Old San Juan, Puerto Rico - Immediately before the main event, Carlos ‘Purin’ Caraballo (14-0-0, 14 KOs) of Ponce, P.R. made an emphatic statement with his fourth-round technical knockout victory over a game Leonardo ‘Leon’ Baez (18-3-0, 9 KOs) of Mexicali, Mexico.
Caraballo, 25, sent Baez to the canvas with a vicious series of three consecutive left hands in the second round. Despite the knockdown, the Mexican-native continued to pressure Caraballo in the third and fourth rounds but was met with thunderous left hands until the corner threw in the towel and referee Roberto Ramirez called a halt to the action simultaneously at 2:36 of the midway point of their scheduled eight round super bantamweight scrap.
“I want to thank God, Ring City USA and NBC Sports Network for this opportunity,” said Caraballo. “What we did was worked that uppercut, we knew he was a big, strong guy. I knew I had to work that body and sooner or later the uppercut would come. When it did, we finished the fight.”
Continuously the aggressor until he was stopped, Baez absorbed countless body shots in the fourth round as the Puerto Rican prospect unloaded brutal uppercuts to the midsection.
The southpaw continued his 100% knockout percentage as he took another step toward becoming a contender, but in the process believes that he solidified his position as Puerto Rico’s top talent.
“I am 100% sure that I am the most distinguished prospect on the island,” boasted Caraballo. “My goal was to go in there and get a couple rounds in, and I got it done.”