Saturday, February 6, 2010, Top Rank, Inc. in association with Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports En Espanol will televise the “Super Brawl,” from McAllen, Texas.  North Texas Boxing’s #1 Pound for Pound Fighter of 2009, super bantamweight Roberto Marroquin is scheduled to fight Robert Guillen, (5-4, 1 KO) of Glendale, Arizona on the undercard.  Marroquin has an outstanding professional boxing record of 11-0 with eight knockouts.  He previously fought on the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya v. Manny Pacquiao fight.  After Saturday’s bout, Marroquin is scheduled to be on the undercard of the Pacquiao v. Clottey boxing extravaganza at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  Top Rank and many boxing experts consider Marroquin a potential world champion. His previous fights are as follows:  [read more]

2010 DPAL DGG Team

Charles "The Future" Hatley, the "Latin Legend" Luis Yanez, and Roberto “The Punisher” Marroquin are all undefeated and taking their own paths to greatness, but there is an abundant crop of youngsters still sporting headgear and white tipped gloves looking to follow in their illustrious footsteps.

George Rincon, Ricardo Barron, Tony Mack, Ray Ximenez Jr., Errol Spence, Miguel Nunez, Abraham Torres, Thomas Hill, Marchristopher Adkins, Fernando Vazquez, Samuel Clarkson and the "Jones Boys" (Noah, Kameron, Jordan and Christopher), just to name a few.

I don't get out to amateur events as often as I used to, but nonetheless, on Wednesday, January 27 2010, I was on hand at the DGG to hang out, watch the fights, take some pictures, and get better acquainted with the next breed of Dallas area pugilists. Here are a few photos I was able to snap.

Errol Spence and his #1 fan his Mom.

Errol Spence and Marchristopher Adkins.

World class boxing returns to Remington Park Casino, 7:00 p.m. Thursday, February 11, 2010 World Ranked Eric "Danger" Fields' (13-1, 11 KOs) opponent has just been named, Eddie "The Iron Man" Gutierrez (15-8, 6 KOs), from Oakland, California.  Gutierrez recently fought and lost a 10 round decision to NABF Cruiserweight Champion Matt Godfrey (20-1, 10 KOs), who is fighting for the IBF Cruiserweight World Title in March.  Should Godfrey win, catBOX is working on a Fields versus Godfrey world title fight.  The Fields/Gutierrez fight will be an exciting one, as Gutierrez has fought many great fighters, including David Tua. Fields, from Ardmore Oklahoma, is a two time National Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champ.

The Co-Main Event features undefeated knockout king Oklahoma Lightweight Champ Noah Zuhdi (9-0, 9 KOs) against rough and rugged Reymundo Hernandez (5-7, 5 KOs) of Atchison, Kansas.  Zuhdi is seeking to increase his wins to the double digits as he pursues his goal to become world champ. Zuhdi and Hernandez have one common opponent, Robert Flaherty, who they both defeated.  [read more]

Reggie (and Yvette) Woods’ latest offering of the Dallas Golden Gloves was a smashing success. Approximately 160 fights were held over a four-night period and we were there for every one of them. Results From all four nights can be found on the Dallas Golden Gloves website www.dallasgoldengloves.org, so as to not be redundant, we will hit the highlights and in an instance or two, the unfortunate lowlights.

Beginning with the first night, and every night thereafter the bell tolled a ten count for recently deceased Dallas Police Athletic League (DPAL) boxer Jerson Archaga. A very touching and very classy gesture to a young man that was taken from his family and his boxing family way too soon.  [read more]

LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and assorted other NBA superstars are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, February 10th,  to kick-off "All Star Week", while Black Gloves Promotions is looking to fulfill any and all fistic fancies thereafter, on Thursday the 11th.  The annual Rookies vs. Sophomores Game, Slam-Dunk Contest, 3-Point Shoot-Out and the actual All-Star Game itself will all bookend Black Gloves' pugilistic presentation.  [read more]

Manny Pacquiao and NTB’s Cami Driver.	NTB’s Cami Driver and Joshua Clottey.

For months now the talk of the boxing world has been a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao bout, but that was a wash.  Now it’s on the next best thing; Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey for the World Welterweight Championship, March 13. Tuesday, January 19, a press conference was held at the same venue that will host “The Event”, Cowboys Stadium, to announce the particulars of the fight.

After all the hoopla I was able to interview both fighters.  I got to sit and talk with Clottey for only a few minutes, but in those minutes I learned a lot about where his passion for fighting comes from.  Clottey has been boxing since the age of six.  He led a hard street life in Ghana and had to protect himself daily.  He spoke about Pacquiao being a really nice guy.  So when he was contacted about the fight he was surprised and excited at the same time. Although he considers Pacquiao a friend, when the gloves go on the evil takes over, and the friendship is left outside the ring and the performance starts.  Clottey loves people and enjoys giving a great show for the fans. Clottey said he was very happy to have received a Cowboys jersey from Jerry Jones, but his sport of choice is soccer. This day for him was very eventful but “now it’s time to train”.  He said there will be no special diet, because he’s at just the right weight, so he will be working on his speed and hard hitting.  He’s not predicting a knockout he’s predicting a very good fight.  After this fight he does want a rematch with Miguel Cotto.

My time with Pacquiao was short, sweet, and straight to the point.  There were fans and reporters everywhere, pulling at him, vying for his attention, and screaming his name.  We talked about the Floyd Mayweather fight not happening.  He was and still is very disappointed. But just as much he was insulted about the drug issue. Pacquiao said “I have always been honest and anti-drug.” I prefer to believe him, how else would he be the number on pound for pound fighter in the world today?!  He said his focus now is Clottey.  “Clottey is a good fighter and I have to get prepared. I have to set aside my normal actives and focus on exercising and hard training”

My time with the fighters was up and I am now counting the days until “The Event”, 3/13/2010 along with all the millions of fans worldwide. I am a fan of both and predict this will definitely be an event (no pun intended) worth waiting for and worth watching. Good luck to both fighters and North Texas Boxing will be here waiting to welcome you once again to the Lone Star State of Texas.

After about 35-40 minutes, I had not moved an inch, turned the car ignition off, found a nice tree to stand behind and relieve myself and conversed with several people in "Pacquiao" paraphernalia, before getting back into my vehicle. Suddenly, out of the SUV just to my right came Joshua Clottey, who was walking towards the median. In a rush, I grabbed my economical yet efficient camera and followed. As I approached Clottey, an Asian man caught my attention, walking the same direction. It was the best fighter in the world pound for pound, Manny Pacquiao, who as it turns out was in the SUV directly in front of me the entire time.  [read more]

Yanez (3-0), a participant at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Gold Medalist at the 2007 Pan-American Games, is the reigning Texas super flyweight champion.

Also scheduled to appear are "Handsome" Hector Beltran (12-1-1, 10 KO's), the "Oak Cliff Ghost" Brent Urban (3-2, 2 KO's), former amatuer sensation, Johnny Vasquez (2-0, 2 KO's) and Flower Mound's own, Ryane Scott.

Texas Super Flyweight Champion Luis Yanez.

 In 3 bouts, Yanez debuted as the headliner at American Airlines Center, was the marquee fighter at Frisco's Dr. Pepper Arena (during its' first week of existence, no less) and picked up his first pro belt, at least one full weight class above where he probably should be fighting.  Nonetheless, the ambitious and energetic Yanez wanted more, looking to fight at least twice that amount of times as a rookie.  Now that promotional and agent related road-blocks are cleared, the 2007 Pan Am Games gold medalist already has his sights set on more bouts and bigger and better titles.  "I wanted to fight alot more in 2009 but come 2010, I'm asking 'Who wants some?'", Yanez said.  "From 108 to 115, I'm willing to fight anybody, especially champions.  And if you got a belt at 118, watch out, cause you can get some too!"  [read more]

2009 NTB End of Year Pound for Pound Top 10

Roberto Marroquin Fighter of the Year.

Recently, Oak Cliff boxing sensation, Charles "The Future" Hatley fought out of the comforts of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex for the first time as a professional.  He visited the well-known Shooter's circuit in Texarkana, Arkansas as the headliner against local favorite, John DeJean. 

Once again, Hatley (ranked number one pound for pound by North Texas Boxing) elected to wear tuxedo styled ring attire and dipped, bobbed and gyrated his way to the ring.  The pro-DeJean crowd seemed more confused than enthused, perhaps having never seen a guy so upbeat, mere moments from a fight.  DeJean brought a record of 3-1, 2 KO's to the ring and the look of supreme confidence.  For what it's worth, Hatley didn't know anything about his foe (coming into the fight), nor did he care.  For him, it was just another day at the office.  [read more]

Ray Ximenez Jr. and his championship belts.

But as good as things have been and as good as things currently are in boxing circles around the Metroplex, there's a 16 year old who could possibly take it to an even higher level.   His name is Ray Ximenez [pronounced Jimenez] Jr.  [read more]

In a surprising development, North Texas Boxing has learned that the "Latin Legend" Luis Yanez and Brown Boy Media have decided to terminate their business relationship.  Yanez, a 2008 United States Olympian employed Brown Boy Media to act as an agent, acquire endorsements and public appearances, and the two entities had worked together since just prior to Luis' professional debut. 

Sources close to Team Yanez site irreconcilable differences, a breakdown in communication in regards to Yanez appearing on Paulie Ayala's inaugural show this past October, and the disappearance of the "Latin Legend's" Texas super flyweight title belt, which he won in the main event of a Black Gloves Promotions card on August 15th, among other slights that eventually led to this divorce.

When pressed for comments, all Yanez would say is that he's "looking forward to a fresh start in 2010."