Undefeated junior welterweight power puncher Vergil Ortiz Jr. had no trouble disposing of two-time former junior lightweight titleholder Juan Carlos Salgado, using a vicious left hook to the body at 1:52 of the third round to knock him out in a scheduled 10-round bout Saturday night.
The fight highlighted a Golden Boy on ESPN card at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.
At this point in his career, the 20-year-old Ortiz (10-0, 10 KOs) looks like a star in the making. While well past his prime, the 33-year-old Salgado (27-9-1, 16 KOs) was the most experienced opponent Ortiz has faced as a professional.
Ortiz, of Dallas, jarred Salgado, of Mexico City, with a left hook to the chin early in the first and appeared to hurt him late in the round with a left hook to the body. Salgado had a better round in the second, landing several left-right combinations to the body. But a flurry by Ortiz near the bell indicated the Texan was still in control.
In the third round, Ortiz rocked Salgado with a right to the head and then launched an all-out attack. The final punch of the fight was another left hook to the body, which caused Salgado to gasp in pain and collapse to the floor. It was clear that there was no way he was getting up, so referee Raul Caiz stopped the fight at the 1:53 mark.
It will require a much better adversary than Salgado to give Ortiz a true test, but so far, against limited opposition, he's looked outstanding.
In the co-feature, Hector Tanajara (14-0, 5 KOs) won a unanimous eight-round decision over Roger Gutierrez (18-2-1, 15 KOs) by scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74 in a lightweight bout.
The 23-year-old Gutierrez, of Maracaibo, Venezuela, advanced throughout most of the fight, but he found it difficult to land meaningful punches against his shifty, fleet-footed opponent. Tanajara, 22, of San Antonio, connected frequently with accurate left jabs and occasional right hands, especially during the first four rounds.
Gutierrez's best round was the fifth, when he jarred Tanajara a few times with rights to the head. The sixth and seventh rounds were close, but by then the bout had become sloppy and featured more clinching than punching.
According to CompuBox, Gutierrez connected with 90 punches, compared to 89 for Tanajara. But overall, Tanajara's blows were of much better quality.
In the TV opener, junior middleweight Ferdinand "Luck Boy" Kerobyan (9-0, 5 KOs) was indeed lucky when he was matched with Mexican journeyman Edgar Garcia (7-18-1, 2 KOs).
Garcia was outclassed and absorbed a one-sided beating from the California-based Armenian. When Garcia took a knee at 2:48 of the second round, referee Raul Caiz stopped the fight.