd gathered at the Southern Junction, in Irving Texas to support their main "Listo: and he delivered for the packed crowd.  Gaitan, an amateur stand-out, used his jabs and started off patiently. Keeping Guzman at bay and uncomfortable. Listo mixed in head and body shots perfectly and staggered with a barrage of power shots in the opening minute of the second round. The third round saw Liston staying on the attack and dedicated to the body attack, one massive hook to the body dropped Guzman who was able to somehow make it to his feet, Seeing his opponent was badly damaged from the previous body shots  Gaitan pounced and another massive body shot dropped Guzman a second time and forcing veteran Laurence Cole to waive it off giving Gaitan the TKO remained undefeated moving his record to 7-0-1. 

The co-main event featured a prospect who came up the hard way fighting some of the premier prospects in the world. Ramiro Martinez has fought Biggie Rodriguez to a draw and took a tough-luck loss in a fight that nearly everyone thought he won against Top Rank Protege Jeremy Adorno. Martinez however was no match for Friday night's opponent the undefeated Dominque Griffin of Irving. Griffin delighted his hometown fans with precise punching and outworking Martinez on the inside. It was a constant contrast in styles with the longer, rangier Martinez boxing on the outside and Griffin, trying to get onto the inside. Griffin was able to slip his way onto the inside and land the better shots on the inside and took a Majority decision by scores of 40-36, 39-37, and 38-38. 

In the fight that certainly had the most entertaining ring walk, Army hero and Fort Worthian, Benjamin "Hill" Gurmannt stormed the ring to "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival and then outboxed his Dallas based opponent, Angel Gomez, from the outside and landed the cleaner, harder shots on the inside. Gomez hung tough and had moments with combination punching particularly in the third round he seemed to slow down the stronger Gurment with lightning-quick combos, but it was too little as the hard clear and accurate punching from the Fort Worth native stole the show as Gurment scored a majority decision by scores of 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38. 

Two undefeated local fighters also made successful debuts. First, Kansas City, born and raised middleweight Malik "One Punch" Calhoun, now fighting out of FHG in Fort Worth, Texas scored the knockout of the night. After setting up Robert James Rees, with his jab in the first round. A perfectly time left hand from the southpaw Kansas City native sealed the deal. The crowd erupted from the vicious "one punch" which gave Calhoun 2nd round stoppage victory in his pro debut. 

Later in the night Jake “Snake” Ysasi, of Grand Prairie, put on a boxing clinic, to take a UD victory over a very game but outmatched opponent in Daniel Keith Bailey. Ysasi an accomplished amateur showed the patience of a veteran, displaying ring generalship and exceptional timing. He fights in a similar style to legendary Hall of Famer Juan manual Marquez, out of a high guard, jabbing and circling his opponent until he finds his way in. The Grand Prairie native found his way in during the 4th and final round rocking him with uppercuts on the inside and dropping his opponent with a perfectly placed body shot. Bailey, who was tough as nails all night was able to survive to the final bell but the decision was academic as Ysasi moved to 1-0  by unanimous scores of 40-36, 40-35, 39-36.

In the opening bout of the night, fans were treated to 12 minutes of war in an all-out brawl. as Austin native Luis Fernandez built up a big lead in the first two rounds doing excellent work o the inside and then evenly slugged out the final six minutes of action with Arkansas-based Aryton McArthur. However the early work paid off for Fernandez, who was narrowly able to move to 1-0 In the end, the scores read 39-37 twice and 38-38 for Fernandez who came out with the majority decision in his pro debut.

Top 10 Texas P4P List

1 Errol Spence- Welterweight, Dallas

2 Jermell Charlo- Jr Middleweight, Houston

3 Brandon Figueroa- Super Bantamweight, Weslaco

4 Jermall Charlo- Middleweight, Houston

5 Vergil Ortiz- Welterweight, Grand Prairie

6 Josh Franco- Flyweight, San Antonio

7 Mario Barrios- jr welterweight, San Antonio

8 Bam Rodriguez - Light Flyweight, San Antonio

9 Maurice Hooker- Welterweight, Dallas

10 O'shaquie Foster- Super Featherweight, Houston

Aldo considered

Miguel Flores- Super Featherweight, Houston

Hector Tanajara- Lightweight, San Antonio

Edward Vazquez- Featherweight, Fort Worth

Kendo Castaneda Welterweight San Antonio

Omar Juarez- Jr Welterweight, Brownsville

Hector Valdez- Super Bantamweight, Dallas

Jorge Castaneda- Super Featherweight, Laredo

Gregory Morales- Super Bantamweight, San Antonio

Rick Medina- Featherweight, San Antonio