Junior welterweight prospect Mohamed Soumaoro battered Angel Vazquez before the fight was stopped in the eighth round on Wednesday night at Whitesands (ProBox TV) Events Center in Plant City, Florida.

Soumaoro, who is originally from Conakry, Guinea and now resides in Montreal, Canada, goes to 13-1, 6 knockouts.

The 30-year-old Soumaoro asserted his aggression and power from the start, stunning Vazquez within the first 20 seconds of the opening round. From that point on, it looked as though Vazquez did not have his legs underneath him and would take vicious punches to the head as the bout progressed.

Vazquez was game, but never had an answer for Soumaoro connected with counter left hooks or right crosses to the head. As the action continued, Vazquez never made any adjustments, allowing himself to sit in the pocket and have Soumaoro continue to connect with vicious power punches, including right uppercuts to the head.

Soumaoro wobbled Vazquez towards the end of the fourth round with a left hook to the head. Vazquez backed up against the ropes, where Soumoaro unleashed a combination to Vazquez’s head, but was not able to end matters as the bell sounded to end the round.

Towards the end of round 6, Soumaoro again stunned Vazquez from another left hook to the head, momentarily followed by a sweeping right cross. Vazquez was able to weather the storm, but the question was when his corner would throw in the towel or referee Michael DeJesus would stop the fight to save Vazquez from taking further damage.

That moment came in the eighth round, as another combination to the head stunned Vazquez. Soumaoro connected with another sweeping left hook, followed by a right cross to the head, prompting Vazquez’s corner to throw in the towel. Referee DeJesus waved off the fight at 2:50.

Soumoaro has now defeated unbeaten prospects in back-to-back fights. In his previous fight on December 2, Soumaoro defeated amateur standout Jusiyah Shirley by unanimous decision.

Vazquez, who resides in San Luis Colorado, Mexico, falls to 12-1, 6 KOs. The 22-year-old defeated Nicholas Sullivan, a prospect who entered the bout unbeaten, by unanimous decision.

In the co-feature between hard-hitting welterweights, Axl Melendez of Ceiba, Puerto Rico defeated Demontaze Duncan by majority decision. One judge scored the bout 57-57, while the other two judges scored the bout 58-56 in favor of Melendez, who goes to 6-0, 4 KOs.

Melendez hurt Duncan about a minute into the opening round. Both fighters were on the offensive, producing exchanges in the pocket that favored Melendez during the first half of the fight.

Duncan rallied during the second half of the fight, outlanding and connecting on the more-telling punches. Duncan mixed his attack well, but had dug a hole early in the fight that he was not able to overcome.

The 20-year-old Duncan, who resides in Louisville, Kentucky, drops to 8-1, 8 KOs.

In the opening bout of the ProBox TV stream, junior welterweight prospect Omar Rosario of Puerto Rico improved to 10-0, 3 KOs, stopping South Dakota’s Zach Hill (3-4, 2 KOs) at 2:32 of the opening round. Rosario hurt Hill with a combination, ultimately dropping him to the canvas with a left hook to the body. Referee Michael DeJesus counted Hill out.

Rosario is promoted by Top Rank.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

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