Alfredo Angulo admires his work shortly before he was awarded a second-round knockout victory over Gabriel Rosada on Friday in Primm, Nev. Photo by Chris Cozzone / Fightwireimages.com


Junior middleweight standout Alfredo Angulo bounced back from his first pro loss with an impressive second-round knockout of Gabriel Rosado in the main event of an ESPN2-televised card Friday in Primm, Nev.

Angulo (16-1, 13 knockouts) dropped Rosado (12-4, 7 KOs) three times in the second round, which prompted referee Russell Mora to stop the bout at 2:13 of the round.

Angulo dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to former welterweight titleholder Kermit Cintron on May 30 in his last bout. The usually relentless 26-year-old pressure fighter blamed his lackluster performance on a stomach ailment and vowed to regain his form in his next bout.

Mission accomplished.

Angulo wasn’t facing a world-beater in Philadelphia’s Rosado, but the Southern California-based Mexican national was fighting a young, well-schooled boxer who had never been knocked out and had scored a pair upsets -- against prospect James Moore and former titleholder Kassim Ouma -- in the past year.

A confident Rosado boxed well in the first round, employing an effective stick-and-move strategy, but it all went out the window when Angulo connected with a short right hand at the start of the second round.

The cross sent a complaining Rosado (who claimed the punch occurred while he was being hels) to the canvas and the tall rangy boxer never regained his composure. A hook-cross combination dropped Rosado a second time and a compact hook put him down the third and final time.

Rosado continued to complain after the stoppage, but allowing Angulo to get in close and failing to tie the aggressor up on the inside is what led to his fourth loss.

With the victory, Angulo restored some of the confidence and momentum he had prior to the Cintron loss and he paved the way for a spot in the co-featured bout to the HBO-televised Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson rematch on Nov. 7.

In the co-featured bout of the Friday Night Fights broadcast, super middleweight prospect Anthony Dirrell, the younger brother of 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and 168-pound contender Andre Dirrell, scored a seventh-round stoppage of Alfredo Contreras.

The talented, switch-hitting Dirrell (18-0, 15 KOs) was too fast, rangy, mobile and crafty for Contreras (7-6-2, 1 KO). The Los Mochis, Mexico, native was game but ultimately too tough for his own good. Contreras probably could have lasted the eight-round distance, but the 24-year-old journeyman was literally inviting hard punches and referee Robert Byrd did the right thing by waving the bout off at 2:32 of the seventh round.

In the opening bout of the broadcast, lightweight prospect Archie Ray Marquez (5-0, 4 KOs) won a four-round decision over Sergi Ganjelashvili (4-4-1) by unanimous scores of 40-36.

The baby-faced Albuquerque native was the busier and harder-punching of the two but the former amateur standout is clearly still learning the pro style as he was unsettled against his game opponent from Key West, Fla., by way of Georgia.

In the televised walkout bout, another undefeated lightweight prospect, flamboyant Sharif Bogere, scored a second-round KO victory over Rodolfo Armenta.

Bogere (12-0, 7 KOs), an entertaining 20-year-old boxer-puncher from Uganda, clipped Armenta (7-2-1, 5 KOs) with a punch in the second round that immediately took the legs away from the Mexican prospect. Armenta’s knees involuntarily touched the canvas while he wobbled around the ring, which earned him a count from referee Jay Nady. Nady waved the bout off after the young man hit the canvas a second time.