By Michael Campbell

Houston’s Cornelius “DaBeast” White continues to tear apart every opponent set before him thus far in his career, thrilling his family and friends in his hometown, scoring a 1st round stoppage of Chuck Dillard at Club Escapade on the city’s northside.

White improves to 15-0 with 14 wins by knockout with most of those coming in the early rounds evidenced by his having logged only 31 total rounds as a pro thus far.  The win avenges a defeat suffered by his stable mate Dynamite Willie Edwards.  Memphis, Tennessee’s Dillard (4-6-1) beat Edwards (8-2) in July in his last trip to Houston, and White quickly established from the opening bell that another upset would not occur.

A powerful puncher, White was able to set up and land accurate shots anywhere he chose on Dillard’s head and torso.  After only 2 minutes the visitor’s eye was showing signs of swelling shut and while leaning against the ropes, hiding behind his gloves for protection, but having no defense, referee Gary Simons stepped in to halt the slaughter after just under one round of action.

White has honed his skill set at downtown Houston’s Main Gym under trainer Bobby Benton sparring with the best who travel through the Bayou City such as Chris Henry, Marcus Johnson & Daniel Jacobs.  A tremendous athlete as a youth, White began boxing in the 3rd Ward’s PABA gym and then while at Missouri City’s boxing gym he tore through a tremendous bracket at the local Golden Gloves that included amateur victories over current area pros Terrance Woods (8-1) and Alfonso Lopez (20-0).

The card was promoted by Antonio Leonard’s TnT Promotions in association with James Prince Entertainment and matchmaking was handled by Blas Perez.  Leonard features boxers from all area gyms and is not exclusive to only his own stable of fighters.  Club Escapade is Houston’s top Latino nightclub regularly hosting crowds of over 6000 on weekends.

In other action on the card, Main Gym’s young standout, Gerardo “Tin Tin” Ibarra continued to show that he’s one of Houston’s brightest young prospects improving to 10-0 with a four round extremely one-sided shutout of Dallas’s Josh Burns (3-9-5).

Another top gym in the area, Screaming Eagles led by trainer Napoleon Gonzalez, featured three young boxers on the show, led by another phenomenal performance from Antonio Capulin (2-0).  “Kid Crisis” Capulin returned to the arena where he debuted in July with a quick annihilation where the knockout punch caused his opponent to do an unconscious 360 before falling prone over the ring ropes.  This performance was more of a methodical taking apart of opponent Gerardo Alarcon, whose toughness allowed him to reach the 3rd round before Capulin’s accumulated punches caused him to stumble about the ring leading to the TKO stoppage.

Former Screaming Eagles protégé Cesar Martinez also notched his 2nd career win with a 3rd round TKO of Victor Flores, and Napoleon’s Gil Garcia (4-1), aka “La Matralleta” (Machine Gun), logged another impressive workmanlike victory.  Garcia defeated a very game Fidencio Reyes in an exciting contest.

The most competitive bout of the evening featured two Texas featherweights who were both amateur standouts.  Corpus Christi’s John David Charles and Mission’s Raul Tovar engaged in a back and forth six round fight which was best scored an even three rounds apiece.  The difference came via a solid knockdown scored by Tovar which tipped the Unanimous Decision towards his favor.

Ladies kicked off the evening’s action with Eastside gym’s Kendy Escamilla facing off with West Texas’s Celestina Cano.  After an initial onslaught from the boxer, Cano settled in and proved her toughness by gamely trading with her more comfortable ring foe.  The two traded shots nearly evenly, but the difference was the boxer’s far superior punching technique which enabled Escamilla’s shots to have greater effect.