At the Media Day prior to the fight at the Maple Avenue Boxing Gym in Dallas, Texas, undefeated welterweight Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (17-0, 13 KO’s) talked to NTF and told us about his great training camp that he had in San Diego. In his last three fights, all of them had been by knockout and none had gone past two rounds. After telling Hooker that the fight was scheduled for eight rounds, and how he felt about that, he said “I don’t see it going the distance at all, actually, “It won’t go past two, and it will be a knockout.” And that is exactly what happened last Friday night when he went against veteran Santos “El Toro” Benavides (16-13-3, 17 KO’s) from Nicaragua. It was no surprise to NTF because Hooker has predicted many knockouts in the past including the actual round and sometimes the exact punch.
After entering the ring with his familiar swagger and the rubbing of his feet on the canvas in the corner of the ring, as if he was getting ready to take off in a sprint, Hooker wasted no time as the bell of the first round rang. Calm and collective, Hooker began to use his jab at will and danced around the ring as Benavides came at him throwing wild punches. After getting tagged by Hookers jabs and lead rights, the brave Benavides motioned to Hooker to come and get it. Mo obliged and starting sticking him with his long jab as Benavides began to force the action. Benavides was able to get Hooker on the ropes for a few seconds, but Hooker went into his Moper Rope [ Roper Dope like Ali ] and bobbed and weaved his way off the ropes. At the end of the first round, Hooker tagged the taunting Benavides as the bell sounded. At the beginning of the second round, the southpaw Nicaraguan, who was somewhat horizontally at a disadvantage, came out forcing the action and taunting Hooker for some more. For some reason, the crouching style of Benavides made it more of a disadvantage, or maybe he thought this was how he could escape the right hand of Hooker. At the midway of the second round, Hooker threw his jab to set Benavides up and then caught him with a huge straight right hand and he went down, falling to the feet of Hooker. Mo actually had to jump over him to keep his own balance and from trampling him in the ring. After Benavides took the count, Mo landed a lightning left hook on him in the corner which almost knocked him out of the ring and then pummeled him until the referee stepped in to stop the fight. The official time of the TKO was at 1:56 of the second round, just as he had predicted. After the fight, Mo said “In the first round, he was loading up, so I kept him away with my jab.” “In the second round, I know I got him with a good body shot and he said come on lets fight, and I knew he was hurt so I just followed up with the right hand.” He went on to say “The sky is the limit, I just want to fight somebody good and show the world who I am. The sky is the limit for this undefeated welterweight from Dallas, Texas and the plans for a title shot will be coming soon. His manager Arnie Verbeek, who also is the owner of Maple Avenue Boxing Gym in Dallas, Texas, said “Mo showed his maturity as a fighter and patience as he used his jab to figure the guy out and then he unleashed his power.” He went on to say his power is exceptional, “ I just saw him spar with a light heavyweight and he rocked the guy, and that is unusual.” Verbeek plans to keep Mo busy and his next fight will be at Diamond Jacks Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana. Verbeek also said he has plans to get Hooker a title fight to be held in Dallas, Texas, because the city deserves it and he is going to make it happen.
The Co-Main Event of the night was crowd favorite Tony Mack (12-1-1, 7 KO’s) from Dallas, Texas, the current Texas Super Middleweight Champion who went up against the masked Marcus Upshaw (16-13, 8 KO’s) in an eight round battle. I say masked because Upshaw literally was wearing a mask as he entered the arena and the ring. In his last five fights, Mack had recorded three knockouts and in his last fight, his opponent retired in the second round. NTF had spoken to the Mack prior to this fight on media day and his strategy coming into the fight was to be consistent and pressure his opponent. That is exactly what he did in the first round of this fight as he worked his way in on the taller Upshaw. It was obvious that Mack had to work his way inside, but Upshaw had other plans as he consistently threw his long jab and kept his distance. Mack was blocking most of the shots, and was able to land two good right hands, but Upshaw clearly won the first round. In the second round Mack came out strong and Upshaw covered up well, but Upshaw landed a huge right hand toward the end of the round that rocked the Mack but he kept coming forward. In the third, Upshaw appeared to hurt Mack with a big body punch but Mack was much busier in this round. In the fourth, Upshaw continued to use his height and reach advantage and landed his jab at will. Mack followed up by landing a few good punches but then Upshaw started to land punches in bunches with power behind them. In the fifth and sixth rounds, Upshaw steadily used his jab and followed it up with stiff right hand punches. But at the end of the sixth round as Upshaw was up against the ropes, Mack landed a huge left hand that put Upshaw on the canvas and the crowd went crazy. For an instant it looked like it was all over, but Upshaw who appeared to be ahead on the cards, got up quickly and survived that last ten seconds of the round. In the beginning of the seventh round, the Mack crowd started to chant “Tony, Tony, Tony…..,” as he went after Upshaw. But Upshaw recovered well from the knockdown and went back to using his jab in the next round and then landed a good left hand on Mack. Mack then landed a right hand on Upshaw, but it was Mack who looked the worse for the wear as he had a huge swelling under his left eye. Both fighters had left it all in the ring and although the crowd thought Upshaw had won the fight, the fight was called a draw.
In the Featherweight division, Frankie Agnew (2-0) from Dallas, Texas returned to the ring against Heath Cline in a scheduled four round bout. In his debut fight, Agnew had stopped his last opponent by way of TKO and almost knocked him out of the ring with a huge left hand punch. In his return to the Undercard ring, the southpaw Agnew kept his distance and peppered the tough Cline all four rounds to a unanimous decision to get his second professional win.
Another tough fighter on the card and training out of the Maple Avenue Boxing Gym was Super Featherweight Carlos Adame, Jr. (2-0) from the tough streets of Ledbetter, a neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. And if you know where Ledbetter is, it is no surprise to see a fighter coming out of that part of town. After being called in on short notice, Adame went the full four rounds of his debut fight on the first Undercard show and this time he took on Vic Chambers of Houston, Texas. Prior to his debut, the humble Adame told NTF that he only had eighty amateur fights, but that in itself is a great accomplishment. Before coming into this fight, Adame told NTF that he was going to show the crowd his hand speed, and that is exactly what he did. As the first bell sounded, he accurately landed punches with both hands with lightning speed on Vic Chambers, who was making his debut. And it was in fact a lightning first round for Adame as he started to land punches with both hands on Chambers, and then he landed a huge uppercut that put Chambers down on one knee in the corner. Chambers did not attempt to get up and the referee stepped in to stop the fight. The TKO victory was at 2:36 of the first round. Adame, the Ledbetter Kid is one of the most exciting fighters on the Undercard and in the city of Dallas, so follow him as he makes his journey to the top.
In the super middleweight division, Alberto Fundora (4-0) from Coachella, California took on Derrick Beroit from Houston, Texas, who was making his professional debut. Several days before the fight, Fundora had told NTF that he had been ranked number one in the heavy and light heavy weight divisions as an amateur. He also said that he had experience in the ring with all types of fighters and although he didn’t know much about his opponent, he trains hard for all his fights and that he was ready. He also had told NTF that his fans can expect for him to hit and not get hit by his opponent. His words rang true in his fight as he did exactly what he had said as he jabbed away at Beroit and landed the most punches to win the round. They slugged it out early in the second round and Fundora landed a punch that literally knocked out Beroit’s mouthpiece. This momentarily saved Beroit from being clobbered by punches by Fundora. After Fundora landed a huge right hand on Beroit at the end of the round, Beroit asked for more and the bell sounded, but then Beroit went to the wrong corner. Fundora came out looking for the KO in the third round, but then he got caught with a right hand of Beroit. Then Fundora returned the favor and began to land punches at will until the end of the round. The same continued in the fourth round and Fundora went on to win by a unanimous decision.
In his professional debut, Marco “El Guero” Vazquez, Jr. from Dallas, Texas took on Warren Stuart from Austin, Texas in the welterweight division. He also trains out of the Maple Avenue Boxing Gym in Dallas, Texas and he had told NTF before the fight that he was one hundred and ten percent ready for the fight. That was obvious as he came out snapping his jab on Stuart as he methodically moved around the ring looking like a seasoned fighter instead of a debut fighter. In the second round, Stuart managed to get Vazquez in the corner but Vazquez stood his ground and blocked all the punches. Vazquez then began to go to the body of Stuart and used an arsenal of punches on his opponent. Vazquez then landed a huge right hand that rocked Austin, toward the end of the round. In the third round, Vazquez simply walked the southpaw down in the ring. For some strange reason, Austin’s mouthpiece came out in the fourth round again, just as it had in the third. Then Vazquez landed a huge left hook that put Stuart on the canvas and he got up wobbling. The referee then moved in and stopped the fight by TKO at 2:25 of the fourth round.
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