Edward Vazquez Caps off a Breakout night for FHG & Fort Worth Boxing

It was an incredible night for the young up-and-coming fighters of Fort Worth, Texas. Four promising fighters, of all who train out of Ray Barrera's FHG gym handed in spectacular performances. The foursome went 4-0 with all but one coming by way of stoppage and one of which was an unimaginable come back. 

The night dominated by the Fort Worthians, that was dubbed "Homecoming" and took place in nearby Irving, Texas at the Southern Junction nightclub was capped off by a 93-second knockout victory by Edward "Kid Vazquez. The undefeated and highly touted featherweight who owns the WBC (USNBC) belt moved his record to 11-0 (3) and scored his second consecutive stoppage victory and the third in his last five fights. 

Vazquez came out strong working behind the jab with slick head movement. Just moments into the fight he saw his opening and scored with a left hook to the body of his opponent Ezequiel Alberto Tevez that dropped him to the count of about 8.5. Tevez bravely made it to his feet but the writing was on the wall as an aggressive Vazquez stayed poised and kept coming forward. Moments later he landed a right hand right on the button that again dropped Tevez and this time brought in the referee to wave off the bout just 93 seconds after the opening bell.

The co-main event saw "The Wolf" Return home. "The Fort Worth Wolf " Tony Lopez has had boxing take him around the world. Having fought in Las Vegas,  in the Staples Center in Los Angeles The Punch Bowl in Carson California, the Alamodome as well as many other venues, finally returned him. He made his homecoming a triumphant one. Staying patient the veteran Lopez threw a barrage of body shots that hurt his opponent, Diuhl Olguin, in the early stages. Lopez, a southpaw, worked behind his jab and with a major hand speed advantage flurried throughout the fight. He was able to work his opponent into the ropes and unleash four and five punch combinations against his rugged but overmatched opponent. With a loud cheering section behind him, Lopez taunted his opponent waving him in to come and exchange. In control throughout the scheduled six-rounds, Lopez stepped on the gas in the final round in an attempt to unload everything under the kitchen sink. Staggering Olguin several times but his tougher-than-nails opponent stood the test and heard the final bell. The verdict was academic as the "Fort Worth Wolf" picked up the win taking a UD by scores of 59-55, 60-55, and a much too close 58-56.

The two other FHG-based Fort Worthians on the card were Ben "Hill" Gurment, who scored the most unthinkable of knockouts. After getting knocked down in the opening stages of the first round from a stiff right hand from his then-unbeaten opponent Alan Rosas of Mexico. Gurment was stunned and rolled his ankle on the knockdown. He rose to his feet just before the ref reached the count of eight and fought on without his feet behind him an off-balanced Gurment was sent down yet again. Twice down in the first round, the Texan would likely need a knockout to win the fight. Behind the instructions of his trainer, Coach Barrera, "to stay locked in" Gurment stayed composed and fired his jab from the southpaw stance and began out boxing his opponent. Seemingly winning the second round and being the superior boxer Gurment seized control of the fight in the third, but winning rounds was not going to be enough. Gurment had to go for the stoppage, and after an apparent knockdown was rolled a slip, Gurment landed a thudding left hand to the body of his hurt opponent that severely slowed him down. Seizing the moment Gurment unloaded a barrage of power shots a left hand landed cleanly that buckled Rosas and a relentless Gurment did not let off the gas and unloaded on his wounded opponent bringing in the referee to wave off the bout at the end of the third round giving Gurment the TKO victory and moving his record to 5-0-2 (3).

Also on the card was Joel Martinez, a 6-foot tall hard-hitting southpaw Featherweight, who has a successful amateur career of over 150 fights. Saw him secure a second-round knockout in a fight that was allowed to go on way too long. Martinez, who is expected to be moved along quite quickly, was matched with a 2-0 (2) fighter for his pro-debut by the name of Bryan Macias. Macias was completely overmatched and hit the canvas a total of five times in less than two full rounds, A straight southpaw left from Martinez down the pipe dropped his man 1:20 into the fight. Macias was dropped again a second time right at the end of the first round from a right hook, left-hand combination that should have ended the fight right then and there. However, Macias was allowed to continue and was dropped twice more with the left hands in the first minute of the second stanza and then moments later with a sweeping left collapsed him like a building imploding on itself is 1:50 into round two secured the victory for Martinez in his pro debut to move his record to 1-0 (1).

Listo Gaitan, Jake Ysasi and other local talent Showcased on The Boxing Showcase

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.