In front of his hometown of Dallas, Texas and representing his neighborhood of Pleasant, Grove, Texas, as announced before the bell sounded, Ray Ximenez, Jr. (18-1, 4 KO's) put on a another boxing clinic against the Mexican veteran German Meraz (61-49, 38 KO's).
The fight was held outdoors at the Main Street Garden in the heart of downtown Dallas, Texas. Despite the hot Texas weather, the only real heat was inside the circled square between the ropes of the boxing ring.
For those that have never seen Ximenez in the ring, they were treated to a boxing experience that only Ximenez can put on inside the ring.
His ambidextrous fighting style cannot be matched in the metroplex and that is how he started and finished the fight as he marched forward bobbing and weaving his way toward the crafty Meraz.
From the get go, Ximenez snapped his right hand jab to keep his opponent at bay and mixed it up with flurries of combinations that kept Meraz on the defense throughout the entire fight.
In the early rounds it was evident that Meraz had nothing more than his right hand ready and waiting for Ximenez to make a mistake, but Ximenez was too smart to let that happen as he moved around the ring.
In the middle of the second round, Ximenez started to mix up his game and began to land right and left hooks to the body of Meraz. Ximenez's Father and trainer, Ray Ximenez, Sr., could be heard telling him “One more, right there!” And his instructions were followed to perfection.
After Ximenez began pinning his opponent in the corner of the ring, Meraz gestured for him to fight toe to toe, hopefully thinking that Ximenez would fall for the trap.
In the beginning of the third round, Ximenez caught Meraz with a big right hook to the head, which was heard ringside and to the delight of his hometown fans. Also in the this round, Ximenez' corner was telling him to "Throw the jab and then the left hook," which he did to the backward pedaling Marez.
At the end of the third, Ximenez began bobbing and weaving forward with his hands down in an attempt to get Marez to mix it up with him. Meraz had no answer for this display of speed and continued to back up and stay in a defensive mode.
After the opening bell of the fourth, Ximenez let his hands go with a flurry of combinations, and to his surprise, Meraz came back with his own flurry of combinations. Ximenez blocked all of the punches and then smiled as he walked Meraz down toward the other side of the ring. Ximenez then finished the round by going back to the body as the bell sounded.
In the beginning of the fifth round, Meraz finally landed a glancing right hand to the head of Ximenez, who then switched back and forth from southpaw to orthodox which appeared to completely confuse Meraz. Ximenez then began to walk Meraz down by moving forward with both gloves in front of his face, daring Meraz to fight.
In the beginning of the sixth, the fast footed Ximenez, was on his toes as he moved forward as he let combinations go against the Mexican veteran. Ximenez continued to go back to the body in this round and began bobbing and weaving his way forward and eventually landed a clean uppercut to the chin of Meraz and followed it with a right hook to the body. After this, his neighborhood fans began to chant "Pleasant Grove, Pleasant Grove."
The final two rounds were more of the same with Ximenez landing his snapping jab and piling up the points against the slower Meraz. "IN THE RING" was ringside for this fight and a full exclusive VIDEO of the action was made for the Texas fight fans.