LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – Later tonight, the pound-for-pound discussion will continue for superstar Naoya Inoue as he defends his unified super bantamweight title against heavy underdog Ramon Cardenas in the ESPN-televised main event from T-Mobile Arena. First bell for the seven-bout undercard began at 3:15 PM local time.
Junior welterweight prospect Emiliano Fernando Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) of Las Vegas steamrolled past light-punching Juan Leon Alvarez (11-2-1, 2 KOs) of Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain by way of Guayaquil, Ecuador, scoring a second-round stoppage.
Vargas, 138.7, was active in the first round, but really upped his intensity once he felt the best Leon Alvarez, 139.9, had to offer by late in the opener. Vargas came out determined in the second and eventually landed a right hand, followed by sweeping left that dropped the Ecuadorian for the first knockdown. Leon Alvarez beat the count, but Vargas did not let him off the hook. Vargas, one of three fighting sons of “El Feroz,” landed an overhand right in close, followed by a three-quarter left that cleaned up for the second knockdown and prompted an immediate stoppage from referee Robert Hoyle.
Official time of the stoppage was 1:40 of the second round, With the win, Vargas claimed his first taste of hardware, the minor NABF junior light welterweight title.
World ranked featherweight Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Hiroshima, Japan was impressive in his United States debut, halting Pedro Marquez (16-2, 10 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico inside of four rounds as his countryman Naoya Inoue looked on from the dressing room.
Nakano, 125.9, began to display his power edge early in round two. Nakano, the IBF #8/WBC #10/WBA #10/WBO #11 ranked featherweight, eventually punctuated a series of punches with a short left hand that resulted in a delayed reaction knockdown. The Japanese contender kept the pressure when action resumed and dropped Marquez, 126, moments later, landing in combination through the Puerto Rican native’s gloves.
Nakano continued to punish his adversary, scoring a knockdown early in the third, splitting Marquez’s guard and snapping his head back on the way down. Marquez would see the bell to end the round after offering back just enough to keep referee Harvey Dock satisfied.
It was only a matter of time however, as Nakano scored two more knockdowns in the fourth to force the stoppage. Nakano scored the first knockdown of the round, dropping Marquez with a clean right to the body. Nakano downed Marquez for a fifth and final time shortly thereafter, landing another right to the body. Marquez fired back with a left counter that missed, but the pain came a second later, forcing the Puerto Rican to a knee. Having seen enough, Dock immediately waved off the onslaught at 1:58 of fourth.
Exciting junior middleweight prospect Art Barrera Jr. (9-0, 7 KOs) of Lynwood, California utilized his edge in power to score a sixth-round stoppage over soft-punching Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. (6-2-1, 2 KOs) of Chicago, Illinois.
Barrera, 152.7, did not appear bothered by much of what Guerra, 153.7, had to offer and controlled the fight from the early going. Barrera began to open up and punished Guerra for much of round five, exploiting lapses in the Chicago native’s defense and landing in combination. Guerra managed to survive the round, but referee Thomas Taylor kept a keen eye at the start of round six. With Guerra taking unanswered punches early in the round, Taylor leaped in to stop the mismatch at the first opportunity. Official time was 1:15 of the sixth.
Ra’eese Aleem (22-1, 12 KOs) of Las Vegas took what he must hope is the first step towards a world title opportunity as he boxed his way to a ten-round unanimous decision over a game Rudy Garcia (13-2-1, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles, California in the curtain raiser.
Aleem, 125.6, and Garcia, 125.3, engaged in a chess match throughout much of the bout, both looking to pick their spots and time their punches without being overly aggressive on offense. Aleem, fighting for just the second time since coming up short in a world title eliminator nearly two years ago, began to break through Garcia’s guard with cleaner punches late in the fight. Garcia, ending a one-and-a-half-year layoff himself, never looked out of place against the world class Aleem.
In the end, all three official scorers had the bout wide for Aleem. Judge David Sutherland had it 97-93, judge Steve Weisfeld 98-92 and judge Chris Migliore found just one round for Garcia, scoring the bout 99-91.
Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com