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10/13/2006 Archived Entry: "Hot Boxing Action in Houston"
Hot Boxing Action in Houston
Rock Solid Promotions makes their maiden debut before an adoring house
By Karl E. Hegman
It was a night of fun at the fights at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Houston as former heavyweight contender Lou Savareses' and Cameron Parks' Rock Solid Promotions made their fistic debut to the delight of Houston fight fans.
The opening bout was a quick one with local cruiserweight Willie Edwards making his pro debut with a TKO in the second round over 1-4 Mark Long from Moline, IL. Edwards completely overwhelmed Long who pulled back from punches straight up, hands down, and with his chin in the air and dropped his foe a couple of times before referee Robert Gonzales waved off the mismatch at the 1:22 mark of round two.
Local heavyweight favorite Bobby "El Jefe" Flores was up next against a flabby, out of shape import from Davenport, IA by the name of Brandon Quigley. Big Flores came out and threw a one two that caught Quigley on the head and sent him face first into the canvas out cold, end of story. Quigley was given immediate in ring medical attention and the audience erupted as loud for their hero as if they had just seen a young Mike Tyson ice a victim back in the 1980's. Big Flores (who by all accounts is a fine person that volunteers his free time working with kids) was led back to the dressing room amidst a sea of handshakes, embraces, and flashing camera bulbs.
The lovely ladies from Hooters served as waitresses and eye candy, and it could have been distracting, but as it turned out everyone was able to get their eyes full of the waitresses and ring card girls who made in ring appearances after every fight.
The next match pitted 1-2 Angel Rodriguez vs 0-1 Martin Delgado in a scheduled 4 rounder in the lightweight division. This one was over quickly as well as Rodriguez just walked through the outgunned Delgado and was waylaying him on the ropes when referee Robert Gonzales was forced to call a halt to the action at the 2:43 mark of the first round.
The vocal, sold out, standing room only crowd were loving the carnage, and the cold beer, soft drinks, and food were going rapidly. Hip hop music blared between the bouts over the loudspeakers and folks were socializing and meeting and greeting the many boxing luminaries in attendance which included: WBA Lightweight King Juan Diaz, The great heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, former heavyweight contender Lou Savarese, Rocky Juarez, Reggie Johnson, and Raul Marquez.
The fourth bout of the evening was a scheduled heavyweight four rounder between former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez who was making his professional boxing debut against a much smaller Brandon Baker from Kansas City, KS, also making his pro debut as well. This one was over almost before it started as Rodriguez just walked forward and seemingly hurt Baker with every punch he landed. A right hand and follow up left hook sent Baker face forward to the canvas where he remained there for a minute or so, and this probably gave him ample time to realize that the brutal world of professional prizefighting may not be the proper vocation for him. The time of the knockout was the 1:35 mark of round one.
The crowd got a kick out of this one as well, and once again there was plenty of time for the ringside girls to get up in the ring and give away prizes and pose for pictures with the lucky winners of in house drawings.
The semi-final bout of the evening saw local middleweight favorite Chase "White Tiger" Shields 20-0-1, 11 KO's vs Jerry Perez 9-15-4 from Rosenberg, TX. Shields decked the stiff, straight up Perez in the first round with a jab, and drove him to the mat in the second round as well. Perez was dead game and courageous though, and came back with several stiff shots of his own, and the crowd finally had a competitive fight on its hands, though they were very happy to see the earlier knockouts. Perez was busted up quite badly at this point, and in the fourth round walked straight into a left hand by Shields who kept switching his stance between orthodox and southpaw. The Rosenberg fighter was sandbagged by the punch as he took it flush in the face for the full ten count and once again the house erupted in a thunderous cheer as the fans were loving the action.
Shields showed some real potential and skills in there, was very relaxed, and appeared to be in very good condition. A step up in the level of his opposition appears to be needed for the young Houstonian as he fights his way up the fistic ladder and looks like a fighter to look out for in the future.
There was time left before the main event began and Evander Holyfield, Juan Diaz, Rocky Juarez, Jose Diaz and others were introduced before the adoring throng of their fellow Houstonians. Promoters Lou Savarese and Cameron Park were next, and Park gave out a very nice and heartfelt thanks to the crowd in attendance and called it "the dream of a lifetime."
The main event featured WBC #12 ranked and USNBC Light Heavyweight Champion Chris Henry (15-0, 14 KO's) from Orange, Tx defending his title vs Rayco Saunders (15-7-2, 7 KO's) from Pittsburgh, PA. The muscular Henry tried to steamroll Saunders early on, but Saunders soaked up some big shots from the young knockout artist and kept fighting back with punches of his own.
The bout turned quickly into a bitterly fought and brutal affair as Saunders would soak up significant amounts of punishment but kept swinging back and catching Henry flush as the Orange fighter kept driving in looking for the knockout blow to send Saunders to the deck. The crowd had gotten what they had paid for as the bitterly contested struggle took a thrilling turn as Saunders began beating Henry off of him and driving the champion into the ropes and all four corners of the squared circle. Henry had been hitting low, and a point was deducted by referee Cole in the eighth frame. The last two rounds were hard fought with both tired young men fighting their hearts out and finishing toe to toe, leaving nothing for the dressing room as they received a loud standing ovation from the crowd at the final bell.
The result was a split decision win for Henry who thus retained his USNBC Light Heavyweight Championship.
The card was an enormorous victory for Rock Solid and brought back memories of the great ESPN Thursday Night Fights of the early 1980's when cable television was in its infancy period and garnered in a whole new generation of boxing fans for the sport that we hold dearest to our hearts. Houston has always been a great fight city, and Rock Solid delivered what fight fans crave for, knockouts and action, in ample supply in its initial promotional offering. If the first time out of the gate is any indication, the future certainly looks bright for the new promotional firm here in the bayou city that is Houston. To the victor go the spoils.
