World-ranked Justin Pauldo took some early thunder from Colombia’s hard-punching Nike Theran but used a pinpoint jab and searing body attack to wear down his foe after seven tough rounds in the lightweight main event of ProBoxTV’s “The Contender Series” from the Save Mart Center at Fresno State in Fresno, California.
After a careful opening round, Theran (20-21, 14 KOs) rocked Pauldo (20-2, 10 KOs) to the bottom of his shoes late in round two with a powerful counter left hook to the temple, but the South American puncher was unable to capitalize before the bell to end the round.
A fairly even third round was followed by Pauldo beginning to establish a strong body attack and spearing jab in the middle rounds that noticeably slowed and muted the aggression of Theran for the rest of the fight.
Looking fatigued and hurt to the body, Theran took a fearsome beating in round seven, especially to the ribs, as Pauldo lost all fear of his opponent’s power and turned on the jets.
The sustained three-minute beating was enough to convince Theran to remain on his stool before round eight. The official verdict was a knockout at 3:00 of round seven.
“I never thought it would go like this,” said Pauldo, post-fight. “I thought I would blaze him out. That may have been the problem. He caught me early, but I was in good shape, so I bounced right back and got the job done. That was good adversity for me to face early in my career.
“He was a strong guy. I’ve fought harder punchers, but he was also very awkward. I saw the jab was taking the confidence away from him, so I stayed behind the jab and beat him to the punch. I want all the big names. Anyone who wants to give me a shot. I want to show the world I belong at the top.”
In the 10-round super featherweight co-feature, WBC #4-ranked Muhammad Yaqubov (23-1-1, 12 KOs) of Isfara, Tajikistan, and Cristian “Lacandonsito” Cruz Chacon (24-7-2, 12 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, fought to a split draw for the WBC USA Super Featherweight Championship.
A battle between two tough southpaws, Cruz set a busy pace early, often outworking Yaqubov by leaping in with solid combinations. Early on, Yaqubov conserved energy and landed the occasional reminder of his punching power.
Yaqubov began to step it up starting midway through the fight, timing Cruz and landing a series of classy left hands to the head. Cruz came back to seemingly nip round seven and then landed a strong overhand left in a good round eight.
After a closely fought round nine, Yaqubov took full control in the final round with a sharp jab and a powerful uppercut whenever a tiring Cruz tried to move inside. The scores were 96-94 Yaqubov, 97-93 Cruz and 95-95 Draw.
In a ProBoxTV classic slugfest between highly rated light flyweight contenders, highly ranked light flyweight southpaw Erik Badillo Mares (19-0, 8 KOs) outlasted former WBO World Champion Elwin “La Pulga” Soto (21-4-1, 13 KOs) to win an all-action 10-round unanimous decision.
With few single punches thrown, the two world-class fighters exchanged sharp combinations nearly non-stop. Southpaw Badillo took the first round; Soto came back in rounds two and three. Badillo started round four looking determined to reassert himself, banging to the head and body of Soto with authority and hurting him late in the round with a flurry against the ropes.
WBC and WBO #1-ranked Badillo’s superior work rate, power and conditioning began to show more as the fight wore on, as he enjoyed an ever-increasing edge to the all-action back-and-forth.
Soto found a second wind in a mostly good round nine for him but was rocked onto his heels by a right hand late in the stanza. Badillo closed strong in round 10 to seal the deal. The rugged pair ended the fight going toe-to-toe. The official scores were 98-92, 99-91 and 99-91.
In a high-contact women’s battle, Adelaida Maria “La Cobra” Ruiz (18-1-1, 8 KOs) of Downey, California, via Los Angeles, won a “closer than the cards” unanimous decision over Alexas “Iron Lady” Kubicki (13-3, 2 KOs) of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to win the vacant WBC World Super Flyweight Championship.
Kubicki started the fight moving in and out effectively, landing dozens of straight right hands and may have won several of the opening frames. The fight turned late in round five, when the harder-punching Ruiz sent Kubicki down from a hard combination.
Ruiz took over for the next three rounds after that, battering Kubicki around the ring. Kubicki, who moved up a division for this fight, came back to make it closer in the final two frames, but the judges were not impressed.
The scores were 97-92, 97-92 and 99-90, all for Ruiz.
Super lightweight 2016 US Olympian “King” Carlos Balderas (17-2, 14 KOs) of Santa Maria, California, won a close 10-round split decision over Ricardo “El Cornejo” Quiroz (13-7, 7 KOs) of Oxnard.
Fighting tall behind a sharp jab, Quiroz scored with a big right uppercut in round one and established himself in the fight. Balderas got the better of the inside exchanges with his straighter punches. Both men had moments in the fight, a good action all-Mexican battle. Quiroz rocked Balderas late in round seven with a right. Balderas came out firing in round nine, landing several hard right hands.
In the end, the judges favored Balderas’ work. The scores were 97-93 and 97-93 Balderas, overruling a 96-94 card for Quiroz.
In the opening televised bout, a ProBoxTV’s Future Stars Series matchup, former 17-time national amateur champion Charlie Sheehy (12-0, 7 KOs) scored an impressive sixth-round stoppage over rugged veteran “King D-Lo” D’Angelo Keyes (18-7, 11 KOs).
Unable to find an answer to Sheehy’s lightning jabs and blinding combinations, Keyes went down for the first time from a mean left uppercut near the end of round two. Sheehy came out firing looking for the finish in round three, but Keyes bravely gutted it out until the cobwebs cleared.
Interestingly, Sheehy suffered a cut over the right eye in round four from a sneaky shot inside, but despite his game attitude, Keyes went down two more times in round six from sharp right hands before Referee Cameron Frizzell waved it off at 2:29.
