North Texas Fisticuffs
Arlington-based MMA promotion Xtreme Knockout (XKO) is widely considered not only the most successful local promotion here in North Texas, but also the most active. In the span of a couple of years XKO has blossomed from a local club show to a legitimate regional promotion with championship fights, UFC vets, and an exclusive TV deal with TXA 21. It’s with little wonder that an XKO event is sure to bring out a standing-room only crowd of passionate fight fans.
Xtreme Knockout recently announced the fight card for their June 2nd XKO 15 card. While the card may be one of their best to date, XKO is hedging their bets by giving fans an opportunity to meet UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture who will be on hand making appearances and mingling with those who purchase VIP tickets. Needless to say, it’s a night that you don’t want to miss.
XKO 15 FIGHT CARD (Subject to change)
Main Event
Jake Rosholt (12-3, UFC vet) vs. Matthew Thompson (16-9)
Co-Featured Fight
Chris Feist (3-0) vs. Josh Strahan (2-1)
Roy Spoon (7-4) vs. Hayward Charles (4-4)
Chase Skelly (7-0) vs. Jeremy Myers (5-5)
Josh Foster (5-3) vs. TBA
Zack Board (0-1) vs. Dustin Adams (0-1)
Armando Servin (1-1) vs. Keith Minor (5-3)
Sidney Cawdrey (Pro Debut) vs. Klayton Mai (2-0)
Casey Hudson (0-1) vs. Joseph Salas (1-1)
INFO
XKO 15 will take place at THE GYM COMBATIVE SPORTS ARENA 921 W. Mayfield Rd. Suite #112 Arlington, TX 76015
Tickets are available for purchase at THE GYM, Rustys Billiards and www.xtremeknockout.com - $30 for advanced general admission and $35 when purchased at the door. Ringside Reserved starts at $75, VIP tables start at $600 (limited tables) Purchase Ringside seats and get a private “meet and greet” with Couture and Hendricks on Friday June 1st! Visit www.thegym.org for more information. CORONA, MMA Merchandise and Concessions are available for purchase at the even.
Official After Party: Meet and Greet the fighters after the event, enjoy great food and drink specials and hang out with MMA Fans at Little O’s 4650 Little Rd Arlington TX 76017 817-561-0000
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Heading into this past Friday night’s The Ultimate Fighter quarterfinals few people were giving Fort Worth’s James Vick a shot at advancing in the popular reality series/tournament. In fact you would have been hard-pressed to find any message board giving Vick a shot at beating his opponent Joe Proctor. Despite Vick having knocked out his previous opponent most of the MMA community was sleeping on the Phalanx MMA/Genesis Jiu-Jitsu fighter.
Of course, with only four professional fights (going 4-0 in his career to date) Vick is still in the infant stages of his professional fighting career. Having only been a pro for 11-months, the very fact that Vick is one fight away from fighting in the finale for a six-figure contract in the UFC is staggering.
In Proctor, a hard-nosed fighter from New England who carried with him a ton of talent, Vick was up against an absolute beast, yet, in typical Vick fashion he seemed to be unaware of the enormity of the fight before him. Some people are just naturally gifted fighters and that seems to be the case with Vick who at the hands of Phalanx’s Durwyn Lamb and Genesis’ Albert Hughes has blossomed from a tall lanky kid to one of the most exciting fighters to have hit the local fight circuit.
Vick’s trademark cardio and tenacity were on display early on as the bouncer-turned-fighter took the fight to Proctor in the opening round. Out-gunned early on, Proctor came out aggressive in the second round by Vick’s takedown defense and control of the pace of the fight prompted him to win on the judges’ scorecards and move one step closer to a UFC contract.
Vick was gracious in defeat saying, “That was the biggest fight of my life and I’m happy that I could come out on top. Joe’s a very tough guy. I was surprised he stood up to those punches and I wish him the best. As for me, I’m now one step closer to achieving my dream.”
UFC President Dana White seemed both amazed and impressed that Vick has gotten as far as he has given his inexperience.
“Vick did a good job of fighting his fight tonight.” explained White. “He stayed outside, used his range and used his punches. What Proctor needed to do was get him to the ground to win that fight. He never gave himself a chance to win. He didn’t really start fighting until the last 30 seconds of the last round. I had Vick winning both rounds. There’s no doubt James Vick was an underdog in this thing when he first set foot in the gym - but now no-one seems to be able to stop him.”
no commentsInclement weather down in H-Town made it difficult for those of us not in attendance at Legacy Fighting Championship 11 to witness what most accounts sum up as being a night of great MMA action. While Legacy FC has quickly become one of the fastest growing regional promotions in the nation, Legacy 11 held significant meaning for those of us in North Texas as the HDNet televised card featured a number of DFWs highly acclaimed fighters. Unfortunately, most of us missed out on witnessing the action live as the HDNet feed was knocked off air due to severe thunderstorms in the Houston area.
Still, let us now overlook the fact that North Texas fighters went 3-1 for the night against some very, very talented opposition.
Dallas’ Clay Hantz had the unfortunate distinction of being the loan DFW representative to come back home with a loss as the Octagon MMA jiu-jitsu wiz was knocked out by Jorge Patino in the night’s main event. With the win Patino claims possession of the previously vacant Legacy lightweight championship title.
Fitness Fight Factory’s Evan “The Butcher” Cutts made a long-anticipated return to the cage and dispatched of Lee King in pretty impressive fashion. Cutts secured the win with a triangle choke in the second round.
Texas Fighting Syndicate’s Nelson Salas scored an upset of sorts in stopping the highly touted Angel Huerta in the opening round. Salas survived some pretty rocky moments early on but when Huerta appeared to have gassed himself out, Salas capitalized with a flurry of shots that prompted the referee to stop the fight.
In the evening’s opening televised bout Saekson Janjira trained bantamweight Ryan Benoit shocked most fight observers with an outstanding submission win over the heavily favored Cody Williams. The fight marked Benoit’s first fight back in nearly a year after suffering a leg injury in training nearly 12 months ago. Benoit showed no signs of wear as he used movement and angles to set up a hard takedown and ultimately secure a fight-ending rear naked choke in the opening round no commentsno comments
Element Fighting Championship is looking for the next draw-dropping ring girl for their June 9th promotion at the Palladium in Dallas. In conjunction with McFadden’s, an Addison hot spot, EFC is holding a competition for the hottest ring card girls in the DFW.
Interested girls can submit a photo and a short bio to ilovemcfaddens[at]gmail.com, or, can simply log on to http://www.mcfaddensaddison.com/forms/efc and fill out the submission form. Upon completion McFadden will create a voting page for you. Girls with the MOST votes will be entered in our Ring Girl competition for the chance to be featured as a Ring Girl in the Element Fighting Championship Events on June 8th & 9th. Additionally, there is a chance to win up to $500 in Cash & Prizes. Three winners will be selected (based on online votes, crowd participation & EFC judge panel) during the whole month of May, Finals on May 24th!
*Swimsuits recommended* Must be 21+*
Go to McFaddensaddison.com for complete information.
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The Region 8 JO Box-Offs will be held May 26 – 28 at the Sycamore Recreation Center (2525 E. Rosedale, Fort Worth, TX) and hosted by Fort Worth’s Premier Boxing Club. The three day event will feature some of the region’s top amateur boxing talent in what has quickly become a showcase for some truly awesome boxing. Additionally, with Premier Boxing Club hosting the event you can be assured that spectators will be treated to a great tournament. Few boxing clubs consistently deliver as entertaining boxing atmosphere as Ricky Sanchez and company over at Premier.
Do yourself a favor and make it a point to go out and support our local amateurs. There is some great talent being brought up in the gyms of North Texas.
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Octagon MMA fighter Clay Hantz will finally get a chance to showcase his talents as a fighter to a national audience when he tackles Jorge Patrino this Friday at Legacy Fighting Championship 11. Hantz and Patrino will battle for the vacant Legacy lightweight title in the evening’s main event taking place at the Houston Arena Theater and airing live on HDNet.
Hantz, who hails from the desolate plains of West Texas, has made a name for himself here in Dallas with a tenacious ground game that has endeared him to many local fight fans. A veteran of Shark Fights, Hantz enters his title show with Patrino ridding a three fight winning streak with all three wins coming by way of stoppage or submission.
But, Hantz will not be the only North Texas fighter looking to rattle the cage in H-Town this Friday night. Undefeated prospect Evan “The Butcher” Cutts (Fitness Fight Factory) will look to back up the considerable hype lavished on the young fighter following his domination of Reagan Penn, BJ Penn’s younger brother, last year in ProElit. Cutts will fight the ultra-tough Lee King Friday night.
Also appearing on the Legacy card will be XKO regular Nelson Salas (Texas Fighting Syndicate) who will tackle Angel Huerta. And rounding out the North Texas talent will be Saekson Janjira fighter Ryan Benoit who will take on Cody Williams in a televised bout. Benoit is making a return to the cage after being sidelined with a leg injury for most of 2011.
FULL CARD
MAIN CARD (HDNet)
Clay Hantz vs. Jorge Patino (for vacant lightweight title)
Chad Robichaux vs. Joseph Sandoval
Gerald Harris vs. Mike Bronzoulis
Evan Cutts vs. Lee King
Angel Huerta v. Nelson Salas
William "Bubba" Bush vs. Artenas Young
Ryan Benoit vs. Cody Williams
PRELIMINARY CARD (Untelevised)
Larry Crowe vs. Sam Mohammed
Ray Blodget vs. Scotty Juarez
Lester Batres vs. Justin Murray
Jesus Mendez vs. Andy Sandoval
Marcus Dupar vs. Bobby Powers
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Just as expected, WBC Super Welterweight champion Saul “el Canelo” Alvarez (40-0, 29KO’s) took it to the aging former world champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley (46-8, 39KO’s). From the beginning to the end of the fight, the undefeated Alvarez proved to be too strong in the ring. Although the game Mosley did make it the full twelve rounds, his punches never seemed to hurt the young Alvarez.
Canelo started off the early rounds with straight jabs and good body punches and he moved methodically in the ring toward Mosley. Mosley still had some quickness in his punches, but it seemed like he was just hitting a punching bag. Every time Mosley would land a punch that was usually blocked by Alvarez, Alvarez’ counter punches had much more power.
In the second round, Mosley began to force the action and Alvarez just calmly blocked the punches and waited for the openings. Alvarez then started connecting with hard body punches and landed a good left hook to the head of Mosley and he winced with pain. In the third round, Alvarez caught Mosley with a combination to the head and then followed up with some stiff jabs. He then landed a hard right to the head of Mosley and then Mosley moved forward and an accidental clashing of heads caused a small cut on the inside top part of Alvarez’s head and the blood began to flow. After the bell, Alvarez’ corner furiously began to work on the cut and they were able to stop the bleeding from his eye. According to HBO commentators, this was the first cut Alvarez has had in his career.
In the fourth, Mosley was rejuvenated and he attempted to put on the pressure as Alvarez blocked most of the punches and countered his way around the ring. At the end of the round, Mosley connected with a good right to the head of Alvarez. The fifth round was the best for Alvarez up to this point as he connected with power punches and strong left hooks and jabs. They both stood toe to toe in the middle of the ring, but Alvarez’ punches were the more effective. More of the same continued in the sixth round as Alvarez landed a huge big left and right to the head of Mosley. Alvarez was the busier as he continued to connect with heavy hands as Mosley’s face began to show signs of swelling.
Before the beginning of the seventh round, the score cards by HBO had Alvarez ahead 5-1. Alvarez then continued to land his jab and right hand on the pressing Mosley as he came in. At this point, Mosley appeared to be getting tired as the fight stats had Alvarez landing 30 of 50 punches on Mosley in this round. At the beginning of the eighth, Alvarez toyed with Mosley as he leaned against the ropes and blocked almost 20 consecutive punches. Then as they were both stood in the middle of the ring, Alvarez landed a huge body punch to the midsection and the force of the punch pushed Mosley back about four feet. As the blood began to flow out of the eye of Canelo, he landed a nice uppercut and the round ended.
In the ninth, Alvarez landed a multitude of body punches on Mosley as he pounded him around the ring. According to punch stats, he landed 38 punches to only eleven by Mosley. At this point in the fight, Mosley’s age was really beginning to show, but he continued to throw punches. As the tenth round began, you could see the pain on Mosley’s face as Alvarez continued his assault. The punches being thrown by Mosley didn’t seem to have any effect on the younger Alvarez. Suddenly, Alvarez landed a huge straight right hand that knocked Mosley’ head visibly back and the punishment continued.
Mosley continued to try to land whatever he could on Alvarez in the eleventh round, but they had no effect. Alvarez was still landing the much more crisp punches, and at the end of the round, Mosley’s corner was telling him “the kid is fighting till the end of each round.” Apparently they were noticing that Mosley was fading and that he should pick up the pace. Unfortunately for Mosley, Alvarez’ pace continued on, and it did just that till the end of the fight. It appears that the game Mosley may have fought his last fight. Alvarez wins by unanimous decision as the cards read 119-109 to Alvarez, while the other two had it 118-110. The young and exciting Alvarez has just taken a big step into the big leagues and is well on his way to being a superstar in boxing.
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Lately it has been the young against the old in the boxing world. Last weekend the younger Chad Dawson (31-1, 17KO‘s) defeated Bernard Hopkins (52-6, 32KO’s) and several weeks ago, Danny Garcia (23-0, 14KO‘s) defeated Erik Morales (52-8, 36KO’s). No disrespect to any of these great champions, but it may be time to hang up the gloves. This weekend at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the young WBC Super Welterweight champion Saul “el Canelo” Alvarez (39-0, 29KO’s) will be defending his title against the 40 year old Shane Mosley (46-7, 39KO’s). It is the undercard of the Miguel Cotto v. Floyd Mayweather fight and it will change the careers of both of these fighters.
Shane Mosley has had his day in the boxing sun and it may be time to do the same. Mosley has won six world titles and has fought against such great fighters as Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30KO‘s), Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30KO’s), Antonio Margarito (38-8), Mayweather (42-0), and the pound for pound king of the ring, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. In his last six fights Mosley has lost to Cotto, Mayweather, and Pacquiao. Granted he did bring back the clock against Antonio Margarito, but against Pacquiao he went down in the third round and Pacquiao carried him the rest of the way.
This time the rising 21year old Alvarez, who has 29 out of 39 fights by knockout, will probably be too much for the older Mosley. Although the reigning WBC Super Welterweight champion Canelo has a mighty knockout punch, he doesn’t plan on going for the knockout, unless the chance arises. He has said "My mentality is to go in there, perform and win, but not look for the knockout. When you go out there and look for the knockout, other obstacles will come through and you don't get your plan out...I'm ready for 12 rounds." Alvarez also goes on to say “The key in this fight for me is not to get desperate. I have to take my time and stick to my game plan,” “This is just another test, another gate that I have to walk through. With Mosley being who he is, I feel that I have entered the big leagues. There will be way bigger fights and better things for me." Although Mosley was able to escape from getting knocked out by Pacquiao and Mayweather, El Canelo will not have any mercy and may well be the first fighter to knock out the slick Mosley. Mosley is quoted as saying “I feel really confident that I can withstand whatever he throws at me," and that may be the case, but he may not be able to withstand it for 12 rounds.
Canelo, the biggest boxing star coming out of Mexico and a huge fan favorite, is being guided along by Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions. If Canelo wins, this will catapult him to bigger and better fights in his young career. This win could set him up for such opponents as Andre Berto, Victor Ortiz, and even Mexican fan favorite, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.
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