Everything went as expected until the ninth and final fight of Saturday’s Extreme Fight Night show at the Golazo Soccer facility in Pharr.
In the main event’s surprise result, Harlingen’s Raphael Murphy was knocked out in the fifth round by Mexico City’s Hugo Trujillo. Murphy came into the fight with an 11-0 record and nine knockouts. Trujillo is now 3-0-1 with two KOs.
The show presented by Texas Rage and South Texas Fighting Academy combined pro boxing and mixed martial arts fighting for the what is believed to be the first time in the Valley.
Trujillo is a true heavyweight and weighed in at 244 pounds. Murphy is a cruiserweight who has fought before as a heavyweight and came into the bout at 212 pounds.
Trujillo unleashed some punishing blows, particularly during the opening two rounds, that eventually overwhelmed the Harlingen fighter. Murphy was knocked down and through the ropes in the second round, and later, a combination of punches by Trujillo dropped him to the canvas for good at the 2:54 mark of the fifth round.
After the bout, the Mexico City fighter was suddenly surrounded by many new-found fans who wanted to take a selfie with him.
“That’s boxing, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose,” said Trujillo, who had an American flag patch on one side of his boxing trucks and a patch of the Mexican flag on the other side. “I always believed I would win this fight. It wasn’t easy. I’m glad I put on a good show for the fans here tonight.
“Viva Mexico!” he shouted as the fans around him cheered loudly.
Murphy remained flat on his back after the fight was halted. Even with assistance, he was slow to stand and was wobbly getting back to his corner to sit down on a stool.
Still, a few minutes later, Murphy was gracious in defeat and told the crowd, “He deserves credit. He came to fight.”
All the other favored fighters from Saturday’s six boxing matches and three MMA fights came away victorious.
Winning their boxing matches were Josette “No Joke” Rodriguez of Mercedes, Pablo “El Finito” Ramirez of Weslaco, Roel Moreno Jr. of McAllen, Genaro “Gino” de la Paz of McAllen and Guadalupe Urbina of Pharr.
“There were a lot of things I worked on for this fight, and I saw a lot of improvement,” said Rodriguez (4-1, two KOs), who won a four-round unanimous decision against Allison Martinez (1-2) of Houston. “I really improved from my last fight (which was a loss last July), and that’s what boxing is all about.”
Ramirez (3-0, one KO) also was feeling quite satisfied as he defeated a much taller opponent from Matamoros on a third-round technical knockout.
“My opponent came out slow in the first round, I saw that and I knew what I had to do to finish him off,” Ramirez said. “To win with my Valley fans here, it’s great, it’s amazing and it’s a blessing.”
Victories in the MMA fights went to Harlingen’s Ray Banda (third-round submission), Brownsville’s Miguel Vega (three-round unanimous decision) and San Juan’s Sonny Aguirre (first-round submission).
The next Extreme Fight Night show is scheduled April 22 at Golazo Soccer.
ON THE RISE
Weslaco super bantamweight Brandon Lee Figueroa (11-0, nine KOs) is continuing the new year just like he did in 2016, when he won six fights.
Figueroa fought Tuesday in Houston against Raul Chirino (10-5, five KOs) of Miami, Florida, and won on a fourth-round TKO. Figueroa dropped the Miami fighter twice in the third round and again in the fourth. Chirino didn’t get up the last time he went down.
The bout was televised live by Fox Sports. Figueroa is expected to fight again in April.
