Ringside report, photos and video By Robert Hughes

Drama in the ring and a raucous crowd made Saturday’s ‘Military Mayhem’ near Fort Hood a good show and smash hit for Texas fight fans as Reshard Hicks of Quincy, Florida won a controversial TKO against Leonardo Carrizales in a welterweight battle that hopefully will make for a great rematch of some unsettled business. These two were just getting started when one fighter’s safety became the focus.

For most of eight minutes Hicks and Carrizales jabbed and banged at each other while flying around the ring in a high-energy main event. Fans were into for a fight and they were loving it. But when Hicks opened up with a flurry of blows to Carrizales’ face in the third round referee Greg Alvarez felt he’d seen enough to jump in and call it a night. That didn’t seem to matter so much to the fighter.

Carrizales was incredulous, still on feet and in disbelief that his last-minute shot at the Texas Welterweight title was gone. He stewed, he paced and he left the ring on his way to the dressing room less than 90 seconds after the technical knockout. It looked as if he could’ve kept fighting and aside from his feelings he really didn’t look hurt.

But Alvarez didn’t see it that way and the young boxer from Brownsville was tagged with the second loss of his budding career, the preservation of which Alvarez must’ve had in mind when he waved off Hicks as he pummeled Carrizales in a neutral corner late in that third round.

Hicks, the crowd favorite, pushed his record to 8-0 and celebrated by grabbing the microphone letting us know how good he’s going to be.

Carrizales was a late replacement and undoubtedly did not want to stop boxing.

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The co-main was another exciting battle – this one between Gulley, a U.S. Army staff sergeant and fan favorite and Dallas’ Brandon Fowler, who trains with Roger Rodas at R&R Boxing Gym, the home of Errol Spence, Jr. and who brought his own vocal group of supporters to Central Texas.

Gulley took control early, holding the middle of the ring through round 1. But in a flash late in the second round Fowler got mad and briefly took control of the fight, running Gulley into three different corners before dropping him in front of his trainer at 2:40.

Referee Jon Schorle counted him to eight and Gulley took every second to compose himself before surviving the round.

That knockdown is what ultimately saved Fowler from certain defeat and earned him a majority-draw decision against a hyper opponent as Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Combative Sports Judge Kevin Reap scored it 38-36 while his colleagues Perry Hillin and Gregorio Alvarez scored it even at 37-37. Two of the judges struggled to produce scores in that second round, probably wondering if they should’ve scored it 9-8.

Round 3 was a slugfest with Gulley tearing up Fowler until he knocked him down halfway through the third round. By the end of that round Fowler was scoring again, and although Gulley was clearly winning he danced on the edge of being knocked out through much of the fight.

Round 4 was close but in the end the majority draw was a good call. Fowler saved himself from certain defeat with the second-round knockdown.

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There was more fast action as featherweights Richard Munoz and Manny Mondragon attacked each other. But Munoz, a flat-footed free swinger, kept hitting Mondragon with a sweeping left hand in an entertaining battle. Munoz can punch hard, especially with that left. His ability to score with was a difference-maker, leaving little room for Mondragon to pick up any points.

But through three rounds it looked like a closer match as these two featherweights could’ve been mistaken for fighters much bigger. The judges had Munoz in control awarding him a unanimous decision. Reap, Alvarez and Hillin scored it 39-37, 40-36, 40-36, respectively.

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The bout prior was a couple of big heavyweights dancing around a little like featherweights.

Shamarian Snider and Armando Herrera kept swinging at each other, both fighters fighting with aggressive styles and moving well for their sizes.

In the second round Herrera got smacked hard twice but to laughed it off even though those blows obviously hurt him.

In the third round fans were treated to silent drama. Snider stood patiently, quietly in the middle of the ring with his hands low, without swinging for about 8 seconds just waiting for his opportunity to drop Herrera.

He did just that with a vicious right-hand and follow-up left. Herrera fell forward like tree, a big tree. Perez patiently stood with him waiting for Hererra to clear his head but that wasn’t happening and he finally waved it off.

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The second fight of the night featured more good boxing between light-heavyweights Josh Hayden and Moses Marmolejo. Hayden, who also trains with Rodas, pushed Marmolejo around the ring for much of the fight. By the end of the third round Marmolejo had had too much, his trainer threw in the towel asking Schorle to stop it late in the round, after the 10-second mark.

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To start off the evening’s action a pair of light-heavyweights made wild professional debuts. Giovanni Loya and Brenton Taylor came out swinging wildly at each other with Loya knocking down Taylor twice, one knockdown sent him through the ropes and out of the ring shortly before Schorle had no choice but to stop the bout late in the first round, giving Loya a win to start off his career in the ring.