By Jeff Zimmerman
Photos by Lucio Quintero
It took everything for featherweight Ray Ximenez (17-1, 4 KOs) to outbox late replacement Eugene Lagos (12-4-2, 7 KOs) at the Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas Friday night in the main event of the Roy Jones Boxing event in association with Montoya Boxing. Ximenez out of Dallas was originally scheduled to fight John Vincente Moralde out of the Philippines but instead fought his fellow countryman Lagos who was in shape and training in Los Angeles when he got the call.
Ximenez always has a sense of flair and style when he enters the ring as he came out with his hair dyed red on top and pink and white trunks that looked like pieces of rug cut, hanging from his waist. They flopped all night along with the mop of red hair on his head.
With that, though, Ximenez can box and has great hand speed as he landed blazing combinations to the head and body of Lagos all night. But Lagos was right there with him, although he was getting hit 3-1, he was landing some big shots, so it appeared, but Ximenez walked right through them.
In the 3rd and 4th round, Ximenez took charge and would move straight to Lagos moving his head side to side with his hands down almost to say, hit me if you can. And Lagos did on occasion, but when Ximenez was ready to unleash it was too much for Lagos to keep up with. Ximenez started the fight as a southpaw but switched to orthodox throughout and showed his full arsenal in either stance.
In the 6th round, Lagos rocked Ximenez with a couple big upper cuts and an overhand right, but could never hurt Ximenez. Ximenez did suffer a cut over his left eye that bled for most of the fight but nothing that put the fight in danger of being stopped.
After a low blow by Ximenez on Lagos in the 7th round, Ximenez went to work and unloaded an array of punches on Lagos who did his best to counter and land that one telling blow to end the fight. The 8th round was much of the same as they went toe to toe to end this entertaining fight that had the crowd roaring to the final bell.
As expected, Ximenez earned the unanimous decision with scores of 78-74 twice, 79-73.
Edward Vazquez vs. Brandon Arvie
Featherweight Edward Vazquez (5-0) survived a knockdown in the 4th round to win a hotly contested fight against Brandon Arvie (2-1, 2 KOs). Arvie came to fight as he bolted across the ring at the opening bell to show Vazquez he was ready for action and then he dropped the hometown favorite with that jarring left hook, but Vazquez got up right away as the round ended. Vazquez stayed on the outside with both gloves covering his face most of the fight and would either counter Arvie coming in or shoot a jab or lead right of his own. Vazquez was the busier of the two during most rounds and had some nice combinations to the head and body of Arvie. In the 5th and 6th rounds, both fighters went inside hoping to land a big shot to end the night but that wasn’t to be. In the end, all three judges scored it for Vazquez 58-57, 58-55.
David Alfaro vs. Dominique Griffin
In an entertaining battle, super bantamweight Dominque Griffin (2-0, 1 KO) landed hard shots to the head and body of David Alfaro (1-1) over four rounds to win a unanimous decision. Griffin also caused a cut over the left eye of Alfaro that was caused by an accidental headbutt. After a quick review by the ringside physician, the fight continued. Alfaro was game and kept coming forward, but Griffin was too strong and Alfaro could never land with consistency. Griffin remained undefeated as all judges scored it 40-36.
In the opening bout of the Roy Jones Boxing show in association with Montoya Boxing in Dallas Friday night, super welterweight Jarvis Shepard (5-0-1, 5 KOs) blasted Christopher Turton (1-7) from the opening bell that started with a powerful left hook to the body. From there, Jarvis jumped on Turton and dropped him twice with vicious combinations before Referee Neal Young waived it off to save Turton from severe damage. Turton somehow popped to his feet after the 2nd onslaught but it was a wise decision to halt the action. Shepard scored the TKO victory to remain undefeated. The time of stoppage was 48 seconds of the first round.
