Omar Davila (USA) didn't know that his opponent took the fight on two days' notice, that he hadn't trained in six months and had lost his last eight fights.
But Davila found out early Friday night that Awel Abdulai of Ghana could punch.
He hit Davila with a strong, stinging straight right in the opening round before Davila even had a chance to work up a sweat.
But Davila stayed patient and outworked Abdulai (9-19-1) to win a unanimous decision over six rounds in their junior welterweight bout Friday night before a crowd of about 400 at Rosedale Park.
"He hit me with some pretty good punches," Davila said. "I knew he was getting tired, so I stayed on the outside and boxed."
Davila (13-3) was coming off a second-round TKO loss in February but said he felt no ill effects from that fight.
"I was cautious," he said. "But I felt like I always do. Just another day at the park."
In the co-feature, super middleweight Ron Simms of Lackland AFB had little trouble with Mackie Willis of Atlanta.
Willis (6-28-2) couldn't fight but he could hold. And against Simms he was holding every chance he got.
Finally, Simms (9-0, 6 KOs) dropped Willis to a knee early in the third and on the seat of his pants later in the round before Willis decided he had had enough. He failed to come out for the final round.
"I wanted to land my right but he kept ducking low." said Simms, who wound up with another knockout but also cuts above both eyes. "I tried to be patient, but I didn't want to be too boring. I can't play to the crowd but I don't want it to be a sleeper, either."
The undercard featured a battle of San Antonians in Gilbert Salinas and Alex Reyes. Salinas was scheduled to meet Robert Cobos (19-7) of El Paso, but prefight medicals revealed Cobos had hepatitis.
So in stepped Reyes an hour before the fight card started. Reyes (5-1) came to Rosedale not thinking he was going to fight and started eating and drinking sodas.
He did well in the opening round against Salinas (8-8-4), but slowly Salinas started taking charge. Switching off and on to a southpaw stance, Salinas opened cuts under both of Reyes' eyes and overcame a point deduction for holding.
"He was slow," said Salinas of San Fernando Gym who gave away five pounds to Reyes in the fight. "I was able to hit him with my jab, really, all my punches."
Also, super middleweight Brian Soto (2-0, 1 KO) of San Antonio beat Roy McCoy (0-1) of Fort Worth in a four-round, unanimous decision.
