Nico Hernandez did not let a last-minute change in opponent alter his goal of winning impressively on Saturday night.

Hernandez stopped Victor Torres in the fifth round at the Hartman Arena, in Park City, Kansas, not far from his hometown of Wichita.

Hernandez (4-0, 3 knockouts) was originally scheduled to face Joseph Atjai, of Hungary, but Ajtai had visa issues, never making it out of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Torres, who resides in Modesto, California, reportedly took the fight on Friday morning.

From the opening bell, Hernandez was the aggressor, mixing his combinations to the head and body. Torres was game and fought back but the amount of punishment he received increased with each passing round. A barrage of punches that stunned Torres forced referee Steve Smoger to step in and stop the fight at 55 seconds of round five.

Torres (2-8-1, 1 KO) has lost his last six fights.

With the win, Hernandez, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro, won a minor flyweight title belt, odd due to Hernandez weighing in at 117.5 pounds (bantamweight)

“I’m not leaving this belt,” said Hernandez after the fight. “It’s going everywhere with me. I was looking forward to this fight and I’m ready to continue my success. This is the first (title belt) of many. I got what I worked hard for.”

In the co-feature bout, welterweights Javontae Starks (13-2-1, 7 KOs) and Cesar Soriano fought to a six-round majority decision draw. One judge scored the bout 58-56 for Soriano (28-36-2, 17 KOs), while the other two judges scored the bout 57-57.

In junior middleweight action, Derrick Clayton, who was making his pro debut, stopped Akeem Black (3-2, 1 KO) at 2:59 of the second round.

Heavyweight Maurice Byarm (14-2-1, 10 KOs), who was fighting for the first time in over five-and-a-half years, stopped Richard Carmack (15-13-1, 12 KOs) at 1:34 of the opening round.

The KO Night Boxing card was recorded for a future broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com 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 FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.

Struggling to locate a copy of THE RING Magazine? Try here or
Subscribe

You can order the current issue, which is on newsstands, or back issues from our subscribe page.