Rock Solid Promotions put on their second boxing card in Houston Thursday evening before a packed ballroom at the Grand Plaza Hotel near Houston's Reliant Stadium. After his highly successful debut fight card in October, featuring a war between light heavyweights Chris Henry and Rayco Saunders, promoter Cameron Park increased the turnout to approximately 1700 fight fans. The fans came out to see the return of a local favorite heavyweight and a mixture of rising prospects and contenders, along with a crowd packed with celebrities such as Booker T, king of the WWE.
Lou Savarese TKO3 Travis Fulton… “Big Lou,” almost three years removed from a torn bicep injury versus undefeated Leo Nolan which sent him into retirement, scored his second knockout on his comeback trail. Lou controlled the pace in the 1st round, being very efficient and gaining ring time versus Fulton, who is an MMA veteran with a record of 173-41-9. Savarese revealed that he’s studied George Foreman’s comeback and is emulating how Big George never wasted punches or energy, realizing his body is now in its forties. In the 2nd round, Fulton landed his first effective punch, a left uppercut to Savarese’s nose, and the crowd favorite immediately responded by dropping his challenger with his next punch. Fulton’s nose began to flow but he proved his toughness as he got to his feet after every ensuing knockdown. After the 1st knockdown, Savarese opened up his arsenal of punches, everything landing, everything hurting his opponent, many scoring knockdowns. Fulton would hit the mat five times in all before referee Barry Yeats stepped in and stopped the slaughter. Lou gets his 45th victory with 37 ko’s and only 6 losses, while Fulton goes to 15-17. Savarese is a co-partner in Rock Solid Promotions.
Chris Henry UD6 Billy Thompson… Fast rising Houston Light Heavyweight contender, Chris Henry notched his 17 win by shutting out Billy Thompson over six rounds. After his previous contest with Saunders, Henry fought a controlled pace and easily out boxed his fore, scoring at will and swelling the game Thompson’s face in multiple areas. Henry holds a regional title. Thompson goes to 8-9.
Eugene Hill TKO2 Traylor Rozell… Highly touted local heavyweight Eugene Hill scored his 3rd knockout victory in as many contests over the debuting Rozell. The compact Hill scored a knockdown about a minute into the 2nd round when Rozell took a knee after being hit by a strong combination of punches. Hill stepped in and landed a punch on his downed opponent. Referee Yeats stopped the action after the 8 count with Rozell on his feet and deducted a point from Hill. As Yeats then motioned for the fight to resume, Rozell waved off the fight and retreated to his corner to commiserate with his unforgiving trainer. Stoppage was at 1:37 of the 2nd.
Eleazar “Pelon” Renteria UD4 Raymond Trejo… One of Houston’s top prospects, Renteria used slick movement and punch combinations to befuddle Trejo and score an easy shutout victory over four rounds. Pelon moves to 7-0 and drops Trejo to 3-11.
Bobby “El Jefe” Flores TKO1 Cody Awe… In one of the quickest boxing contests in history, Houston heavyweight Bobby "El Jefe" Flores scored a five second knockout victory over Cody Awe of Iowa. Flores' previous contest was an eleven second victory over Brandon Quigley in October. After that fight, fans joked with Flores that he needed to subtract the ceremonial glove touch to start the fight in order to shave seconds off his fight, and that's exactly what happened. After missing with a looping left jab, Flores came over the top with a right hand to Awe's cheek bone which left the Iowan fighter laying motionless on the canvas for minutes. Awe was in his boxing debut, and has a 0-2 MMA record.
Marcelino Osuna W4 Michael Williams… Osuna made his successful debut exhibiting a nice set of hooks and body shots along with good footwork and movement. The veteran Williams wouldn’t go away though and made Osuna earn his near shutout victory by finishing the fight strong. Scores were 40-36, 39-37, & 40-36. Williams drops to 3-4.
Benjamin Flores EXB Steve Trumble… Flores (14-2) was scheduled to fight on the card in one of the co-features, but his opponent dropped out. Wiley veteran Trumble (12-20) was brought in and since the two fought a six round fight last month at the same venue, this fight was contested as an exhibition to open the fight card. Both combatants put on an entertaining display to warm up the crowd for the fights to come.
