STUDIO CITY, California — Saul “Neno” Rodriguez forced Daulis Prescott into submission in the seventh round, knocking him down twice before warranting a stoppage by the referee on Saturday. The lightweight contest was the main event of a “Solo Boxeo” card televised by UniMas, and promoted by Top Rank at the Sportsman’s Lodge.

Rodriguez (20-0, 15 knockouts) couldn’t hide his ambition to knockout his Colombian counterpart. From the jump, the Riverside, California native threw his right hand with bad intentions, and while it landed early and often, Prescott was able to use savvy tactics in order to survive and sometimes frustrate the 23 year old. With his right hand cocked, Rodriguez set up his power shot with some feints and a steady jab early on, but when unleashed, the right hand came with enough force to pierce through Prescott’s guard. By the third round, Prescott, 29, was forced to hold Rodriguez in order to disrupt any rhythm he conjured.

There was some frustration shown by Rodriguez as he glared at referee Raul Caiz Sr. with disgust whenever they were in the clinch. Now forced to change a facet of his game, Rodriguez then began to impose a left hook around Prescott’s guard, and by stepping to his left, it didn’t give him a chance to hold after he got hit. Those left hands from Rodriguez also found the body of Prescott, and he began to use his feet much more once they came into play. Still, Prescott wanted to discourage Rodriguez, and in the waning seconds of the fifth round, he used dirty tactics by hitting him after the bell.

Prescott (31-4, 23 KOs) wasn’t docked a point, but was warned by Caiz after the clear foul. Along with the timely holding, these were the only tactics proven effective by Prescott, as his offense was near nonexistent. His jabs were slipped, and many of his power hooks found the gloves and arms of Rodrigiuez. In the seventh round, a left hook stunned Prescott and a following right hand from Rodriguez sent him to the canvas. Rodriguez looked at his corner as Prescott was getting his ten-count, and his trainer, Robert Garcia, signaled at him to keep up the pace. “Neno” did, and seconds later, an uppercut to Prescott’s chin sent him back to the mat. He got up before Caiz got to ten, but shook his head no when asked to continue, and that’s when the fight was waved off at the 2:37 mark.

“I knew I could knock him out, but after the first round, I could tell he was strong and was going to last awhile,” said Rodriguez after the fight. There was a large contingent of fans who made the trip from Riverside to see “Neno,” and that’s what all of them were chanting the entire night up until the knockout.

Featherweight prospect, Toka Kahn Clary, looked stellar in his performance against Orlando Rizo, and secured the victory with a fourth-round knockout.

A slick southpaw fighting out of Providence, Rhode Island, Kahn Clary demonstrated the punch his left hand packed by forcing a cut above the right eye of Rizo. Kahn Clary, 23, used precision rather than a cluster of combination punches, and along with swift feet and acute head movement, Rizo (18-9, 11 KOs) found it hard to land clean punches of his own. Late in the fourth round, an overhand left from Khan Clary landed perfectly on the chin of Rizo and dropped him hard to the canvas. The Nicaraguan winced in pain has referee Zac Young counted to ten, and blood trickled down his cheek from the earlier cut. Young got to ten, but Rizo was still on his backside, and the fight was over.

“We really wasn’t looking for a knockout in this fight, we were ready to go the whole ten rounds,” Khan Clary (19-0, 13 KOs) told ringtv.com after the fight. He continued, “It was my first ten round fight. We understand he (Rizo) was a tough fighter, he had never been stopped before, so our game plan was to instill our boxing abilities.”

Arnold Barboza Jr. enforced a beating on John Nater by knocking him down three times before the fight was stopped in the second round. The junior welterweight contest was scheduled for six rounds.

Fighting out of South El Monte, California, Barboza punished his Puerto Rican foe with a right hand in the first round that was really the beginning of the end for Nater. It landed flush on the chin, and after a left hand to the body from Barboza, Nater (14-8, 10 KOs) found himself back on the mat moments later in the opening round. It was a wonder how Nater could even get out of that first round, and his effort was commendable to say the least. Despite the early knockdowns, Nater came back looking for a aright in the second, but another right hand from Barboza buzzed him early in the round, and after an accumulation of punches, he was back on the canvas. Referee Raul Caiz immediately waved off the bout, and disregarded any 10-count.

In the opening bout of the UniMas card, two Mexican flyweights made most of their televised appearance, and while it was a fun one, it resulted in a wide unanimous decision (60-54 x3) win for Carlos Licona over Cesar Sustaita.

Upon the sounding of the opening bell, the two little guys wasted no time in delivering an action-packed brawl. While his opponent initiated the scrap with lunging left and right hooks, Licona (7-0, 2 KOs) reacted with the same aggression, but a right hand early in the round startled Sustaita set the precedent of what was to come often in the fight.

Sustaita (3-3, 3 KOs) was able to return the favor in the second round. He caught Licona with a perfect counter uppercut that almost sent him to the canvas, but he was unable to capitalize on the instance, and Carlos was able to stun him with a right hand before the round’s end. From then on, Licona dictated the bout by conquering the center of the ring, and keeping Sustaita’s back toward the ropes. In the last half of the fight, Licona did a fantastic job of cutting off the ring and trapped Sustaita in a corner helplessly, as he wailed on him with power hooks. While it seemed to be a back and forth bout with the amount of action that was produced, Licona was clearly in control throughout, and his right hand couldn’t miss all night. In what was the fight of the night, Licona’s performance might have also won the same award as a fighter.

Esquiva Falcao received a TKO victory over Paul Valenzuela, after the ringside doctor advised referee Raul Caiz Sr. to stop the bout in the fourth round because of a cut above Valenzuela’s right eye. The middleweight contest was scheduled for eight rounds.

A tricky southpaw out of Brazil, Falcao seemed to be in for a competitive fight in the opening round as Valenzuela’s will to be the more active puncher, got the Mexican off to a good start. It went back and forth through the second round, as the two went tit for tat with counter punches. Falcao (14-0, 11 KOs) separated himself in the third round, however, after two moments that ultimately set up Valenzuela’s demise. A left hand to the head of Valenzuela (10-3, 6 KOs) forced the fateful cut over his right eye, and moments after it happened, a body shot deflated him. Falcao proceeded to take control of the fight with his opponent still reeling from the shot, and he kept his focused on Valenzuela’s midsection thereafter up until time was called, and the fight was stopped.

Bryan “La Rata” Flores overcame some adversity in his impressive performance over Jose Mejia, and as a result, received a unanimous decision victory. Allthree ringside judges scored it 40-36 for the Santa Ana, California native, in what was a four round welterweight contest.

Right out of the gate, Flores (4-0, 1 KO), pressured Mejia with a splendid attack of volume combinations, and it kept him flustered all night. Virtually every punch possible was thrown from Flores by the end of the opening round, and they were evenly distributed to the head and body of Mejia (1-5, 1 KO). In the second, an accidental clash of heads forced a cut above the left eye of Flores, but it didn’t hinder the 23-year old’s attack. The uppercuts to the chin on the inside were just as on point, and the hooks to the body from Flores were just as palpable. Another clash of heads in the final round forced an even worse cut above the right eye of Flores, but still, his attack did not falter up until the final bell.

Undefeated heavyweight, Andy Ruiz Jr., stayed unbeaten after his opponent, Ray Austin, couldn’t continue the fight after four complete rounds because of an apparent right hand injury. Scheduled for eight rounds, Ruiz received a TKO victory as a result.

Ruiz (27-0, 18 KOs) was able to hurt Austin in the opening round with his own fists by landing an overhand right to the temple that subsequently sent him to the canvas. Austin (29-9-4, 18 KOs), recovered well after the knockdown but couldn’t devise any retribution. Austin had an occasional right hand land on the chin of Ruiz, but his lazy, stationary, left jab gave away is tired attack. Ruiz, 26, had quick hands when compared to his 45-year-old opponent, but his flabby midsection was almost identical. Up until the fight was stopped, Ruiz was the only one to punish the battle of soft stomachs. That’s where his most effective work came as Ruiz was in control for the fight’s

entirety.

In a battle of inexperienced junior welterweights, Abraham Lopez got the unanimous decision over Antonio Wattell after receiving the same 40-36 scorecard from all three judges ringside.

Lopez (3-1-1, 1 KO) was the one who initiated the action, and for that reason alone, he seemed to be the only one landing shots. Wattell (1-3, 1 KO) was extremely tentative in his ploy, but none of his precision counter shots were able to hurt Lopez as he came forward. Fighting out of Rowland Heights, California, Lopez threw his right hand more often than not, and while Wattell wasn’t clearly hurt by any of them, they kept an already unsure puncher even more reluctant to throw. When Wattell did land a punch, he was caught with one too seemingly every time. It was the walk-out bout of the evening, and given the nature of the fight, that’s exactly what everyone did.

Dadashev (2-0, 2 KOs) overcame an early onslaught of wild overhand power shots from Bogar by keeping his composure in the opening round. Contrary to his overzealous opponent, Dadashev relied on a steady jab to precede his power right hand, and once in rhythm, he kept Bogar out of it with a bevy of punches. Bogar (4-9-1, 2 KOs) was so bewildered, there were plenty of occasions where his upper body found itself outside the ropes after ducking Maxim’s shots. It halted time by referee Zac Young, and by the fourth time it happened, it seemed deliberate. Regardless, Dadashev started to beat up Bogar enough that warranted Young to wave of the fight 34 seconds into the fourth round.