Just as expected, it was a night of knockouts at the Gloves and Guitars boxing event held at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Saturday night. Thanks to Paulie Ayala Promotions, and the fanatic boxing fans that did attend, it was one of the fastest boxing events that I have ever attended. And that is because the boxers came out to take care of business as fast as they could on this cold night in cowtown.
MAIN EVENT
Migul Buendia (7-1, 4KO’s) v. Fernando Rodriguez (6-9).
The main event proved to be what I expected from the “All Business” Fernando Rodriguez (6-10) against Fort Worth favorite son, Miguel Buendia (7-1, 4KO’s). Before the fight, I knew Rodriguez was no walkover as some may have thought. I knew he was coming into the fight to take care of business and from the outset that is what he did. He started out at the beginning of the first round moving forward and forcing the fight with his boxing skills. That is, using his jab and then following up with his hard right hand. He used his height and longer reach to land punches in bunches with both hands. In what seemed unusual, Buendia came out somewhat sluggish. It appeared that he did not have that normal bounce in his step and he was not throwing the normal amount of punches I have seen in the past. If you had seen his fight against Fernando Rodriquez, which was awarded NTFC’s fight of the year, you would understand what I am talking about. He also was coming into this fight with two knockouts.
In the second round, Buendia picked up the pace somewhat and then connected with two nice overhand rights to the head of the tough Rodriguez. This didn’t seem to bother Rodriguez who kept on moving forward and walking Buendia down. As the round continued, Buendia landed a hard body punch on Rodriguez. They then had a slugfest at the end of the round, and Buendia returned slowly to his corner.
At the beginning of the third, Rodriguez connected with a hard left to the head of Buendia with his long reach. Buendia then caught Rodriguez with another hard right, which he started to use as the fight progressed. Rodriguez kept his distance, always with both hands covering up, as he connected with his left jabs to the face of Buendia. Rodriguez then followed up with two combinations in the middle of the ring as Buendia tried to cover up. At the end of the round, Buendia caught Rodriguez with some good punches as he was on the ropes.
At the beginning of the fourth round, the heavy punches of Rodriguez had started to take toll on Buendia as he came out of the corner with a swollen right eye. Rodriguez continued to force the action and they slugged it out on the ropes. They continued the slugout in the middle of the ring and the mouthpiece of Rodriguez came out and then Buendia went after him. In the exchange, Buendia landed a good right hand to the head of Rodriguez, but he held his ground, until the referee figured out that the mouthpiece had came out. Rodriguez then caught Buendia in the corner and pounded him with punches until the round ended. It was apparent at this point that Buendia was the slugger and that Rodriguez was the boxer.
The fifth round continued with Rodriguez landing with his left jab and following up with combinations as Buendia tried to get in close to connect. In the middle of the round, Buendia connected with a big right and left to the head of Rodriguez. At this point in the round, it was apparent that Buendia was bleeding from the right top corner of his eye. It seemed that the punches that Buendia was landing had no effect on the tough Rodriguez. Buendia’s left eye was beginning to swell even more as Rodriguez connected with a body punch. They both punched it out to the end of the round as the fans started to cheer on Buendia.
At the beginning of the sixth round, the fans were encouraging Buendia to keep fighting. He came out of the corner with the noticeable swollen eye and then Rodriguez caught him with a hard right to the head. Buendia attempted to land his punches, but he seemed one step slower. Rodriguez continued to throw his jab and followed it up with his right hand. He then landed a heavy body punch on Buendia as he covered up. Rodriguez then landed a combination and Buendia was looking the worst for the wear, bleeding from the cut and swelling from his eye. The heavy punches of Rodriguez were getting the best of Buendia.
The seventh round started with Rodriguez standing in his corner with both hands up and ready to go. After a few exchanges, Buendia was now bleeding from his mouth along with the other injuries. Buendia then started to try to force the action, but he was quickly countered by Rodriguez’ punches. Rodriguez then lands a hard left to the head of Buendia, whose eye is almost closed. Buendia finally lands two overhand rights to the face of Rodriguez, but it doesn’t faze him. They then get into a slugfest and Buendia lands another overhand right at the end of the round.
In the eighth and final round, Buendia goes after Rodriguez and they slug it out all around the ring. Buendia is now bleeding again from his right eye, but he is giving it his all to finish the fight on a good note. Buendia is now forcing the action and gets Rodriguez in the corner and they slug it out again, but Rodriguez gets the better counter punches. Buendia then lands a big left and right and the crowd goes crazy. They continue landing very hard punches as they slug it out close to the ropes and the fight is over. Buendia looks the worst for the wear but he finishes with all he has. The fight was called a Majority Draw and the score cards read 78-74, 76-76, 76-76. But the real winner was Rodriguez.
UNDERCARD RESULTS
The next fight of the night was between the up and coming knockout machine, Samuel Clarkson (3-0) against Kyle Fancher, (0-2), super middleweights. Clarkson came into this third fight with two knockouts, both in the first round. At the beginning of the round, Fancher lands a quick right on the southpaw Clarkson. They then exchange hard punches in the middle of the ring. Clarkson then gets Fancher on the ropes and lands a vicious right and left, and Fancher just laughs off the punches and then shakes his head as if to say “no, that did not hurt me.” And in a matter of seconds Clarkson lands a monster left body punch on Fancher, and Fancher goes down. The punch was so hard, he did not get up for approximately 5 minutes or so. The fight ended by TKO at 2:27 of the first round. If you want to see an exciting fighter with knockout power, keep your eyes on this young fighter. He may be something special in the years to come.
One of the fastest matches was between John Vera (1-0) of Fort Worth against Cedric Sheppard (0-3). The southpaw Vera began by connecting with his right hand jab to the head of Sheppard and then caught him with a nice uppercut. Vera then landed a nice hard left on Sheppard, who countered and then moved around the ring. At this point both fighters appeared to be warming up. At the beginning of the second round, Vera went after Sheppard and landed a ton of punches on him as he was against the ropes. Vera continued to put the pressure on Sheppard as they tangled up on the ropes again on the other side of the ring. Then Vera and Sheppard began to trade shots close to the ropes and Vera landed a huge right hand to the head of Sheppard and he hit the canvas. Vera wins by TKO at 2:17 of the second round. Before the fans could finish a cold one, the first fight was over.
In what was expected to be a good fight between the undefeated lightweight Manuel Rojas (4-0) and Dewayne Wisom (1-1), it turned out to be a punch, grab and run night for Wisom. Rojas started off slow as Wisom connected with a load of body punches that Rojas seemed to shrug off. But as to why Rojas did not counter back as he usually does, seemed something unusual. But then Rojas woke up and landed a nice left hook to the head of Wisom. Rojas then followed up with a glancing right hand to the head of Wisom. Wisom then began to hit and hold and smothered what little punches Rojas attempted to throw. In the second round, Rojas began to put the pressure on as he chased Wisom around the ring, trying to connect with punches. The elusive Wisom did have good movement, but he was not connecting with any punches. Wisom began to lunge with his punches and then run away. Rojas finally connected with a good left to the body which hurt Wisom. Rojas then followed up by landing a left and a right to the head of Wisom. Wisom then connected with a hard left on Rojas and then landed a glancing right to the head of Rojas as the bell sounded.
As the fight progressed to the third round, the southpaw Wisom landed a good body punch as Rojas was attempting to get in close. This is the round where Wisom began his tactic of punching and holding on to Rojas to smother his punches. Rojas continued to chase Wisom around the ring to land a punch, but to no avail. Toward the end of this round, Rojas landed a hard punch to the stomach of Wisom. Although it was not a low blow, his act persuaded the referee to give him time to supposedly recover.
The fourth round begin with Rojas landing a nice right hand as he put the pressure on Wisom in the final round. Wisom continued to lunge and land a punch and then hold on to Rojas. Rojas then got in some good body punches and then landed a huge body punch which hurt Wisom. Wisom began to get on his bicycle and manuever his way around the ring. At one point toward the end of this round, Wisom had Rojas on the ropes and wrestled with him for what seemed a long time. Finally the referee broke them up and Rojas landed a straight right to the head of Wisom and another one as the final round ended. Rojas won by a majority decision with the score of 38-38, 39-37, 39-37. Rojas continues on his winning streak and we look forward to seeing how he develops in his next fight.
The next fight was Fort Worth favorite Arthur Trevino (6-7, 3KO‘s) against Derek Jones (1-4). Trevino came into this fight after a couple of losses but he bounced back to the win column for his fans from Fort Worth. Trevino began the round by moving forward against his opponent and quickly landing a nice right to the head of Jones. After a few exchanges between both fighters, out of knowhere Trevino landed a huge right hand to the head of Jones and he went down. The fight was stopped at 2:22 of the first round. This was quick work for Trevino, who is a town favorite and a fighter who leaves it all in the ring every time.
In what was an unusual bout, Angel Solórzano (2-0) took on Travonne Hobbs (1-1) in what was scheduled to be a good fight. The unusual part is at the end. The southpaw Solorzano began forcing the action as he connected with some good body punches on Hobbs and then landed a nice uppercut as they were on the ropes. Hobbs then retaliated with a nice right hand that backed up Solorzano. Solorzano then connected with a good combination as Hobbs was on the ropes. Toward the end of the round, Hobbs pawed at Solorzano with his long reach as the round ended. In the very beginning of the second round after a short exchange against the ropes, Solorzano began to fall out of the ring. And according to sources ringside, Solorzano suffered an eye injury by the referee as he was attempting to help the fighter from falling out of the ring, and the fight was stopped. The No Contest and official stop time was at 19 seconds of the first round.
On hand at the fights was North Texas Fisticuffs’ 2011 Boxer of the Year Roberto Marroquin (21-1, 14KO’s), who fights for Top Rank, which includes such notable fighters such as Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, and the great Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. He is taking a little rest off his last big win at the Winstar Casino against Carlos Valcarcel (12-3-4) back in December. He may be fighting in several months as he waits for word from Bob Arum at Top Rank. He said he plans on sticking to his “back to the basics” style, which include his quick jab, hand speed and the tricky uppercuts which have been successful in his last two recent wins. He said he is not predicting anything, but he is eager to get that feeling of the knockout punch again. And for a fighter who has fourteen of them on his young professional record, it should be coming soon.
Photo courtesy of Scott Chapman/www.imagesbychappy.com
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
