By Jeff Zimmerman
Photos: Porfirio Barron Jr. / One Vision Photography
In the main event at Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas, super featherweight Juan Antonio Lopez (17-11-1, 7 KOs) out of Fort Worth battled Henry Arredondo (8-1-1, 4 KOs) from San Antonio to a draw over six rounds at the Night to Fight benefiting the Ring of Hope and the inaugural event for the Texas Boxing Hall of Fame.
Lopez, a southpaw and a longtime local crowd favorite, showed his ring generalship in the early rounds to stay away from the aggressive Arrendondo and picked his spots landing his straight left hand. Over the next few rounds, the fight moved in the pocket and Arredondo found success landing his power shots. Lopez traded blows inside, but Arrendondo’s threw more punches that seemed to have more pop on them. Neither fighter was hurt. Although Arrendondo won five of six rounds on one scorecard, the other two judges saw it three to three as the scores read 57-57 twice and 59-55 for a majority draw.
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The night belonged to the newly formed Texas Boxing Hall of Fame that had forty of Dallas-Fort Worth’s biggest names on hand from fighters, trainers, media, officials and contributors, including former world champs Quincy Taylor, Troy Dorsey, Paulie Ayala, Stevie Cruz, Gene Hatcher and International Boxing Hall of Famer Donald Curry just to name a few on this star-studded evening. They were all introduced in the ring in between fights. The Texas Boxing Hall of Fame was the brainchild of longtime boxing event coordinator Lester Bedford and George Foreman Jr. Here is the list of all the inductees that were on hand for the festivities:
Chris Arnold, Bert August, Paulie Ayala, Gary Barcroft, Robert Bird, Robert Chapa, Jesus Chavez, Laurence Cole, Stevie Cruz, Troy Dorsey, Mark Elfenbein, Robert Guy, Freddy Guzman, Wayne Harrison, Gene Hatcher, Deborah Holmes, Barry Horn, Michael Lerma, Jaime Lerma, Brian Lonon, Christine Lopez, Henry Mendez, Michael Miller, Jose Orozco, Paul Percifield, Sugar Ray Phillips, Jesse Ravelo, Vincent Releford, Kendrick Releford, Paul Reyes, Sergio Reyes, Pete Rojas, Bobby Scoggins, Pedro Silva, Stacey Snyder, Paul Stephens, Quincy Taylor, Danny Trevino, Nick Wells, Luis Yanez, Jeff Zimmerman
Roberto Cruz vs. Felipe Reyes
Super welterweight Roberto Cruz (8-0, 4 KOs) out of Killeen, Texas battered Felipe Reyes (6-6, 4 KOs) in the co-main event in Frisco, TX to earn the knockout victory. Cruz put on a brilliant performance as he landed an array of punches to the head and body and uppercuts on Reyes all night. Reyes was game but could not overcome the onslaught from Cruz. Referee Neal Young deducted a point from Reyes in round three for hitting in the back after a couple of warnings. In round four, Cruz dropped Reyes with a one, two and although Reyes got to his feet, Cruz landed another barrage and the referee finally waived it off as Cruz scored the TKO to remain undefeated. The time was 1:19 of round four of the scheduled six.
Randy Rivera vs. Cesar Torres
Cruiserweight Randy Rivera (1-0), making his pro debut from Cuba and fighting out of Maple Ave Boxing Gym in Dallas, survived a point deduction in the final round to earn a hard-fought split decision against Cesar Torres (1-1, 1 KOs) from Tyler, TX over four entertaining rounds. Both guys came out swinging for the fences in round one hoping to end the night early. Each tasted each other’s power, but never hit the canvas. Referee Laurence Cole warned Rivera in round three for holding and twice more in round four, before finally deducting a point in a super close battle to that point. River also lost his mouthpiece and went to his knees at one point that was ruled a slip as he was clearly tired. The point deduction energized Rivera who landed his best punches of the night, multiple one, two combos to the head of Torres. Scores read 38-37 twice for Rivera and 38-37 for Torres. Rivera earned the first win of his career.
Juan Gomez vs. Ousmane Sylla
In a back-and-forth affair, welterweight Ousmane Sylla (3-4-2, 1 KOs) out of Arkansas beat Juan Gomez (0-1) from Fort Worth in a four-round scrap. Sylla, fighting off his backfoot early in the fight, landed a solid right hand all night against the aggressive Gomez who was making his pro debut. Sylla landed the cleaner punches, although Gomez had some success with power shots of his own. Sylla came out on top with the unanimous decision as scores read 39-37 twice and 40-36.
Emmanuel Tennison vs. Travasio Talley
In the opening bout at Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas, super welterweight Emmaunel Tennsion (2-3, 1 KO) out of Ft Worth stopped Travasio Talley (0-4) in round three of the scheduled four. It was a spirited fight while it lasted as the lanky Tennison found success on the outside in round one, while Talley took the fight inside in the second round. The fight got heated at the end of the second as both fighters threw punches after the bell as referee Laurence Cole jumped between them. In round three, they got tied up and immediately Talley pulled away in immense pain and Cole stopped the fight immediately as Talley broke his arm. Time of stoppage 1:31 via TKO.
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