Daniel Roman stops Christian Esquivel in five

May

Christian Esquivel (left) vs. Daniel Roman. Photo credit: Carlos Baeza/Thompson Boxing Promotions

ONTARIO, California – Daniel Roman keeps passing tests against modest opposition, especially displaying his power as of late, and Christian Esquivel became the latest fighter to fall at the hands of the Southern California junior featherweight.

Roman stopped Esquivel in the fifth round late Friday night at the Doubletree Hotel Events Center in this Los Angeles suburb.

Roman has now won 11 fights in a row, improving to 19-2-1 (7 knockouts). Esquivel falls to 28-10 (21 KOs).

After winning by decision over six consecutive fights, Roman knocked Ramiro Robles out in his previous fight on Feb. 12. While Esquivel entered the Roman fight having lost five of his previous six bouts, he did prove to be a decent measuring stick, having faced top fighters at 122 pounds.

Those five losses were against unbeaten contenders and prospects.

The shorter Esquivel, who fought and lost to Shinsuke Yamanaka for a vacant bantamweight belt in November of 2011, matched his offense with that of Roman during the first two rounds.

Roman began to land the more telling punches from the third round on. His accuracy, especially with left hooks to the head and body, began to take their toll, as Esquivel began to slow down.

The heavier punches were too much for Esquivel to take as he went down from a barrage of shots midway through the fifth round. While Esquivel got up, he was not able to defend himself from Roman’s onslaught, prompting referee Raul Caiz Sr. to stop the fight at 1:52.

Shelestyuk stops Martinez

Unbeaten welterweight Taras Shelestyuk earned a knockout win after the third round over Erick Martinez.

Shelestyuk, who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games, improves to 14-0 (9 KOs). Martinez falls to 11-5-1 (5 KOs).

Originally from Ukraine and now residing in the Los Angeles area, Shelestyuk, who is co-promoted by Banner Promotions and Thompson Boxing, was able to impose his will onto Martinez from the opening bell. Shelestyuk walked Martinez down as the bout progressed, forcing the Mexican boxer to fight more defensively.

The impact of Shelestyuk’s punches, especially to the body, began taking its toll on Martinez. At the beginning of the fourth round, Martinez remained on his stool.

In other bouts:

– Welterweight Roberto Arriaza (12-0, 10 KOs) of Nicaragua won a hard-fought, eight-round unanimous decision over Cameron Kreal (8-10-2, 1 KO). All three judges scored the bout in favor of Arriaza, 77-75 twice and 78-74.

– Bantamweight Sam Rodriquez dropped hard-hitting Ricardo Espinoza (7-1, 6 KOs) in the third round in route to a six-round unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 59-54 in favor of Rodriguez, who improves to 4-1, 3 KOs.

– Heavyweights Scott Alexander (11-1-2, 6 KOs) and Tracey Johnson (3-2-4) fought to a majority draw after four rounds of action. One judge scored the bout 39-37 in favor of Johnson, who is eight inches shorter than Alexander. The other two judges scored the bout 38-38.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper, BoxingScene.com and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.