06.04.07 – By Scott Frake: On Thursday night, former heavyweight contender Lou Savarese (46-6, 38 KO’s), stopped Matt Hicks (10-2, 10 KO’s) in the 1st round at the Grand Plaza Hotel, in Houston, Texas. Savarese, 41, making his 3rd fight since making his boxing comeback in 2006, overcame a rough start to the fight, during which time he was pummeled often by Arkansas native Matt Hicks, before rallying after Hicks tired and knocking him down twice with right hands before the referee stepped in and stopped the bout immediately after the 2nd knockdown. Savarese, looking slightly heavier than in his prime years, started out slowly in the 1st round, trying to size up his opponent.
However, Hicks, 31, had other ideas, as he immediately launched an assault, throwing huge shots, mostly hooks, to the head of Savarese, sending him back up against the ropes, and covering up. This went on for over a minute, with Savarese getting hit flush with hard punches, despite his attempts at covering up. Suddenly, however, Savarese seemed to wake up and decide to fight back, and after backing him up with a big right hand to the head, Savarese followed with a right hook to Hick’s midsection, the punch seeming to catch Hicks unaware, sending him down to the canvas.
At this point, it seemed that the fight would be stopped, because Hicks was having a hard time getting to his feet. However, after having his mouth piece put back in, Hicks immediately started attacking Savarese once again, almost as before the knockout occurred. Savarese, though, stayed calm under fire, and drove Hicks back to the ropes, where Savarese suddenly landed a scorching right hand to the head of Hicks, sending him down in a heap on the canvas. When the referee had reached the count five, Savarese, not knocking that the fight hadn’t been stopped, walked over to Hicks and casually helped him up to his feet. At this point, the referee stopped the fight. It was a somewhat strange way to end the fight, but Hicks was in bad shape and didn’t appear to be able to continue fighting even if he had been able to make it up on his own.