By Ryan Burton
At the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas - Heavy prospect Andy Ruiz (19-0) made short work out of Carl Davis (16-6) in their heavyweight bout. Ruiz dropped Davis in the opening seconds of the fight with a fast combination. Davis rose to his feet on wobbly legs and Ruiz landed another flurry that sent Davis tumbling to the ground. The fight was immediately waived off as Davis' head hit the canvas hard. The time of the stoppage was :35 in the first round. Ruiz is scheduled to return on July 27th in Macau, China versus fellow undefeated prospect Joe Hanks.
Blue chip prospect Jessie Magdaleno (15-0) took another step forward when he defeated Henry Maldonado (16-2) via 4th TKO. The official time of the stoppage was 2:53. Magdaleno landed a few big shots in the first round but also ate a couple big shots as the fighters felt each other out. Magdaleno figured his opponent out early in the 2nd as he sent him to the canvas with a big right hand. Magdaleno went for the kill and dropped the Nicaraguan again with a furious combination just before the bell sounded to end the round. Maldonado showed a lot of heart by rising to his feet.
Magdaleno came out aggressively to the delight of his hometown fans in the 3rd round as he tried to finish off his opponent. However Maldonado had regained his legs and landed some big shots of his own but not enough to win the round.
The fourth round started out at a slower pace but Magdaleno clipped the Nicaraguan with a straight left hand that knocked him down. Maldonado rose to his feet but his corner had seen enough and threw in the towel to stop the fight.
Former IBF super flyweight champion Juan Carlos Sanchez (16-1-1) defeated Roberto Domingo Sosa (24-1) via unanimous decision. The final scores were 117-110 twice and 116-111.
The action started out slow in the first round as both fighters felt each other out. Sanchez came on in the second round landing the cleaner shots. Sosa was the more aggressive boxer but Sanchez was far more effective. Sanchez badly hurt Sosa in the 4th round and had the Argentine bleeding from his nose and spitting up blood. Sosa showed tremendous heart as he landed some big shots of his own before the bell sounded.
The Mexican stunned Sosa early on in the 5th round with a big left hand. Sosa came back to land several shots of his own in what was his best round of the fight to that point. Sanchez stepped back on the gas in the 6th round and appeared to do enough to win the round. Sosa caught his wind in the 7th round and stayed strong through the 9th round as Sanchez slowed his punch output considerably and was countering nearly as effectively as he had earlier in the fight.
The Los Mochis, Mexico native put his foot back on the gas in the 10th and slowed the tide of the hard charging Sosa by landing several big counter punches. The Argentine landed a few big shots towards the end of the round but it looked like a clear Sanchez round.
Sosa came on strong in the 11th round as he battered Sanchez throughout the round. Sanchez was badly hurt as the bell sounded to end the round. After touching gloves to start the 12th, Sosa charged towards his opponent smelling blood. He landed a few hard body shots but Sanchez landed a short left hand to drop Sosa to seal the victory to slow the Argentine down and seal the victory in the process.
Sanchez controversially lost his title on the scales. He weighed in at 115.2 pounds on his second attempt to make the 115 pound limit but was told that he was fine and had made weight. On Saturday morning however the IBF informed Sanchez's team that he was overweight and that he would be stripped of his title. The title will remain vacant.
Local product Jesus Gutierrez (8-0) defeated Daniel Calzada (7-8-2) via unanimous decision in their super lightweight fight. The final tallies were 40-36 three times. Gutierrez and Calzada traded several big shots in front of a boisterous pro Gutierrez crowd. Neither fighter has much in terms of power but the Las Vegan landed the cleaner shots throughout the fight.
Egidijus Kavaliauskas (2-0) stopped Luis Borrego (3-2) in the third round of their welterweight fight. Just past the midway point of the third round Kavaliauskas dropped Borrego after a furious exchange by the two fighters and referee Russell Mora deemed that Borrego was unable to continue and waved the fight off. The time of the stoppage was 1:41. Kavaliauskas fights out of the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard, CA.
Featherweight prospect Gabino Saenz (10-0-1) looked sharp in defeating Giorgi Mitchedishvili (8-6-1) via unanimous decision. Saenz sent his opponent to the canvas in the first round but it was ruled a slip by referee Robert Byrd. Saenz was clearly the better fighter and should be moving up to 8 round fights in the near future. The judges scores were 58-56, 59-55, 60-54.
Welterweight prospect Michael Finney improved to 12-0 when he defeated Raul Tovar (10-7-1) via technical knockout. Finney sent the over matched Tovar to the canvas in the 2nd round and two more times in the 6th round. Referee Russell Mora stopped the fight after the second knockout at the 2:52 mark when Tovar stopped throwing punches.
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