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01/20/2007 Archived Entry: "Home is the Heavyweight"
Home is the Heavyweight
Lou Savarese makes ring return with knockout victory
By Karl Hegman
POPULAR heavyweight contender "Big" Lou Savarese returned to the punch for pay ranks Thursday night in Houston by walloping Travis Fulton to a fourth round knockout defeat before a standing room only crowd at the Grand Plaza Hotel.
The card marked the second for Savareses' and co-promoter Cameron Parks' Rock Sold Boxing, and it was another rousing success for the action hungry Bayou City fight fans.
The evening's festivities kicked off with a three round exhibition between featherweights Benjamin Flores (14-2, 6 KO's) and Steve Trimble after Flores' original opponent, Victor Martinez, pulled a no show. The two went at it for real in an action scrap that went the limit with both boys landing some good punches and with both being in good physical condition.
Next up was a four round scrap in the junior lightweight division between Marcelino Osuna, who was making his professional debut vs. Michael Williams, who sported a 3-3 (3 KO's) ring ledger. Osuna won a unanimous decision over his outclassed opponent who seemed quite a bit confused and befuddled by Osuna's southpaw style. Osuna sported some fast hands and good movement, but was noticeably nervous in his initial simon pure outing and did a lot of slapping and hitting with the inside of the glove for his first pro victory over a much slower foe.
Local fan favorite heavyweight Bobby "El Jefe" Flores continued his winning ways by pulverizing one Cody Awe from Mason City, Iowa who was making his professional boxing debut in just five seconds of the first round. Flores walked out of his corner and hit Awe with a left upperut and straight right hand on the chin that sent the Iowan crashing to the canvas violently, striking the back of his head in one brutal, whiplike motion that rendered him instantly unconscious in one of the fastest knockouts in history. The heavy handed Flores improves to 3-1 with all three wins coming via the sleep city route, while the vanquished Awe should really consider another line of work before he gets hurt even more seriously down the fistic path than he did last night.
Houston featherweight Benjamin Flores went to 15-2 (6 KO's) by pitching a shutout over lefty Victor Martinez, 10-11 (6 KO's), in a six round featherweight affair. Flores was just much too fast for Martinez who never stopped trying, but was way outclassed by the young speedster from Houston.
The cold and rainy weather did nothing to dampen the spirits of the vocal and raucous crowd, and the gorgeous Hooters girls certainly warmed the temperatures and spirits of the male fightgoers as well. The concession lines were very long with the reasonably priced event food and beverages, and everyone was having a good time watching the fights and anticipating the main event. There were many beautiful and appreciative female fight fans as well in the diverse crowd, and there was not a parking space to be had at the hotel, as even the valet parking was full.
Local ring luminaries and celebrities in attendance included: Houston lightweight and junior welterweight legend Termite Watkins, Superfeatherweight Contender Rocky Juarez, former junior middleweight world champion Raul Marquez, world class boxing trainer Ronnie Shields, and WWE Wrestling Legend and former World Heavyweight Champion Booker T, who has formed his own wrestling promotional company "Booker T's PWA" which will host its SLAMUARY 2007 card Thursday, January 25th at the Pasadena Convention Center located at 7902 Fairmont Parkway with the doors opening at 6:00 PM.
Heavyweight Eugene Hill upped his record to 3-0 (3 KO's) when his opponent Traylor Rozell quit in the second round after sampling some of Hill's power.
WBC 12th ranked and USNBC Light Heavyweight Champion Chris Henry was up next in a 6 rounder vs. tough Billy Thompson of Garland. Henry raked Thompson over the coals with fierce body and head shots, but the game Thompson kept fighting back and the fight went the full route. Henry raises his undefeated record to 17-0 (14 KO's) with the unanimous decision win while Thompson drops to 8-9 (3 KO's) and really earned his paycheck by soaking up lots of punishment that would have felled a lesser man.
The one and only Big Lou Savarese, one of the most popular heavyweights of the 1990's upped his record to 45-6 (37 KO's) by stopping Travis Fulton 16-15 (14 KO's) in the evening's main event.
Savarese entered the ring to near deafening applause from the adoring throng and did not let his many fans down Thursday as he pummeled Fulton from the opening bell. Savarese walked in behind the jab in his familar, rhythmic style and thumped the ample belly and sides of Fulton that caused him to double over in pain. Fulton fought back and landed several punches of his own, but paid dearly for it in the second round when a right uppercut by Savarese bent him over and a follow up right drove him to the mat for an 8 count. Fulton was in heavy breathing by this point in the fight and was beginning to take a real beating in there as he could not keep Savarese off of him. A heavy one two thirty seconds later felled him again, and he went down for the third time near the end of the round from a right to the side of the head followed by two lefts.
Savarese was mixing up his shot selection well, particularly to the body, and was moving very nicely in there showing virtually no signs of ring rust after the long layoff. Savarese leapt into action at the start of the third and ater softening Fulton up with a couple of jabs and blows to the belly, felled his man soon thereafter with a hurtful left jab, right cross, and left hook combination. Fulton was game and rose to be subjected to further abuse, and a series of uppercuts dropped him again and it was at this juncture that the referee waved off the proceedings.
Savarese hopes to land a high profile fight next, possibly against Chris Byrd, as he knows Father Time's clock is ticking away on his storied ring career.
Savarese's plan is to get by Byrd and then shoot for Shannon Briggs if he survives his upcoming title challenge, or to try to get the winner of the Valuev-McCline bout in the near future. While those may appear to be somewhat lofty plans by some boxing people, when one takes a hard look at the current heavyweight landscape, it perhaps may not seem that farfetched.
Valuev is a very limited fighter who does not have a good fundamental base, and actually ducks into his opponent's power rather than using his seven foot height advantage. The Russian dosen't use his height and reach to his advantage because he has never had anyone to teach him how to, and to use the old boxing cliche, he is a sucker for the right hand.
Shannon Briggs is a good banger, as everyone that follows boxing knows, but he also has some very serious and glaring stamina and defensive issues as well. Briggs has a tendency to carry his hands at his waist and move straight in and straight back at times, leaving him very vulnerable to shots uptop, particularly when setup by body blows.
Time will defintely tell how Lou's boxing comeback goes, but one thing that is not in doubt is the popularity the transplanted New Yorker has established with Houston boxing and sports fans. They have adopted Savarese as one of their own, who by all accounts is a fine person, and one who has a budding acting career as well. Savarese portrayed heavyweight champion Max Baer in the ESPN version of "The Cinderella Man", had a guest starring spot on the emmy award winning series "The Sopranos", and has several TV and movie opportunities on the table in the near future as well.
We at the CBZ wish Lou the best of luck in his comeback and also in his future promotional efforts as well. If the first two shows of Rock Solid Boxing are an indication, the future looks very bright indeed.
