The thirtieth annual Battle of Texas was held in Galveston, Texas March 1st . The new San Luis Galveston Convention Center was the venue for this years event. Jessie Benavidez was the producer of the tournament and his daughter Cindy Benavidez was the co producer. Cindy was one of the best Texas women’s fighters in the past. Before she retired she had fought and defeated many of the top champions in the country. I was amazed at the extent of her career . World kickboxing champion Ishmael Robles was her trainer and coach. During her competition days she was able to defeat some of the best female fighters in the world.
Over four hundred fifty competitors and many more spectators made this tournament a major event. Many martial arts celebrities and Texas promoters were there to help make the event run smoothly. Ishmael Robles, Linda Denly, Wayne Nugyen and Al Garza were some of the celebrities who’s students were elevating the level of competition.
Competition started on time as Jessie Benavidez is a stickler for punctuality. This helped drive the pace and eventually ended by three thirty in the afternoon. The Texas AOK circuit promoters were instrumental in helping things finalize on time. All first place champions received a samurai sword with black belts getting a three sword set complete with stand.
Black belt champions included Andrew Carrasco who managed to win four divisions that included men’s black belt forms, black belt weapons, black belt specialty and men’s black belt heavy weight point sparring. Chuck Timmons, at sixty two years old was the oldest champion winning senior executive point sparing. Anthony Allen of Dallas showed that these days age doesn’t mean what it use to as his speed and coordination helped him stand out as the pinnacle of senior fighters.
The black belt point sparring grand championship came down to Andrew Carrasco and Anthony Allen. This was a classic confrontation of two different styles. Andrew is a blitz artist while Anthony is a masterful counter fight specialist. As the fight started it was clear Andrew was going to dominate the fight. Anthony was not going down easy as he attempted to isolate Andrews unorthodox attacks by utilizing savvy ring tactics and launching his own blitzes. But Andrew was not to be denied as he used his leg speed to quickly overcome Anthony’s defense and win the point sparring grand championship.
