By Austin Killeen     Ringside

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In the early 1900s, the building was used to manufacture Ford automobiles. During WWII, the building was used to manufacture bombs and ammunitions for armed forces, hence the name, “Bomb Factory”. In the mid 1990’s, it was renovated to hold concerts and more recently boxing. It a great venue to see a fight, and Friday’s boxing card was a fitting tribute to the historical building. Promoter Tony Angular and match maker Isidro Castillo did a great job putting together a nine bout card featuring plenty of action. It was my first time in Dallas and I enjoyed my stay. I would definitely return if there is a fight card scheduled in the future.

In the 6 round main event, Samuel Clarkson (19-3-0, 12 KO’s) 178 lbs. of Cedar Hill, TX KO’d Larry Pryor (10-15-0, 5 KO’s) 180 lbs. of Washington, D.C. Entering the ring, Clarkson was working on an eight bout win streak. Pryor was also working on a win streak, one straight. Three minutes later only one streak was still in existence. Clarkson and Pryor were cautious as the bout started; the contest resembled a sparring session. Suddenly, the southpaw Clarkson exploded a right to the body of the D.C. fighter and Pryor was residing on the canvas. Beating the count the “The Hitman” showed little enthusiasm about continuing. Clarkson looking to confirm his opponent’s views regarding the match, unloaded a combination to the head and body dropping Pryor in a neutral corner. Pryor appeared to be looking for a four leaf clover while referee Robert Chapa tolled the ten count. It’s difficult to assess Clarkson’s talent based on this outing, but he appears to have power and a record that should lead to an opportunity against better competition. Pryor is clearly an opponent, but opponents are in big demand against local hero’s looking to build up their records. For the record, the official time of the knockout was 2:59 seconds of the first round.

The next three bouts were scheduled for 6 rounds.

In the semi-final, Mohamed Rodriguez (9-3-0, 3 KO’s) 138 lbs. of San Luis Potosí, Mexico won by MD over Alexis del Bosque (11-4-0, 8 KO’s) 136 lbs. of Dallas, TX. This was an interesting bout between two very tall lightweights; Rodriguez is at least 5’10” and Bosque has to be over six feet tall. Based on their records Bosque would appear to be the puncher, but it was Rodriguez who brought the dynamite into the ring. Working behind a nice left jab Bosque appeared to be in charge in the opening round. Suddenly he was sitting on the canvas, compliments of a left hook to the head delivered by the Mexican import. Trapping Bosque on the ropes, Mohamed continued to attack the head of his opponent.

Bosque took the second round with his excellent jab and tight defense. Surprisingly Rodriguez was content to backup, displaying little offense. The third round was a repeat of the first with Rodriguez once again scoring a knockdown. Bosque has a bad habit of dropping his hands on the inside and he was paying a price for it. The final three rounds were a repeat of the second, with the hometown boxer taking it to his rival. Bosque appeared to be looking to score his own knockdown, while I thought Rodriguez was lazy. Scores of 58-54 and 57-55 favored Rodriguez while the third judge had the contest even 56-56. I also felt Bosque had done enough to warrant a draw, but my opinion doesn’t count in the official scoring. This was an entertaining bout.

In the 7^th bout of the evening, DeAnthony Jones (11-2-1, 3 KO’s) 135 lbs. of Dallas, TX won by TKO over Antonio Solarzano (1-8-0) 137 lbs. of Dodge City, KS. This was a contest of skill vs heart, and skill won. Jones dominated the opening round, working both the head and body of Solarzano. The Dodge City fighter was game, absorbing some brutal punches in a one sided contest. Nothing changed in the second round as Solarzano was caught in a rain storm of leather. Referee Chapa had seen enough and came to the rescue of the defenseless Solarzano at 2:30 seconds of the round. Jones appears to have some talent and deserves a chance against better competition. If Solarzano would improve his defense and throw more punches, he might find his way into the win column.

 

In the 6^th bout of the evening, Amon Rashidi (4-0-0, 2 KO’s) 147 lbs. of Dallas, TX won by UD over Jon Bullock (6-4-0, 2 KO’s) 147 lbs. of Fort Worth, TX. In the opening round Rashidi and Bullock traded hard left jabs and displayed solid defenses. Late in the round Rashidi landed a nice left hook to the head. In the second round Rashidi landed some nice body shots along the ropes to go along with his nice jab. In the third the hometown boxer continued to pick up the pace, landing a powerful left hook and appeared to be going for the KO. Bullock was fighting well but his rival was fighting better. Bullock was also having problems with referee Lawrence Cole. I’m not sure what was at issue but it was having an effect on him. The final 30 seconds of the round was Bullock’s best effort so far in the fight.

In the forth Bullock started turning the bout into a street fight, forcing his way inside and scoring with some nice body shots. In the fifth round Rashidi answered Bullock’s body attack head on. This resulted in some nice exchanges and both boxers were willing to trade shots in the trenches. In the final round Rashidi appeared to hurt Bullock with an uppercut to the head and a nice over hand right upstairs. The score cards were all 60-54 in favor of Rashidi, but the rounds were contested and closer than the verdict would indicate. Simply put the fans got their monies worth.

The remaining bouts were scheduled for 4 rounds.

In the 5^th bout of the evening, Ray Ximenez (15-1-0, 4 KO’s) 126 lbs. of Dallas, TX won by UD over Raymond Chacon (6-21-0) 126 lbs. of Torrance, CA. This was contest of dueling southpaws, something you would have rarely seen fifty years ago. Today trainers don’t try to switch left handers to orthodox resulting in southpaws being on display regularly on fight cards. I’ve seen Chacon fight on several occasions and he’s a live opponent. In the opening round Chacon started fast and Ximenez closed strong. Both boxers have nice jabs and solid defenses. Over the next three rounds Ximenez was the aggressor and tried hard for a KO, but Chacon is hard to hit with a handful of rice. The result was 40-36 on all three score cards and the fans loved the action.

In the 4^th bout of the evening, Even Torres (5-2-0, 5 KO’s) 169 lbs. of El Paso, TX won by TKO over Christopher Jones (5-2-0, 4 KO’s) 174 lbs. of Dallas, TX. Talking to people at ringside before the fight, I got the impression that Jones was the real deal. In the first two rounds he seemed very confident and threw some punches with serious intent. But it was Torres who was the busier fighter, with a much higher punch count. In a contest scheduled for only four rounds, Jones was digging himself a big hole. At the start of the third Jones opened fast but quickly tired and the El Paso boxer noticed. For the rest of the round Torres was the hunter, looking for the KO himself. When the bell rang, Jones elected to remain on his stool, resulting in Torres’ fifth stoppage in five wins. Torres is a confident young man who believes in his ability; keep an eye on the El Paso middleweight.

In the 3^rd bout of the evening, Thomas Smith (3-2-1, 2 KO’s) 127 lbs. of Dallas, TX won by TKO over David Montes (0-5-0) 133 lbs. of El Paso, TX. Montes’ was the aggressor, throwing some nice punches to the head and body of Smith. But the Dallas boxer was a cool customer and not particularly concerned. Near the end of the round, a right hand to the head dropped Montes for an eight count. It didn’t take long for Smith to find his grove in the second stanza, dropping the game Montes with a left hook, right cross combination. The KO came at 59 seconds of the round. I liked what I saw of Smith and would like to see him against tougher competition.

 

In the 2^nd bout of the evening, Gabriel Rodriguez (2-0-0) 126 lbs. of El Paso, TX won by UD over Javier Cepeda (0-4-0) 129 lbs. of Roswell, NM. In the opening round Rodriguez was impressive throwing accurate combinations to easily take the lead. Cepeda was on the defensive most of the three minutes and accomplished little offensively.  In the second round things tightened up quite a bit. Rodriguez continued to throw eye catching combinations, but Cepeda was now moving laterally and scoring with a nice jab. It was punches in bunches vs clean single punches. In a close round it probably went to the El Paso fighter. The third was much like the second but Rodriguez appeared tired from the pace of the fight. Cepeda was taking Rodriguez to the ropes and scoring cleanly. In the fourth, Cepeda dominated, giving his opponent a bloody nose. All three officials had identical scores of 39-37 in favor of Rodriguez; my score was 38-38 a draw. Speaking to ring announcer Abel Arriaga after the fight Rodriguez came off as a nice person who was complimentary towards Cepeda.

In the 1^st bout of the evening, debuting Adrian Guerra (1-0-0) 110 lbs. of Dallas, TX, won by MD over Alfredo Mojica (1-1-0, 1 KO) 110 lbs. of Dallas, TX. This was my pick for fight of the night, as both boxers were very polished performers for having so little experience. The previous week I covered a main event between two bantamweights and tonight I was watching two flyweights. In both cases the little guys fought big. In the opening round it was all Guerra behind a beautiful left jab and a solid defense. It was a fast paced round with little clinching. Mojica came roaring back in the second to even things up. He forced Guerra to cover up, as he was throwing punches in bunches. The third was very close but I gave the edge to Guerra on cleaner punching. The fourth was a beauty with Mojica bleeding from the nose. Both boxers possess loads of skill and it was a shame that someone had to lose. The scores were 40-36 twice for Guerra and 38-38, resulting in a majority win for the debuting Guerra. Both these young men are talented and I’m excited to see them perform again.