The full house in attendance at the Scott G. Sherman “Boxing at The Ballroom” in downtown Fort Worth, Texas charity event benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Fort Worth didn’t have a chance to blink because the main event was over in exactly one half round. Just after the fight, Cedar Hill’s Samuel “The Main Event” Clarkson (16-3, 10KO’s) told NTF that he had warmed up six rounds in the dressing room in preparation of his fight with veteran Rayford Johnson (11-19, 6KO’s) from Longview, Texas, so he was more than ready. Clarkson went on to say that early in the first round, he did not feel the punches from Johnson, but he did feel his own hands hurt, and this meant that he was doing the right things and punching the right way.
Light Heavyweight Clarkson was entering this fight on a five bout winning streak, including a big knockout of Jerry Odom (13-2, 12KO’s) on Showtime’s ShoBox: The Next Generation in his last fight only a month ago. Clarkson always brings excitement when he steps into the ring and he did not disappoint his fans in attendance.
The southpaw Clarkson came out of his corner in the first round and began to find his range early as he landed his jab to the head of Johnson. After following Johnson around the ring, Clarkson landed a big right hand that rocked Johnson against the ropes and he was visibly hurt. Clarkson then leashed a barrage of punches on Johnson as he tried to cover up in the corner. Because Johnson didn’t attempt to throw punches back, referee Robert Chapa stepped in and stopped the fight at 1:30 of the first round and the fight was over. After the fight, Clarkson told NTF that he had just got a call from Showtime to fight next month. And speaking of months, Clarkson’s fights in 2015 have been only months apart, including February, April, July, and August of this year. Clarkson is on the fast track now and more focused as he looks to make a statement in the ring and out of it.
The Co-Main Event was between undefeated lightweights Raul Cespedes (4-0, 3KO’s) originally from Cuba, against the game Jesus Gonzalez (4-1, 2KO’s) from McKinney, Texas. This lightweight battle of southpaws went back and forth in the early rounds without either fighter getting a clear advantage, although Cespedes was able to land his left hand on occasion and he did connect with some good combinations. Gonzalez did have some hand speed, but it was negated by the longer reach and height advantage of the Cuban. Cespedes went on to win by unanimous decision.
As expected, undefeated Hector Valdez (4-0, 4KO’s) from Dallas, Texas was the highlight of the evening on the undercard against Antonio Gutierrez (3-6, 1KO) from Matamoros, Mexico. NTF first saw the lightning fast Valdez on his debut back in April of 2014 and we knew he was something special. And he put on a special show for the fight fans in Fort Worth, Texas, once again. Valdez, who has a 100% KO ratio, didn’t waste time in the first round as he calmly calculated his opponent’s movements and started to connect quickly with punishing body punches. Valdez, a fighter with power in both hands, showed just that when he landed a powerful right hand to the head of Gutierrez and it was lights out! The exact time of the knockout was at 1:08 of the first round when referee Robert Chapa declared a halt to the match. After the fight, Valdez told NTF “I was anxious coming into the fight and I new that the guy was going to come at me because he was a true Mexican.” He said the plan was to connect with the right hand and he said “when I heard my corner tell me to cross him,” I began to jab my way in and then I let my right hand go, and then I saw him on the floor.” Expect to see more special fights from Valdez in the near future as he moves forward in making his mark in the featherweight division.
The last time NTF saw Carlos Adame, Jr. (4-1, 2KO’s) from Dallas it wasn’t in his favor. But on Friday night, he came back with a good performance against LaVale Wilson (1-7) from North Little Rock, Arkansas as he cautiously forced the action in the first round. He connected with a nice left hook early in the round and finished with a good combination at the end of the round. In the next two rounds, Adame was able to keep Wilson at the end of his gloves, but Wilson came back with a good combination and some solid punches of his own. Wilson came out with pressure in the middle rounds as he tried to establish his presence in the ring, but Adame came back and landed a right hand and followed it up with two left hooks that got the crowd excited. They both went after each other in the final round and Adame landed a big right hand that knocked Wilson’s head back at the end of the round. This was the best round for Adame, who went on to win by a unanimous decision, although it looked much closer.
In the Heavyweight division, Justin Jones (17-0-1, 10KO’s) from Houston, Texas pounded Roy McRary (4-4, 3KO’s) with heavy body punches and hard punches to the head of the taller McRary and the fight was momentarily stopped because of a cut over the left eye of McRary. Although McCrary was the taller fighter with the longer reach, he wasn’t able to use it to his advantage against Wilson, the “James Toney” lookalike fighter. Because of the severity of the cut, the fight was stopped at ten seconds of the fourth round by TKO for Jones.
In what was expected to be a great pro debut matchup between bantamweights Samantha Salazar from Dallas, Texas and Ashley King from Atlanta, Georgia, unfortunately it was stopped because a huge cut over the left eye of Salazar. King came out swinging wild early and as they fought on the inside, Salazar suffered a head-butt but continued to fight despite all the blood flowing from her eye. Because of the severity of the cut, and because the fight did not go four rounds, the bout was considered a No Contest.
In an MMA contest, Nate Flanders and Terrell Thomas put on an entertaining match for the crowd as they went at it with numerous takedowns. One of these takedowns was when Nate Flanders slammed Thomas to the canvas in the second round that got the attention of crowd. At the beginning of the third round, Flanders was bleeding from his nose from numerous punches thrown from Thomas. Although Flanders was able to land a left foot to the face of Thomas in the last round, it was not nearly enough. Thomas went on to win by unanimous decision.
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