Ximenez Defeats Lagos

By: Ron Valderrama: Ray Ximenez (17-1, 4 KOs), defeated Eugene Lagos (12-5-2, 7 KOs) last night at the Bomb Factory in Dallas in a featherweight bout that was scheduled for 8 rounds. The featured main event bout was presented by Roy Jones Jr. Boxing Promotions, in association with Montoya Boxing and was televised on beIN Sports.

The real action started in round 2, both fighters exchanging non-stop punches. Going into round 5, neither fighter was showing any sign of giving up, keeping a steady pace and throwing punches. The action continued in round 7 and was briefly stopped as Lagos was on the receiving end of a low blow. Ximenez picked up the pace and Lagos followed and would counter back, each of them landing hard punches on each other. The fight would go the full 8-rounds, a tremendous display of skill and just pure grit. Ximenez, the hometown favorite, was originally scheduled to fight John Vincent Moralde of the Philippines but was scrapped due to an injury. Lagos, already in training camp in Los Angeles was offered the bout on short notice a quickly accepted the challenge. Lagos came up short as the judges score the fight 78-74 X 2 and 79-73 in favor of Ray Ximenez. Credit must be given to Lagos, he made this an exciting fight to watch and gained some fans in the process, not bad for his first fight in the United States. For RayXimenez, this is a good win. His only loss was to Christopher Diaz in 2016 and made no excuses and went straight back to the gym to improve his craft. Since then, Ximenez has won his last 3 bouts coming into tonight’s match-up with Lagos. Quickly becoming a Dallas favorite, Ximenez lets his hands do the talking. Is he the best fighter out there? The answer is probably not, but the kid is constantly improving and will be one of the best if he keeps up this pace.

In an exciting featherweight bout, Edward Vazquez (5-0) faced Brandon Arvie (2-1, 2 Kos) in a scheduled 6-round scrap. Vazquez found his range early in round 1, setting the tone for the fight. Vazquez used his powerful punch to stun Arvie at the end of round 1. Arvie held his own though, landing some shots of his own and countering very well. Arvie, the taller fighter, began landing some good punches in round 4, dropping an off-balance Vazquez with a left that looked more like a slip to us here in media row. The final round Vazquez came out swinging and wasting no time, working his way inside and working in some uppercuts. Despite a being knocked down in round 4, the judges score the bout in favor of Vazquez 58-57 and 58-55 X 2.

Jarvis Sheppard (5-0, 5 Kos), defeated Chris Turton (1-7) by TKO in round 1. Sheppard blistered Turton with crushing blows, dropping Turton twice.

Dominique Griffin (2-0, 1 KO), battled David Alfaro (1-1) in a 4-round bantamweight bout. The action was toe-to-toe, both fighters exchanging crushing blows. Going into the final round, each of the fighters wasted no time. A halt in the action for a few moments as the doctor checked a cut over the left eye of Alfaro, the action continued as the fight would go the distance. In the end, the judges score the bout 40-36 in favor of Griffin.