Lightweight fringe contender Edner Cherry got back in action with an easy third-round stoppage of gutsy but overmatched journeyman Jovann Jones in the main event of a TKO Boxing-promoted club show at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif., on Friday.

Cherry (21-6-2, 13 knockouts), who stopped Jones (9-8, 4 KOs) with a concentrated body attack at 1:14 of the round, was fighting for the first time since a failed title challenge to 140-pound beltholder Timothy Bradley last September.

Apart from Cherry, who hopes to fight his way back into title contention, but in the 130- or 135-pound divisions, the card was mostly comprised of young prospects in four- and six-round bouts.

The most advanced was junior featherweight Leo Santa Cruz, of Lincoln Heights, Calif., who stopped veteran journeyman Juan Jose Beltran, of Los Mochis, Mexico, in the third round of the scheduled eight-round main event.

Santa Cruz (12-0, 4 KOs), the younger brother of former lightweight contender Jose Armando Santa Cruz, relentlessly pounded Beltran (19-16-3, 11 KOs) in to submission with crisp, fluid body-head combinations.

The most entertaining was lightweight Sharif Bogere, a Las Vegas-based Ugandan who entered the ring draped in a lion skin accompanied with his own singer. Bogere (13-0, 7 KOs) out-pointed well-traveled journeyman Christian Favela (17-23-6, 10 KOs) over six competitive rounds.

Bogere, who won by scores of 60-54 and 59-55 (twice), got some quality rounds in with Favela, who landed his share of punches.

The most talented was welterweight Joseph Elegele, a Thomas Hearns clone who annihilated Juan Carlos Diaz in the first round of a scheduled four with textbook jabs and hooks to the body and head. The technique and poise Elegele (2-0, 1 KO), of Winter Haven, Fla., exhibited in dispatching Diaz (1-8, 1 KO), of Lakeside, Calif., was impressive for such an inexperienced boxer.

The most promising was middleweight Dmitry Chudinov, who flattened Flavio Cardoza, of Carson City, Nev., in the first round of a scheduled four. Chudinov (3-0, 2 KOs), of Serpukhov, Russia, dropped Cardoza (1-4) twice with well-placed hooks to the body before ending the bout with a sweeping hook to the head.

The best fight of the night was Fedor Chudinov’s four-round unanimous decision over Cesar Ibarra, of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. Chudinov (3-0, 2 KOs), Dmitry’s younger brother, went toe-to-toe with Ibarra (5-3, 2 KOs) in every round but landed the harder punches to earn scores of 40-35 and 39-36 (twice).

The Chudinov brothers were amateur standouts in Russia who are now based in Southern California where they are quickly building a reputation as quality sparring partners for more experienced and better-known fighters such as Alfred Angulo, Miguel Espino, Roberto Garcia and Shawn Estrada.

Friday’s card was well attended by fans and also hosted many notable professional fighters, including retired former 154-pound titleholder Fernando Vargas, current junior middleweight beltholder Sergei Dzindziruk, heavyweight contender Chris Arreola, middleweight contender Sergio Mora (who also served as a commentator for the taped event), and super middleweight fringe contender Peter Manfredo Jr., among others.

Doug Fischer can be reached at [email protected]