On a 105-degree day at Riders Field in Frisco, Texas, the heat seemed not to bother any of the combatants as all five fights went the scheduled distance, and hometown favorite Edward "Kid" Vazquez of Fort Worth delivered for his adoring hometown fans and delivered for his new promoter, the Hall of Famer Lou Dibella. Vazquez took a non-stop, all-action 10-round decision over Bryan De Gracia of Panama in the main event.
After a very competitive and bak and forth first six rounds of the fight, Vazquez started chopping his man down in the seventh. His relentless bodywork was paying dividends, and De Gracia was beginning to slow. A perfectly placed right hand set up by a stiff jab set the tone early in the seventh. Another precise uppercut snapped De Gracia's head back later in the round as Vazquez could not miss on the inside and showed a new level of elusiveness, slipping and dodging the heavy artillery of his opponent. "The Kid" ended the seventh in style ducking and dodging shots with his hands dropped, reminiscent of Pernell Whitaker, and the hometown crowd erupted with cheers for their man. The momentum of the fight had clearly shifted, while perhaps even on the cards, the momentum was now fully on the side of the Fort Worthian. A short chopping right hand stopped De Gracia in his tracks early in the eighth, and then a giant left hook moments later staggered Vazquez's opponent. The right uppercut and left hook o the inside were automatic and on point for Vazquez. With the fight clearly titled in his favor the last two rounds were perhaps "The Kid's" best. Vazquez said his opponent was in his ear talking to him, telling him, "He was going to outwork him" However, that was not the case as nobody outworks the Texan, and Vazques dug deep and landed with a beautiful straight right hand that took some more steam out of the Panamanian. Chants of "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie" began to pour in as Vazquez refused to take a step back and continued chopping down De Gracia's right hook left hand against staggered the fatiguing De Gracia with just over a minute left in the 9th. Vazquez closed the show beautifully in the 10th. Clearly emptying his tank in the final round, Vazquez started the final stanza off with a beautifully placed left hook followed by a right hand. Another three-piece combination landed nicely for the Texan as the Panamanian was fatiguing and began holding after the combination landed. Vazquez closed the show in style. Clearly the fresher man he was beating De Gracia to the punch, and when the fatigued fighter did fire off, Vazquez would counter with precision. The Fort Worth native delivered in his first fight with his new promoter, the Hall of Famer Lou Dibella, and took the clear-cut but hard-earned decision by scores of 96-94x2 and 98-92. The win moves Vazquez’s record to 15-1 (3).
Vazquez's FHG stablemate Joel "The Owl" Martinez, of Fort Worth, was also in action when he battled Austin native "Gusto" Sean Brewer. After a bit of a feeling out process in the opening round, where both fighters who are tall and rangy for the weight class tried to find the range, and was mainly a battle of the jabs. Brewer landed the best shot of the round, a quick straight right that landed clean on the chin of Martinez. Martinez got going in the second with an early straight left from the Martinez, a southpaw set the tone, a short flurry put Brewer back in the ropes, and Martinez had found his rhythm. "The owl" ripped a right hook to the body. The Fort Worthian scored with another crisp straight left hand. The Austinite looked like he was unable to close the distance as Martinez scored with the straight left hand and would rip with power shots on the inside, closing out a very good second stanza. The third was more of the same, setting up the straight left off the jab and then landing on the inside a double right hook to the head and body scored for Martinez midway through the third.
Brewer needed something big in the last round after Martinez rallied in the middle two rounds of the scheduled four-rounder. After a solid left hand to his body that scored nicely and perhaps served as a wake-up call, Brewer got cooking. Brewer backed his man up and on the inside, ripped off two right hands that landed cleanly. He finally found his range and was landing cleanly with his straight right as Brewer appeared to be the fresher man in the final round, Shouts of "Joel Joel, Joel" rained in for the hometown fighter, but the visiting Brewer was undeterred as the visiting fighter closed out the round landing precise right hands in the pocket. In a fight that Hall of Fame promoter Lou DiBella called "the most obvious draw, I've ever seen." all three judges agreed and handed in identical scorecards of 38-38, making it a unanimous draw. Martinez's record moves to 3-0-1 (2), and Brewer is now 4-0-1 (3). Post-fight, both fighters thought they would have won if the bout was a scheduled six rounds and they had two more rounds to operate, and both combatants expressed interest in a rematch. Hopefully, if the rematch does happen later this year, it will be scheduled for six rounds. Both fighters are, high-level, blue-chip prospects, and four rounds was not enough for either man to make a definitive statement.
The card also featured fan favorite and Dallas native Shurretta "Chiccn" Metcalf who moved to 12-4-1(2), by outpointing the undefeated Melissa Odessa Parker of Houston, who fell to 6-1 (2), a very close and competitive majority decision that went to Mertcalf by scores of 78-74 and 77-75 with the third card an even draw 76-76, was hotly debated, by DiBellas who said he would write a letter to the commission objecting to the decision.
In another highly competitive decision, Dallasite Josh Shipman moved to 5-4 (2) over Orlando Rashad Coulter in a battle of all Dallas-based heavyweights. Coulter dropped to 5-2 (3), and came up on the wrong end of his second straight competitive decision.
