Lightweight Marcos Villasana Jr. is slowly emerging as a contender and not someone trying to live off his father’s name.

Villasana stopped Jorge Luis Rodriguez in the eighth round Saturday night at the Centro de Convenciones in his hometown of Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico.

Villasana, who has won his last six bouts, improves to 21-6 (12 knockouts). Rodriguez, from Rio Tercero, Argentina, falls to 21-13-1 (3 KOs).

The outcome of the fight was never in doubt from the opening bell as Villasana was the more effective fighter. Rodriguez threw looping hooks and crosses that rarely found their mark, prompting Villasana to easily counter with a series of left hands to the head.

About a minute into the second round, Villasana landed more left hooks to the head that dropped Rodriguez.

Villasana mostly spent the middle rounds walking Rodriguez down. Another series of left hooks and right hands sent Rodriguez reeling against the ropes in rounds five and six but the Argentine was able to weather the storm.

The end came at 1:25 of round eight when referee Rafael Saldana stopped the fight after Villasana dropped an exhausted Rodriguez with a right hand to the head.

Villasana, whose father, held a featherweight world title belt, is ranked No. 15 by the WBC.

Lourdes Juarez stopped Noemi Bosques in round six of a scheduled 10-round junior bantamweight bout.

Juarez, who is now unbeaten in her last 16 bouts, improves to 18-2 (3 KOs). Bosques falls to 11-9-2 (2 KOs).

Juarez was able to utilize her speed to consistently beat Bosques to the punch. The Mexico City resident dropped Bosques with a counter right hand to the head near the end of round two.

The end of the fight came in round four as Juarez battered Bosques; moments later, Juarez dropped Bosques with a counter left hook to the head. Referee Laurentino Ramirez immediately stopped the fight at 1:22.

Also on the Promociones del Pueblo card, junior featherweight Aaron Alameda (18-0, 10 KOs) won an eight-round split decision over Daniel Olea (11-4-1, 4 KOs).

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2012 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.

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