Michael Montaya and Kingdom boxing hosted another night of exciting, can't miss fights, in Dallas. A crowd that was filled with legendary hall of farmers such as Heisman winner Tim Brown, former four-division world champ Roy Jones Jr and Christy Martin as well as former world champions such as Paulie Ayala and Jesus Chavez. It was the perfect crowd, the perfect atmosphere for a card loaded with so much Dallas talent. Unfortunately, former WBC 154-Pound silver champ and world title challenger Charles Hatley had his homecoming fight spoiled by Jamshidbek Najmitdinov, of Uzbekistan via second-round KO. After a fairly impressive opening round that saw Hatley moving well and outboxing and out moving his Uzbeki opponent. The second round was filled with combustion and ended with a massive left hook that landed on the chin of Hatley, during a heated exchange that sent the former champ tumbling to the ground and left him unable to beat the count. Dropping the 36-year-old Hatley's record to 30-3-1. Najmitdinov Improved his record to 19-3 and secured the biggest win of his career.
In the co-main event, Dallas native, Shurretta "Chiccn" Metcalf came up short in a very controversial decision in which it appears that she had certainly done enough to secure a points victory. She worked well behind her rangy jab, and controlled the distance. She was able to move away from Danielle Bennett's shots and was able to close the distance at times. In a fight that did seem extremely close, it did appear to most at ringside and in the crowd that "Chiccn" did enough. Scoring with often more with her jab, and then followed up right hands to secure most of the rounds. One particular straight right stunned Bennett in the second round. However in the end it was Bennett who two of the three judges preferred scoring the bout 79-73 and 78-74 overruling the third judge who scored the bout 76-76.
It wasn't all bad for Dallas fighters, as Ray Ximenez scored his second consecutive win in his comeback, following a three-year-layoff. Ximenez outboxed a rugged and determined Eric Manriquez of Houston over six rounds. After a bit of a feeling-out process in the opening stanza, the Dallasite got to work in the second. Switching in and out of both the conventional and southpaw stances and working his way onto the inside. Firing off combinations, staggering him with a 3 punch combo midway through the round. The two combatants finished the second round slugging toe to toe. Ximenez stayed on the attack, ripping body shots downstairs, which he he mentioned was part of the game plan going into the fight. A determined Manriquez stayed aggressive and kept coming forward keeping Ximenez honest but ultimately it was the Dallas native landing the better shots and winning the exchanges. Scoring with lead right hands caught the attention of the Houston native. One particular right hand rocked Manriquez late on the 5th and Ximenez followed up and appeared to hurt a resilient Manriquez. Manriquez scored with a big right that caught his opponent's attention in the sixth and final round. However, Ximenez answered right back with a massive right that sent his opponent's mouthpiece flying across the ring. Like two determined warriors the two stood toe to toe and slugged out the final 10 seconds of a highly entertaining and competitive but clear-cut victory for Ximenez, who took the UD by scores of 58-56 59-55x2. Ximenez moved his record to 20-2 (4) and expects to be back in the ring in July to continue his comeback.
Also on the card was Edwin Pena, who trains and fights out of the Montoya Boxing Gym and scored a dominating third-round knockout of Waldo Zamudio. Scoring a total of three knockdowns and stopping Zamudio just past the midway point of the third round. Pena improved his record to 1-0-1 (1) and Zamudio fell to 0-6.
