By Francisco Salazar
Former world junior welterweight titleholder Julius Indongo stopped Caritavius Jones in round two Saturday night at the Bobby Miller Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
With the win, Indongo improves to 23-2, 12 knockouts.
The 36-year-old Indongo, who is from Windhoek, Namibia, was fighting for the first time his knockout loss to unbeaten Regis Prograis on Mar. 9 of last year. Prior to the loss to Prograis in August of 2017, Indongo was knocked out in round three by Terence Crawford, who would become the undisputed junior welterweight champion with the win.
Indongo weighed 141.2 pounds for his clash against Jones.
From the opening bell, Indongo was methodical, looking to counter Jones, who connected on a few punches that had Indongo holding on. Jones pressed the action in round two, but a counter right hook from the southpaw Indongo staggered Jones, who went down moments later from a barrage of punches.
Jones beat the count, but referee Jeff Dodson waved the fight off at 1:12.
The 32-year-old Jones, who resides in Fayetteville, Georgia, drops to 4-2.
Heavyweight prospect Robert Alfonso (19-0-1, 9 KOs) remained unbeaten by stopping Steven Lyons after the third round.
Alfonso, who is originally from Cuba and now resides in Orlando, Florida, walked down the defensive-minded Lyons from the opening bell, finally connecting with several punches in round three. After the round ended, Lyons decided to remain on his stool.
Lyons, from Larose, Louisiana, drops to 5-5, 2 KOs.
Super middleweight KeAndrae Leatherwood, who grew up in Tuscaloosa, dropped Saint Louis’ Ryan Adams (6-2-1, 6 KOs) twice en route to a unanimous decision victory over six rounds.
Scores were 60-52, 60-52, and 60-51 in favor of Leatherwood, who improves to 22-6-1, 13 KOs.
In what turned out to be the fight of the night, cruiserweights Arturo Aguilar and Chris Polk fought to a majority-decision draw.
Aguilar (2-0-1, 2 KOs), who is originally from Guerrero, Mexico and now resides in Birmingham, Alabama, fought toe-to-toe against Polk, throwing hooks and crosses for most of the fight.
One judge scored the bout 39-37 for Polk (4-1-1, 4 KOs), who resides in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, while the other two judges scored the bout 38-38.
In an upset on paper, middleweight Rick Graham (7-23-4, 2 KOs) of Houston defeated Tuscaloosa’s Thomas Knox by split-decision over six rounds. Knox suffers his first loss as a pro and falls to 5-1-1, 3 KOs.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
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