Malik Calhoun

Igbokwe and Two San Antonians Shine in Sugar Land

In the evening's main event, promising young super flyweight prospect Guillermo Gutierrez of San Antonio put on a high-level performance in moving his record to 9-0 (1), capturing the ABF Atlantic title and handily winning the battle of unbeaten prospects and handing Hector Valdes his first career loss. Gutierrez showed off his complete bag, worked behind a southpaw jab, and picked Valdes apart from the outside. He seamlessly switched between the southpaw and conventional stances, scoring with uppercuts on the inside and landing well-placed right hooks when in the southpaw stance. Switching between stances is something Guitierrez says "comes naturally to me." In complete control throughout, Guiterrez outworked and outlandered his outgunned opponent. A head-butt opened a cut above the eye of the Alamo City native, but it had no impact on him as the San Antonian shook it off, remained in control, and closed the show like a champ. A beautiful right hook rocked Valdez early in the final round. Gutierrez stayed on the attack and ripped beautiful body shots to the body of Valdes. Never letting off the gas, the unbeaten Guiterrez cruised to a unanimous decision victory by scores of 60-54 X3.

Fellow San Antonian Jason Limon also picked up an impressive victory, bringing the fight to unbeaten southpaw prospect Christian Foley, of Bryan. Limon used his jab to back Foley up, a southpaw who is known for his power, worked predominantly off the jab and was losing the battle of the jabs. In addition to winning the battle of the jabs, Limon was able to score with the occasional lead left hook and was putting rounds in the bank. The highlight athletic Foley was using movement to negate the pressure of Limon and avoid much of his artillery but didn't offer up much offense, refusing to open up at times. With the fight slipping away, Foley picked up the pace a bit in the sixth and final round and scored with some flurries, one of which caught the attention of Limon, who answered right back and tagged Foley with a left hook. The competitive scrap ended without a bang, and Limon picked up the ABF Welterweight title as well as the Texas State title, taking a majority decision by scores of 59-55, 58-56, and the third judge handing in an ever 57-57 card.

Houston native Raphael Igbokwe survived a tough scrap from a game and rugged Imaud Louis. Igbokwe, a southpaw, got off to a fast start, scoring with a three-piece combination that drove Louis back into the ropes. Igbokwe landed clean power shots while on the inside. He scored with a straight left that again drove his opponent into the ropes late in the opening round. Louis was game throughout and bounced back in the second and third rounds. He was able to land his jab and score the occasional flurry to Keep Igbokwe honest. He scored with a clean right hand that stopped his opponent in his tracks. Late in the round Louis landed another three-piece combination and followed it with a wide right hand that landed cleanly. Likely his best shot of the night, Igbokwe ate in well though, and kept coming forward. As the scheduled six-rounder seemed fairly even at the midway point, it was Igbokwe that seemed much fresher as Louis was breathing heavily. Igbokwe stayed aggressive and on the front foot. He dominated the second half of the fight. Getting the fight to where he wanted it on the inside. Igbokwe mixed up his head and body shot and scored with a vicious left uppercut that was able to consistently split the guard of his opponent. A fun, high-action contest ended in a clear-cut unanimous decision for Igbokwe by scores of 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56. He moved his record 17-5 (7) as Louis, also of Houston, dropped to 6-1 (4).

Dickinson native and son of nearby fan-favorite Eugene Hill, Eugene Hill Jr was given a tougher-than-expected scrap with Marcelo Fabian Bzowski. originally of Buenos Aires, Argentina, now fighting out of San Antonio. Bzowski hadn't won since 2019 and lost 13 fights in a row against a lot of quality opposition. He showed up to win and pushed Hill to the limit. Hill brought the pressure and mixed up head and body shots that took some steam out of his Argentine opponent. However, Bzowski would not go away and landed straight lefts and mixed up head and body shots well. Bzowski came on strong in the second half and it negated the early success, and the two combatants had to settle for a three-way draw. The draw ended the losing streak of Bzowski and put the first minor blemish on the record of the Dickinson native.

A star was born in Houston native Oscar Perez, who moved his record to 7-0-2 (5). The young, southpaw, lightweight worked patiently behind a jab against his veteran opponent, Yesner Talavera, 15-8-1 (4), until his opening arrived, and it did at around the 2-minute mark in the opening round a swift, counter right hook dropped Talavera. Talavera made it to his feet, but Perz stayed on the attack, driving his outmatched opponent backward with a barrage of power shots. He scored with another solid right hook right before the bell sounded to end the first lopsided round. Perez got back to work in the second, just past the minute mark, a left hand from the Houstonian found its target and buckled Talavera. Perez unleashed about half a dozen power shots that mostly landed cleanly and dropped his opponent once again. Talavera again beat the count, but his corner rushed in to stop the fight and give Perez the second-round KO stoppage victory.

In a four-round affair, Malik "One Punch" Calhoun, who trains out of FHG Gym in Fort Worth, picked up a thrilling split decision victory to move his record to 3-1 (2), the 6'4, southpaw shook off a slow first-round and knocked Bruno Pola down in the second round. He kept the momentum going in the early stages of the third round, but Pola, who trains out of San Antonio, redirected the momentum late in the third and had Calhoun in a bit of trouble late in the third and the fourth. The judges however favored the early work from Calhoun by scores of 38-37 X2, with the third judge favoring Pola by the same 38-37 score.

Also on the card was John Atiles, of Cypress, who moved to 5-0-1 (0) with an impressive points victory.

Releford Continues to Bring Big-Time Boxing Back to the 817

Like a Phoenix from the ashes, Fort Worth boxing is on the rise. Thanks to the efforts of former heavyweight contender and Texas State champion and Fort Worth native Kendrick Releford he is working on bringing "Funky Town" back to its heyday. Not long ago Fort Worth was one of the brightest cities in the boxing home. It's home to not only Releford but also Hall of Famer Donald Curry, former world champions like Paulie Ayala, and US olympian Sergio Reyes Jr. It again has the talent and the interest to get back to that status, and the former heavyweight contender is laser-focused on putting Fort Worth boxing back on top.

Releford's initial show, back in April in which he worked along Marshall Kaufman's King Promotions, was a smashing success. They are back at the El Corral West n to bring the next show on Thursday, July 13th. The card will feature Woman's amateur standout and national champion Alexis Mones of Fort Worth, who will make her third professional fight and take on Macy Breaux of Louisiana. The card also features a pair of 3-0 fighters looking to continue their winning ways. Emanuel Moreno of Wichita Falls and Jose Gomez of Dallas, both look to make it 4-0 on Thursday.

Two highly touted and highly decorated amateurs look to move to 2-0 as well. Jaycob Ramos of Plano scored an impressive UD victory in Irving in May, and Fort Worthian Fernando Solis wowed the crowd at the El Corral West on the First show. He will return against cagey veteran Waldo Zamudio, who has eight fights of experience and has been in with some of the top talent in Texas, including Xavier Nunez, Ben Gurment, and Favian Lopez of Houston.

Sensational one-punch KO Malik "One Punch" Calhoun, who now fights out of Fort Worth's FHG Gym, makes his much anticipated ring return. He looks to get back into the win column after being inactive for over a year and a half. Calhoun sports a 2-1 (2) record and will battle Austin Dulworth in a middleweight bout.

Del Rio Prospect Shines in the Capital

Texas has long been a hotbed for boxing, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, The Rio Grande Valley have all produced multiple world champions in recent years. The tiny border town of Del Rio and its population of barely 35,000 has not really made its mark on the Texas boing landscape. Until now. Hard-hitting, undefeated welterweight prospect Hector Coronado scored a sensational one-punch knockout on an absolutely thudding left hook in the second round of Saturday night's fight in Austin, Texas. Fighting a much taller and somewhat awkward opponent in Daniel Wright. Using the first round as a feeling-out process, the Del Rio native quickly exploded with the vicious left hook which came seemingly out of nowhere that dropped Wright like a building collapsing on himself to move Coronado to 6-0(5). Coronado who also serves as a firefighter in Del Rio took the fight above his natural weight class. Typically a welterweight Coronado did not shy away from fighting at 154. Saying postfight "the guy was huge and caught me a couple of times and we adapted and thank God we got the job done"  The height and size advantage seemed to have no impact on the much more skillful Coronado who does plan on moving back down to 147 in his next fight and hopes to be back in the ring in late October.

Additionally. two other up-and-comers had star-making performances. Malik "One Punch" Calhoun, who is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, and now fights out of FHG gym with coach Ray Barrera, in Fort Worth. A gym that has produced the likes of John Vera, Edward Vazquez, and Jesse Angel Hernandez in recent years. One-Punch once again lived up to his nickname and scored a spectacular one-punch knockout a body shot that knocked the air out of his opponent Alejandro Heredia and left him on all fours for the full 10-count plus several additional seconds. Calhoun moved his record to 2-0 (2) with both knockouts coming by way of one of one-punch knockout. 

In the main event of the night in the Lightheavyweight division (175 lbs) at 4 rounds, the Nigerian-based Nosa Divine who now fights out of  Austin prevailed via unanimous decision. Outworking and outhustling DeQuint Hill, Hill rallied late in the final round scoring with a scorching right hand with about 40 seconds left in the final round. However, it wasn't enough as Divine's snappy right jab and volume was enough to win what was a strategic affair by scores of 39-36 on all three cards

With any great night of boxing, it's not without its controversy as Brandin DeSapin of Fort Worth who suffered two brutal low blows had to suffer again and settle for a draw in a fight nearly everyone thought he won handily. Outboxing and throwing beautiful double-left hooks and catching his aggressive opponent, Luis Fernandez, with hard check hooks. Fernandez goes to 1-0-1 and DeSapin is 0-0-1, who, rightfully upset protested for a rematch. The Fort Worthian was an amateur standout who has an amateur victory over Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis. DeSpain had already advanced to the next round when Fernandez failed to make weight.

The rest of the results of the tournament were as follows in the heavyweight division  Dionardo Minor advanced with a unanimous decision victory over Vercel Webster. In a middleweight bout, Davelle Smith stopped Ricky Evans in the first round. In the lightweight division Atanacio "Nacho"  Perez scored a hard-fought majority decision over Nathaniel Bonner.

The next stage of The Big Belt Championship will be October 1st in mesquite and will be headlined by middleweight Marco Vazquez and welterweight Jake Ysasi