Undefeated jr welterweight contender Benjamin "Hill" Gourmet of Fort Worth returned from a neck injury and a 7.5-month layoff on Friday evening's main event at the Southern Junction, which was put on by Made Men Promotions, and picked up where he left off. The 30-year-old from Fort Worth showed no ring rust at all and actually looked slicker and more defensive-minded than we had seen in the past. Using his jab a bit more and behind slicker movement, the southpaw landed at will on his rugged opponent, Antonio Meija of Nuevo León, Mexico, who was last in the ring with Hector Tanjara. A patient Gurment stalked his opponent with a persistent jab, mixing up head and body shots to perfection. A straight left with about a minute left in the opening round rattled Meij's cage. The Fort Worthian stayed on the front foot and scored with his lead jab and mixed in straight lefts when Meija would try to counter Gurment consistently made him miss throughout the four-rounder and would score with a counter left that began to slow his opponent down in the second half of the fight. Gurment delivered a hard right hook to the body that backed Meija up late in the third round. The Fort Worthian kept the pressure on in the final stanza and scored with a double left early in the round. The Nuevo Leon native was showing signs of wear and tear however the rugged Mexican was able to survive to the final bell which proved to be a moral victory. The scores were academic and one-sided as Gurment rolled to a unanimous decision victory by scores 40-36x2 and 39-37. Gurment improved to 8-0-2 (5) and with the support of his team expressed an interest in fighting Tanajara down the road.
Gurment's stablemate, 6'0 tall hard-hitting featherweight Joel "The Owl" Martinez of Fort Worth, was in action. Martinez, a southpaw worked behind a stiff jab. He doubled it up about and put a left hand behind it just moments into the fight. The combination caught the attention of his opponent Rensley Washington of Cincinnati, Ohio. Just moments later, the Fort Worth native scored with a short right hook that wobbled the Ohioan. The hook seemed to affect Washington, who appeared to lose his aggression. For the remainder of the four-round affair, Washington stayed mainly on the retreat as the Texan applied constant pressure and took what he was given. In the second, another straight left drove Washington into the ropes. The left hand sending Washington back seemed to be played on loop as Martinez could not miss with it, and it drove Washington back every time it scored. By the start of the fourth and final round, Martinez looked as sharp and fresh as in the opening round. A massive right hook snapped his opponets head back and sent him into retreat. "The Owl" stayed on the aggressive and landed a short left that rocked Washington, who appeared in serious trouble for the first time. The Ohio native was able to weather the storm and survived till the final bell. However, the decision was clear-cut, and Martinez moved to 3-0 (2). Post-fight the long, rangy featherweight expressed his intentions to "put on some muscle" and "move up to 130."
On the undercard portion of the event, Two exciting youngsters made successful pro debuts. Fernando Solís of Fort Worth dropped his opponent, Rashard Robinson of Dallas twice. Including in the third round with a vicious right hand. Robinson was as tough as could be and fought back hard. He was able to score on the inside as well and stopped Solis in his track on a handful of occasions. However, Solis would not be discouraged and used angles to land with right hands from a variety of angles. The Fort Worthian scored with a big right hand that rocked his opponent to seal the deal in the final seconds of the fourth round. Solis won the lopsided unanimous decision by scores of 40-35x3 to move his record to 1-0 (0).
Also on the card was Jaycob Ramos. The amateur standout from Plano, Texas, passed an incredibly difficult test and took a unanimous decision over Desmon White. White, who trains out of FHG in Fort Worth, scored with a clean left hook that rattled Ramos. However, the youngster from Plano ate it well and came back with a big right hand of his own late in the first. White fought hard and had moments on the inside. He began wearing Ramos down who became noticeably fatigues. The former amateur star was winning competitive rounds but was being tested and getting hit with clean shots. As he continued to fatigue, his jab disappeared, and Ramos relied on using really slick footwork to score with power shots on the inside. Ramos survived the tough test, picked up the win in his professional debut, moved to 1-0, and is now off to the races in what should be a superb professional career.