The new Texas Middleweight Champion James Freeman.

The night started with a four round lightweight match between undefeated Fernando Rodriquez of Dallas, Texas, by way of Pleasant Grove, and Gerardo Dominguez of Tyler, Texas. In the first round of the fight, Rodriguez was punishing Dominguez with a barrage of body punches. At the end of the first round, Rodriquez connected with a vicious left to the body and put Rodriquez on the canvas. Rodriquez survived the round, but was put down again in the second round with another body punch. Dominguez was the veteran and much older fighter, but he did manage to catch Rodriquez with some good punches of his own. At the beginning of the third round, time was stopped because of a low blow to Dominguez. As the round continued, Rodriquez continued with non-stop body punches, and finally caught Dominguez with a hard right to the head, which momentarily stunned him, and the round ended. Dominguez did not come out at the beginning of the fourth, and the fight was stopped.

Kentrell Clairborne.

As the night on the lake began to cool down, the next match was between Mark “Too Sharp” Davis, of Mississippi, against Wayne “Hotdog” Fletcher, of Dallas, Texas. “Too Sharp” was an appropriate nickname for Davis, because that is exactly what he was. Davis, a smaller version of Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, from the old days, was visibly a no nonsense accurate punching fighter. As in most fights, both fighters were just feeling out each other in the first round, with Davis moving in and out, with sharp punches. As the second round began, Davis was moving forward and saying “Body Attack” to his much taller opponent, which is exactly what he was doing. In the third round, Fletcher started switching from southpaw, in an apparent tactic to slow down Davis. But it didn’t work, and he was caught with a hard left hook from Davis, which knocked out his mouthpiece. Fletcher did come back at the end of the fight and finished with hard punches to the head of Davis. The fight ended with a unanimous decision for Davis.

Next up was Rafael Casias, of Arlington Texas, fresh from coming off a win in his last fight against Christian “Angel” Faz (0-1), a former Texas State Golden Gloves Champion, from Austin, Texas. That night his opponent was Cristoval Larrazolo, from Pampa, Texas. Having seen Casias before, I knew what to expect, which was constant movement forward and punches from all angles. Giving up some height, Casias started off the first and second rounds with constant aggression, but Larrazolo held his own, and was connecting with fast combinations. At the end of the second, a point was taken from Larrazolo for a low blow. In the third and fourth rounds, Larrazolo was the aggressor, but Casias was getting in good counter punches. Casias was awarded the fight in a split decision.

Right before the start of the fifth fight of the night, Dickey Cole noticed that Charles “The Future” had on the wrong size gloves, and ordered them to be changed. In frustration, and to what seemed somewhat embarrassing to the corner of Hatley, the gloves were changed, and the fight began. Why this wasn’t caught before the fight, did seem kind of unusual, to say the least. Nevertheless, on one day notice, Michael Soberanis, from San Antonio, Texas, was put up against the undefeated Hatley, his opponent having backed out at the last minute. Having come off his latest win in Dallas, and capturing the Super Welterweight Texas Title, Hatley quickly overwhelmed Soberanis in the first round, and the towel was thrown in. Then the lights went out.

That is, the lights for the entire Harbor amphitheatre, including all the hotels and restaurants. All that was left on were the ringside lamps, which was an omen for lights out action to be held in the upcoming bout. Coming into the ring for the Texas Middleweight Title, were two opponents who had met before in February. The winner of that fight by unanimous decision was Larry “Slomoshun” Smith, of Dallas, and his opponent, James “Boogie” Freeman. Freeman was coming into this fight for redemption, and as they were being announced, he stepped to the middle of the ring, and gave Smith the death notice, by rubbing his glove under his chin, and yelling at him. At first notice, it was apparent to me he meant business, and the way he looked, it was clear that he was a heavy handed fighter. As the bell rang, my instincts were correct, because he started landing heavy punches in the first round, and put Smith on the defensive.

In the second round, Smith connected with a good uppercut, then another one, but Freeman, just shook his head, and said “You ain’t hurtin me.” As the third round began, both fighters were throwing hard punches, and Freeman had sustained a bloody nose. Although Smith started to showboat, Freeman was still landing hard punches to the head and body of Smith. At the beginning of the fourth round, Freeman was connecting with straight punches to the face of Smith, and he taunted him by saying, “No defense huh.” Seconds later, he had Smith against the ropes, and clocked him with a vicious right cross to the head, and Smith went down to the canvas, as the crowd went wild with excitement. Smith, got up, but the fight was called to a halt. As he did before the fight, Freeman was not done yet with his trash-talking and he walked toward the corner of Smith as he sat on the stool, and he taunted Smith as he sat in his corner. The fighters spoke in the middle of the ring after the fight and it appears a rematch should happen in the future. If so, look forward to a great fight.