Ramon Cardenas KO5 Erik Robles... Super bantamweight contender Ramon “Dinamita” Cardenas ended the year in style by scoring a one-punch “walk-off” fifth-round knockout over Erik “Terrible” Robles in the main event at the the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The event was presented by ProBox Promotions and Sampson Boxing. After a careful first round, Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas, started landing hard body shots to the midsection of the taller southpaw Robles (16-3, 10 KOs) of Baja California, Mexico, that noticeably altered the Mexican’s original fight plan. Cardenas landed a sharp right hand to the chin dropped a careless Robles for an eight count in round three and then a huge walk off right hand to the chin on an advancing Robles in round five ended matters at 1:21. “The confidence I had in myself, I knew I could get him out of there. I’m not blowing smoke up my ass, but I knew I was at another level,” said Cardenas, post-fight. “I owe this performance to my new team. In training, I made sure I was focused when I was hitting the bag or even running. I used to catch myself dozing off. I learned to stay focused from my new trainers. I kept that in my head during the fight. I’m just finishing my work to become a world champion. I know Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani have their plans. I’d like the winner. I want a title shot against either/or. I want to fight the best competition. Coming up in ProBox, you’re used to fighting tough guys, so when you get to that level, you’re ready. When you come back, you must show you belong at that level and I think I showed that tonight.”
Hebert Conceicao W10 Elias Espadas... In the ten-round middleweight co-feature, Olympic champion Hebert Conceicao (10-0, 5 KOs) of Brazil had things all his way while scoring a dominating unanimous decision over Mexico's Elias “Latin Kid” Espadas (23-8-1, 16 KOs). Conceicao showed off his world-class arsenal to the head and body of Espadas throughout, including landing five consecutive uppercuts to the head of the iron-chinned Mexican. As tough as they come, the durable Espadas clearly came to win but had no answers for Conceicao’s other-level offensive and defensive gifts. Espadas was cut over the left eye from a punch in round eight. Conceicao looked to have hurt his right hand during the action. Referee Michael DeJesus called a questionable knockdown of Espadas in round 10 to further bury his hopes. The scores were an academic 98-91 and two scores of 100-90.
ADDITIONAL RESULTS
In a wild eight-round middleweight slugfest, Joeshon “Shontime” James (10-1-2, 5 KOs) of Sacramento scored a majority decision over Las Vegas-based Cuban Yojanler Martinez (5-1-1, 2 KOs). A wild, chippy slugfest that could have gone anywhere at any time, Martinez got dropped for a flash knockdown from a left hook in round one but then rocked James with a series of strong right hands in round two. However, the Cuban placed several of his follow-up punches behind James’ head, which prompted Referee Tyrone Parker to penalize him a point. A frustrated Martinez threw James to the canvas during a clinch moments later. Although both men weren’t previously considered big punchers, two simultaneous right hands produced a rare double knockdown in round three, with Martinez looking a lot more dazed than James. After both fighters rose before the ten count, a confused Referee Parker needed several seconds to decide on a course of action to continue the fight. The pair settled into a rhythm of landing huge punches on each other the rest of the way in a fun fight that epitomized the ProBox TV philosophy. A score of 75-75 was overruled by scores of 77-74 and 77-73 for James.
Junior welterweight “Marvelous” Mykquan Williams (23-1-2, 12 KOs) scored a fourth-round retirement stoppage of late-sub opponent George “El Lion” Pardo (11-6, 9 KOs) from Colombia. Looking sharp from the start of the fight, Williams flashed his fast, educated jab and worked well to the body, ripping “Micky Ward-like” left hooks to Pardo’s ribcage. In a bit of a strange occurrence, Pardo appeared to voluntarily take a knee out of nowhere in round two and didn’t seem to realize that such a move constitutes a knockdown. Williams hurt the game, but outgunned, Pardo with a series of left hooks to the liver in round three and upped the slaughter in round four. After being battered relentlessly by the fast and powerful Williams, Pardo elected not to come out for the fifth round, making the official verdict a TKO 4 for Williams.
Detroit junior middlerweight Marlon “The Savage” Harrington (13-2, 11 KOs) scored an upset first-round one-punch knockout over formerly undefeated southpaw Bryan “The Hunter” Polaco (7-0, 5 KOs) of Las Vegas via Puerto Rico. The two fighters came out swinging freely. Harrington attempted to blitz Polaco early, Polaco stayed poised and inflicted a cut over the Detroiter’s left eye a minute into the fight. Suddenly, at 2:53 of round one, Harrington caught Polaco with a short right hook that left Polaco unconscious before he hit the canvas. Referee Tyrone Parker didn’t bother to count and immediately waved it off.
In the night’s opening televised bout, super bantamweight newcomer Kenyan Valle (2-0, 1 KO) got his second career victory with a first-round stoppage of Taran Ward (5-15, 3 KOs). The pair were fighting equally for the first two minutes before Valle dropped Ward with a strong right hand. The well-schooled youngster moved in and finished Ward with an extended two-fisted salvo that forced Referee Michael DeJesus to wave it off at 2:58 of the opening round.
