CHARLES “THE FUTURE” HATLEY STOPS SAUL ROMAN FOR NABA WELTERWEIGHT TITLE

Duke-Football

It was called the “Spring Break Knockout” in Irving, Texas and there were plenty of knockouts to go around on the six-card event put together by Greg Hatley and Black Gloves promotions. The main event was Charles “The Future” Hatley (25-1-1, 17 KO’s) from Dallas, Texas against veteran Saul Roman (37-11, 31 KO’s) from Culiacan, Mexico. After three successful wins in 2014 and two by knockout, Hatley went against a proven knockout artist, but Roman was the one on the end of this knockout.

In the first round, the southpaw Hatley came out throwing a few short jabs to the oncoming Roman who began to stalk him around the ring. Hatley quickly let a few right hands go and you could hear his corner telling him to “Be Patient,” “Be Patient.” Although Roman’s record reflected a huge advantage in the knockout category, his ring rust was apparent as he lunged with his punches and looked much slower with his hand speed. Nevertheless, he forced the action early on but he was not able to cut off the ring with the fancy footwork of Hatley.

In the second round, in front of a pro Hatley crowd, Roman continued to force the action early again, but it was Hatley who had the more accurate punches. Hatley began to connect with solid combinations on the taller Roman and once he had him up against the ropes, he landed a solid right hook to the head and Roman hit the canvas. When he rose to his feet, he was definitely in trouble, and it looked like that the fight might have continued. But after looking into his eyes, referee Neal Young stopped the fight at 1:14 of the second round by TKO. Hatley now adds the WBA-NABA Super Welterweight Title to the WBC United States (USNBC) Super Welterweight Title he won against Mario Alberto Lozano (29-3, 23 KO’s) in July of 2013.

The best fight of the undercard was Joey Dunmoodie (9-2, 2 KO’s) from Fort Worth, Texas against the tough Julio Cesar Rangel (8-8, 5 KO’s) from Dallas, Texas. NTF has seen Dunmoodie before and a full six rounds of action was expected, and that is exactly what happened. Dunmoodie had previously won a unanimous decision earlier this year against Jeremy Hall in Fort Worth and he worked for every round against the tough and talented Rangel. In the first two rounds, Dunmoodie and Rangel stood in the middle of the ring and exchanged equal punches, with Dunmoodie landing combinations and Rangel connecting with several left hooks to the body which could be heard ringside.

In the third round, Rangel momentarily switched to southpaw and from watching both boxers in action, it was evident that each fighter had power in both hands. Dunmoodie continued to land hard combinations and Rangel kept landing to the body with his left hook, something he used throughout the fight. At the end of the round, Rangel had a small cut over his right eye, but he still stared down Dunmoodie as he went to his corner. In the fourth round, Dunmoodie caught Rangel with a good left hook and Rangel countered again with his consistent left hooks to the body. Rangel attempted to walk Dunmoodie down in this round and he was the busier of the two until the bell sounded.

The fifth round continued with Rangel coming forward just as had done from round one and landing another left hook to the body of Dunmoodie. Dunmoodie then began to land combinations on Rangel in the middle of the ring and then Rangel backed up Dunmoodie with another left hook to the body. As the round ended, Rangel once again stared Dunmoodie down as they both went to their respective corners. As the bell sounded for the final round, Rangel raised his hand to the crowd just before the action commenced. With the crowd’s full attention, Rangel came out forcing the action but Dunmoodie quickly landed a short right hand and once again Rangel countered with the left hook. Dunmoodie then turned on the gas and landed several combinations that backed up Rangel. Rangel then switched to southpaw again, but quickly went back to orthodox. As the ten count sounded, they both went at it toe to toe until the bell rang. Other fighters may have not been able to survive the vicious body punches of Rangel, but Dunmoodie came into the fight in exceptional shape and put on a good show of the sweet science. Although Rangel should be commended for leaving it all in the ring, Dunmoodie did enough to win by majority decision. The cards read 59-55, 59-55, 57-57.

In the super middleweight division, it appeared that Samuel “The Main Event” Clarkson (14-3, 8 KO’s) from Cedar Hill, Texas was going to have a short night in the ring as he landed a shot that put Jay Williams (3-6) from Louisiana on the canvas in the first three seconds of the fight. Clarkson then continued to land at will as his opponent met the canvas several more times, but despite all of this, Williams made it to the bell. In the second round, Williams got on his bicycle and even gestured to Clarkson to come and get it. His request was answered and Clarkson continued to walk him down in the third and fourth rounds and then he landed a short right hand and Williams went slowly down to the canvas. Williams survived the round, and when the fourth round began, Williams raised his hands to Clarkson and to the amusement of the crowd, asked for more! In the fifth, Clarkson landed an uppercut, but Williams shook it off and both said, “come on,” and the trash talking continued until the end of the round. In the last round, Williams finally ran out of gas, as Clarkson battered him around the ring. Clarkson then put Williams on the canvas three more times before the match was stopped by Referee Rosario Solis at 2:27 by TKO.   Clarkson is scheduled to fight again on April 25, 2015 in Dallas, Texas on the undercard of the Roberto Marroquin (24-3, 17 KO’s) fight at the historical Majestic Theater in Dallas, Texas.

In the heavyweights, the Texas Heavyweight Title was on the line between Greg Corbin (8-0, 4 KO’s) from Dallas, Texas and Jamal Woods (6-18, 6 KO’s). These two fighters had met before about a year ago and Woods was not on the winning side. Although Woods was forty pounds lighter than his opponent, he held his ground throughout the fight as he traded and slipped punches against the much bigger Corbin. Most of the fight was in middle of the ring, but Woods used the entire ring to stay out of harms way as he avoided going toe to toe with the much stronger punching Corbin. Corbin went on to win by unanimous decision, 80-72 on all three cards.

The best knockout of the night came out of nowhere from veteran Taronze Washington (17-19, 9 KO’s) from Dallas, Texas. Having fought notable fighters such as Brian Vera, Glen Tapia and Austin Trout, NTF knew Washington would put on a good show for the boxing fans. And he did just that, although it didn’t seem that way in the early rounds of the fight. In the first three rounds of the fight, Washington was down on the cards as Keandre Leatherwood (14-3, 10 KO’s) used his jab to keep his distance and connect with his right hand.   In the third round, Washington’s nose began to bleed profusely in the ring but he held his ground and continued to fight on. Then suddenly after one minute into the fourth round, Washington forced Leatherwood into the ropes right in front of NTF ringside and landed a huge right hand to the head of Leatherwood and he came crashing face down to the canvas. The crowd in attendance went crazy and Washington began celebrating inside the ring with his cornermen as the referee stopped the fight at 1:04 by KO.

In the welterweight division, John Vera (8-0, 4 KO’s) from Fort Worth, Texas won by TKO at 1:45 of the third round against Aaron Anderson (3-36).

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