Michael Montoya, as well as Kingdom Boxing, put on a sensational card in Dallas at Gilley's. A spectacular event from a gathering of DFW ring legends included Errol Spence, Derrick James, Maurice Hooker, Donald Curry, and others to the spectacular return from Ray "Valentino" Ximenez.
Ximenez of Dallas returned in the evening's main event and returned in spectacular fashion after a three-year layoff from the ring. The quickness, speed, reflexes, and style that made Ximenez a blue-chip prospect were all still on display after the extended layoff. Ximenez who switches out of the southpaw and conventional stance caught his opponent, Darryl Hayes, of Houston, with a perfectly placed left hand, out of the southpaw stance, that dazed Hayes towards the end of the opening round. Ximenez got going in the second. Backing his man into the ropes and unleashing a series of violent, accurate hooks. The Houstonian fought back valiantly, scoring with a few sharp right hands of his own and making a fight of it, particularly in the early going. However, it was Ximenez scoring with the sharper and harder shots. Valentino again battered his man against the ropes in the fourth mixing up head and body shots to perfection. He seemed to have Hayes in a bit of real trouble for the first time, beating him up on the inside. The fifth round saw Ximenez switching to the conventional stance and scoring with a sharp right and again stunning Hayes. Ximenez, able to keep his opponents trapped against the ropes closed out the show in professional fashion. Dominating the 6th and final round. ripping body shots and dominating with hand speed and combination punching and taking the hard-earned by clear-cut unanimous decision by scores of 59-55 on all three cards.
In the co-main event, Adrian Taylor, of Dallas, bounced back nicely from the only a controversial draw to Rafayel Simonyan back in September. After a feeling-out process in the first round that saw the shorter Taylor try to time and get on the inside of his opponent, Dennis Williams, The Dallas native was able to close the distance in the second round. Scoring with a massive right hand stunned Williams for the first time. Taylor followed up with a right hand upstairs and clearly had Williams in a bit of trouble. He was again able to close the distance in the fourth, as Taylor set things up beautifully with the jab and was hitting on all cylinders. Working his way onto the inside with jab and scoring thudding right hands while in close range and had Williams on the ropes. Taylor was in complete control to close out the fourth. The fifth picked up where the fourth left off, the writing was on the wall and another straight right caught the attention of Williams and worsened the cut above his eye causing referee Robert Chappa to waive a halt to the bout giving Taylor a fifth-round TKO. Taylor moved his record to 12-1-1 (5)
Also on the card was the return of fan-favorite "Chiccn" Shurretta Metcalf of Dallas. After a two-year layoff, she displayed incredible footwork, a lightning-quick jab, and slick defensive skills in dominating her opponent, Karen Dulin. Metcalf worked behind the stick, using her reach to her advantage and controlling the action throughout. She capitalized on outstanding head movement making her opponent miss over and over again. She mixed in right hands as well as a barrage of well-timed combinations that seemed to hurt her opponent in the fourth. She fought off a brief rally from Dulin in the fifth and quickly regained control. Well ahead on the scorecards Metcalf didn't let off the gas in the sixth and final stanza. She dominated the final round and staggered her outmatched opponent with just seconds remaining to cruise to a unanimous decision victory 60-54 on all three cards.
The card also featured what was perhaps the performance of the night from St Louis born Samuel Arnold, who now fights out of DeSoto. Arnold, a 6'3, 18-year-old middleweight put on an incredible display of power and speed, scoring multiple knockdowns of Travaslo Talley on his way to scoring a second-round stoppage victory to move his record to 4-0 (2). In what was perhaps the fight of the night. Edwin Pena, of Dallas, making his pro debut fought Orlando Collins, of Euless, tooth and nail in a four slugfest. Collins seemed to control the first two rounds and Pena rallied to apparently win the last two rounds to earn a unanimous draw.
