Rashidi Ellis blasts late replacement foe Jose Marrufo in 1 on Magsayo-Vargas undercard
SAN ANTONIO — Rashidi Ellis lived up to his “Speedy” nickname, knocking out late replacement opponent Jose Marrufo in the first round of their junior middleweight fight at The Alamodome.
Ellis (24-0, 15 knockouts) of Lynn, Mass. dropped the overmatched Marrufo (13-11-2, 1 KO) twice before the fight was stopped at the 2:18 mark. Marrufo of Phoenix, Ariz. came in on two days notice to replace Alberto Palmetta, who made the trip to Texas but withdrew with a back injury.
The two fighters were an entire weight division apart at Friday’s weigh-in, with Marrufo weighing in under the welterweight limit while Ellis weighed in just under the junior middleweight limit.
SPEEDY RASHIDI! 😳@RashidiEllis earns a fast 1st round TKO win over Marrufo 👊@BCampbell @morningkombat #MagsayoVargas prelims are LIVE: https://t.co/l3JriFNoE1 pic.twitter.com/xYf3h3sFNP
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) July 9, 2022
Ellis, who was making his debut with Premier Boxing Champions, was fighting for the first time in nearly two years.
The Ellis-Marrufo fight kicked off the portion of the Mark Magsayo-Rey Vargas card which aired on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel, prior to the main broadcast.
Also on the YouTube portion, local favorite Ramon Cardenas (21-1, 10 KOs) earned the biggest win of his career, outpointing Florida based Venezuelan Michell Banquez (20-2, 14 KOs) in a ten-round bantamweight bout.
Two judges scored the bout 97-93, while the third had it 96-94, all for Cardenas, a San Antonio native.
Earlier in the card, Albert Gonzalez (3-0, 1 KO) of Perris, Calif. used his sharper counterpunching and boxing skills to outpoint the aggressive Alberto Alvarez (4-1, 3 KOs) of Simi Valley, Calif. in a four-round junior featherweight bout by the scores of 40-36 on all three cards.
READ THE MARCH ISSUE OF THE RING FOR FREE VIA THE NEW APP NOW. SUBSCRIBE NOW TO ACCESS MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF BACK ISSUES.Â