Regis Prograis blocked Jose Zepeda 59 seconds in the 11th round to claim the vacant 140-pound WBC belt Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Prograis (28-1.24 KOs) prevailed in the fight between southers, outperforming and outperforming Zepeda (35-3.27 KOs).
The two-time junior welterweight champion picked Zepeda from a distance and Zepeda, his third attempt to win a major, never adjusted.
Finally, about a minute into Round 11, Prograis injured Zepeda with a backhand and then a series of hard hits that knocked Zepeda down.
And that was enough for referee Ray Corona, who stopped the game without scoring.
You can read a full report on the war here.
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Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle (27-2, 9 KOs) became a three-division champion by beating Argentina’s unified junior flyweight champion Evelin Bermudez (17-1-1, 6 KOs) in a 10-round match.
Two judges gave Valle the win, 99-91 and 97-93. The third person scored 95-95.
The match was full of spirit, even though the score was tilted to one side, as both boxers unleashed almost non-stop punches. However, the umpires clearly believe that Valle is somewhat busier and makes cleaner shots.
Valle entered the match as the unified straw champion. She is also an atomic weight owner
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Heavyweight prospect Bakhodir Jalolov, 2020 Olympic champion from Uzbekistan, knocked out Curtis Harper (14-9, 9 KOs) of Jacksonville, Florida, in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round bout.
The official stop time is 1:53.
Jalolov, a skillful 6-foot-7 male forehand, has now stopped all 12 of his professional opponents.
He knocked Harper out with a straight left chin in the final seconds of Round 3. He then knocked his opponent out in Round 4, delivering a series of off-kilter hits.
Harper eventually collapsed under a series of punches. He got up but referee Thomas Taylor decided he couldn’t continue and stopped the match.
Jalolov is currently fighting in Brooklyn, New York.
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Cleveland’s young middleweight opponent Charles Conwell (18-0, 13 KOs) survived a first-round cut above his left eye to beat Communist veteran Juan Carlos Abreu (25-7-1, 23 KOs). draw with Dominica by majority decision in a 10-round match.
The official scores are 98-92 and 96-94 and 95-95. Boxing Junkie scored a 97-93 for Conwell, seven innings into threes.
Conwell, the 2016 US Olympic athlete, repeatedly rocked the rugged Abreu but failed to knock him down in a brutal bout that was mostly fought from within.
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Fernando Vargas Jr., son of the former world champion of the same name, knocked out Los Angeles’ Alejandro Martinez (3-3-1, 2 KOs) twice and stopped him in the second round of the event. 6 scheduled innings. The first ever televised match/television on the card.
Vargas, a promising middleweight athlete from Oxnard, California, stopped all seven of his opponents as a pro.
Elder Vargas, now 44, has three sons – Fernando, Amado and Emiliano – who all play professionally and are coached by him. They have a combined record of 14-0 (11 KOs).
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Former champion Regis Prograis and longtime rival Jose Zepeda will fight for the vacant 140-pound belt on pay-per-view tonight (Saturday) in Carson, California.
The main part of the show begins at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in the show.
Boxing Junkie will post the results of the main event and other featured matches shortly after. Just come back to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full news – a battle story, photo gallery and analysis – will be posted in separate posts on the night of the battle and the following day.
Enjoy the battle!
