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.