By Jeff Zimmerman
Photos: Noe Gonzalez
With the legendary Marvelous Marvin Hagler sitting ringside at FightNight 30 as the special guest for The Real Estate Council Foundation in Dallas, Texas, Samuel “The Main Event” Clarkson (21-4, 14 KOs) showed Hagler he’s another southpaw with big pop in his punch as he destroyed the experienced Milton Nunez (35-19, 31 KOs) to claim the vacant WBC Continental Americas cruiserweight title.
Clarkson dropped Nunez in the first round and made him retire at the end of the third, as Nunez stayed in his corner to start the fourth as Clarkson earned the TKO with an official time of 10 seconds of round 4 of the scheduled 10.
Clarkson jumped on Nunez from the opening bell landing a big body shot that sent Nunez across the ring. Clarkson finally put Nunez on the canvas midway through the round, but Nunez quickly got to his feet. Clarkson continued to find holes in Nunez defense who did his best to cover up as Clarkson pounded the body and then the head until the corner of Nunez had seen enough and asked referee Laurence Cole to stop the fight between the 3rd and 4th round.
The win gave Clarkson his first significant title as a pro. Clarkson, a long time DFW crowd favorite with his magnetic personality and entertaining style, burst onto the national scene on ShoBox: The New Generation the last few years scoring a couple of big upset victories, but lost to Dimitry Bivol in a major step up fight for the Interim WBA light heavyweight title last April.
Clarkson, however, has found new life as he spent part of this camp at Floyd Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas.
“I feel amazing, I feel like I should have knocked the guy out. The boxing was beautiful. We had a tremendous camp. Big thanks to Badou Jack sparring with him, Michael Hunter, Adrian Taylor working with those guys prepared me for the war and I came out on top.”
Clarkson continued, “It made me believe I am supposed to be exactly where I’m at. I should have had this belt on me a long time ago, but I went through adversity, I went through what I went through. To go through what I went through, lets me know I belong at the top. It doesn’t stop here. I’m very excited about winning the belt but it doesn’t end here, I want to go back to the gym tomorrow and workout.”
And Clarkson seems poised to take advantage of his next big opportunity.
“Whenever you lose to top guys, I feel like the media has a way to make it like if you lose you’re a loser. I had lost to a better man that night. I’m not afraid of him, I’m not afraid of any of the guys at the top. We will go back to the drawing board, we are going to get better, we are going to get stronger, smarter and we will be right back on ShoBox if not HBO PPV god willing in the future.”
Luis Alberto Hernandez vs. Julio Cesar Sanchez
In an entertaining back and forth welterweight showdown, Luis Alberto Hernandez (12-0, 11 KOs) dropped the tough Julio Cesar Sanchez (11-2, 6 KOs) once in the 4th and twice in the 5th before referee Neal Young mercifully waived it off as Sanchez had enough. Both guys stood toe to toe throughout the fight, however Hernandez clearly had more power as he continued land to both the head and body of Sanchez. Hernandez began to take control in the 3rd round with powerful left hooks and uppercuts as Sanchez had no answer. Finally, in the 4th, Hernandez pounded Sanchez through the ropes earning his first knockdown and by the 5th round after two more, it was clear Sanchez was done. The official time of the stoppage was 1:47 of the 5th round as Hernandez earned his 11th knockout in twelve pro fights with the TKO victory.
Terry Chapwood vs. Erick Bossler
In the opening bout at FightNight 30 in Dallas, Texas, welterweight Terry Chapwood (7-0-1, 4 KOs) withstood an 8th round knockdown to win a tough unanimous decision against Erick Bossler (5-3, 4 KOs). Bossler came out from the opening bell bulldozing forward against the taller, lankier Chapwood hoping to end the fight early. Chapwood, though, did his best to stay on the outside and use his long reach. By the 5th round, Bossler was tired with his mouth wide open and Chapwood went to work landing double right hands and upper cuts. In the 8th and final round, Bossler got one last burst of energy and landed a big left hook to the jaw of Chapwood that sent him flying across the ring and on the canvas. Bossler tried to desperately to put him away but Chapwood was able to hang on and survive. In the end, Chapwood’s superior skills versus the brawling Bossler won the fight as the scores read 79-73, 78-73 twice as Chapwood remained undefeated with the win.
