Fringe-lightweight contender Jose Roman made short work of Carlos Cardenas, knocking out the Venezuelan in the opening round on Friday night at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California.

Roman improves to 23-1-1, 16 KOs, while Cardenas falls to 21-12-1, 14 KOs.

Cardenas, who has lost seven of his last eight bouts, was forced to fight off the back foot as Roman aggressively pressed the action. A barrage of punches forced Cardenas to take a knee, he made no effort to get up and was counted out at 1:26.

Roman, who resides in nearby Garden Grove, has won his last nine outings.

Amateur standout Ruben Villa also needed less than three minutes to finish his bout, knocking out Gerardo Molina at 2:25 of the opening session.

It was the pro debut for the southpaw Villa, who holds two amateur wins over U.S. Olympian and medal favorite Shakur Stevenson.

Within the opening minute, Villa dropped Molina (1-2, 1 KO) with a counter left hand. Moments later, a barrage of punches dropped him again, prompting referee Raul Caiz, Jr. to stop the bout.

“It felt great to get that first win,” said Villa, who is co-promoted by Banner Promotions and Thompson Boxing. “I didn’t go in thinking knockout, but I knew after the first knockdown that I was going to end it early.

“I had a bunch of friends and family in attendance. I’m glad I gave them something to smile about.”

Lightweight John Delperdang, who resides in Ontario, stopped Andres Figueroa in the fourth round.

Delperdang (7-1, 7 KOs) dropped Figueroa (7-2, 5 KOs) near the end of the first round and had his way throughout most of the contest. Another knockdown, courtesy of an accumulation of blows, in the fourth, left Figueroa struggling to regain his feet and the referee waved the bout off at 2:12 of that round.

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 (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing