SPENCE VS GARCIA RECAP: UNDERCARD/OFF-TV RESULTS FROM DALLAS
April 24, 2024
Simon Ruvalcaba
In the night’s final bout of the evening which happened after the Main-Event and with most of the crowd gone, as is the case for most swing/walk-out bouts, Sinaloa, Mexico’s Jose Valenzuela scored a 4th round TKO over Puerto Rico’s Christian Velez. Those that stayed may have seen a future world champion, as Valenzuela mixed speed and power combos to dominate Velez and improve to 3-0 (1), Velez falls to 1-2. Ironically, I ran into a bruised and sore Velez at the airport at DFW as he was waiting to board his flight back to Puerto Rico Sunday afternoon. He acknowledged to his trainer that this is a tough sport but that after sometime off he would be back in the gym as he stated “this is (the life) I got into.”
Tuscaloosa, Alabama Cruiserweight and Brother of Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, Marsellos Wilder bounced back from his 1st professional loss with a TKO 1:29 into the opening round over Mark Sanchez to improve to 4-1 (3). Sanchez (no relation to the NFL QB) falls to 0-3.
Talented Dallas Featherweight Fernando Garcia scored a 5th round KO when he landed a vicious body shot against Columbia’s Marlon Olea. Garcia now 12-0 (7), Olea falls to 14-5 (12).
In an all Texas Super Lightweight showdown Dallas’s Amon Rashidi impressed with his performance against El Paso’s Gabriel Gutierrez and then finished the job 44 seconds into the 6th and final round. Rashidi improves to 6-0 (4) while the game Gutierrez falls to 5-8 (3).
Popular Texas Flyweight Jesse Rodriguez of San Antonio improved to 9-0 (5) with a 3rd round TKO of Lankaran, AZE’s Rauf Aghayev who fell to 26-7 (11).
In an interesting Super Welterweight contest that shows the subjective nature of boxing, Milwaukee, WI’s Thomas Hill won via a 6 round split decision over Rock Island, IL’s Limberth Ponce. Hill seemed the more technically sound but Ponce had moments in spurts. One judge scored a shutout for Hill 60-54, while another scored a near shutout 59-55 for Ponce. Third judge Cory Santos agreed with Punchline and was the deciding split decision vote scoring 58-56 for Hill. Hill improves to 8-2 (1). Ponce is now 17-4 (10).
Oklahoma City, OK Bantamweight Aaron Morales improved to 6-0 (3) with unanimous 6 round decision victory over McAllen, TX’s Fernando Robles who is now 2-1.
Mesquite, TX Cruiserweight Adrian Taylor improved to 9-1 (4) with a unanimous four round decision Over Kearney, NE’s William Quintana who falls to 7-13 (3)
Moreno Valley, CA’s Luis Coria improved to 11-2 (6) with 2nd round TKO over Omar Garcia of Monterrey, Mexico who is now 6-8 (1).
Dallas, TX Super Middleweight Burley Brooks impressed as he made a successful pro debut with 1st round TKO over Springfield, MO’s Randy Mast who falls to 1-1.
In the opening bout of the loaded 17 bout card from Dallas, Bantamweight Robert Rodriguez of San Antoinio, TX improved to 3-0 with unanimous 4 round decision over debuting Fernando Ibarra de Anda.
About the Editor
Army Veteran and former Professional Boxer Simon Ruvalcaba started boxing at the age of ten and Had a 71 fight amateur career which featured a 139 lbs. 1998 8th U.S. Army Boxing Championship out of Camp Casey, Korea and a spot on the prestigious Army Boxing Team at Fort Hood, TX. After a journeyman pro career of 18 fights, which included sparring sessions with many champions and contenders including Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell “Sweat Pea” Whitaker, Simon started writing and has contributed to many publications and websites including fighthype.com, pound4pound.com, Tahoe Daily Tribune (South Lake Tahoe, CA), Nevada Appeal (Carson City, NV). He has also been the Boxing Instructor for Ken Shamrock and The Lions Den and was MMA and Bareknuckle star Paige VanZant’s first boxing coach!
Born and Raised in South Lake Tahoe, California he now resides in Sun Valley, Nevada and spends as much time as possible with his Sons Gabriel and Oscar! Beyond boxing, Simon is an all around sports fanatic and is passionate about the teams that he roots for. Simon also works as a Sportsbook Supervisor for Caesars Sportsbook in Lake Tahoe.
