SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – Undefeated middleweight prospect Amari Jones notched his seventh straight knockout with a third-round stoppage of veteran journeyman Michael Lemelle in the middleweight main event at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton, Sacramento on Friday night.
Jones (7-0, 7 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Oakland, California was in control of the game Lemelle (3-11-1) of Fort Worth, Texas throughout. Jones, 161, imposed himself and his strength advantage over Lemelle,159, while controlling the distance and pressing forward.
Lemelle, who has seen a slew of undefeated opponents in his career, refused to take a knee or crumble and proved to be a durable adversary for as long as it lasted. However, the disparity in power, speed and technique were evident to referee Edward Collantes, who called off the bout at 2:14 of third, prompted in part by a series of overhand lefts.
Lemelle, a pro since 2012, took to social media after the fight to announce his retirement from the ring.
For Jones, promoted by Devin Haney Promotions, his seventh win as a pro afforded him the opportunity to showcase himself in front of some of his hometown fans, while getting in a few good rounds against a game southpaw in Lemelle.
In the six-round co-feature, Sacramento’s former amateur star Cain Sandoval (6-0, 6 KOs) continued to grow his strong following with a second-round stoppage over veteran Daniel Evangelista Jr. (20-15-2, 16 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
Sandoval, 138, was aggressive from the outset, ultimately dropping Evangelista, 139, with a right late in the first round. The Mexico City native beat the count and appeared fairly steady on his feet as the round came to a close.
Sandoval looked like a fighter that could smell a knockout as he came after Evangelista to open the second round. To the chagrin of even Sandoval’s large supportive contingent, referee Ed Collantes called an end to the fight after a flurry rocked Evangelista early in the stanza.
Though the outcome of the bout was hardly in doubt by even the second round, the crowd on hand seemed to feel cheated out of the probable decisive knockout victory Sandoval was en route to delivering. Official time was 34 seconds of the second.
Angel Chavez (7-0, 6 KOs) of Salinas, California utilized a size and strength advantage to stop debuting Elj Portee (0-1) of Oceanside, California by way of Baltimore, Maryland in the third-round.
Chavez, 178, cruised through a workmanlike opening two rounds as Portee, 178, trouble getting in punching range. Chavez turned up the heat in the third, ultimately landing a series of clobbering rights drop Portee in the blue corner. Referee Ed Collantes did not like something in Portee’s responses and stopped the fight midway through his count at 51 seconds of round three.
Former international amateur standout Shamar Canal (2-0, 2 KOs) of Albany, New York, a Devin Haney Promotions stablemate of Amari Jones, dismantled Dan Hernandez (0-2) of Riverside, California by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico en route to scoring three knockdowns in under three minutes.
Canal, 133, flashed considerable speed and Hernandez, 132, simply had no way to negate that natural disadvantage. The first knockdown came on a quick shot inside that if you blinked you missed it completely. The second knockdown came at the end of a long and straight right hand. The third knockdown, which prompted the end of the bout, came after a flurry alongside the ropes.
After Hernandez found himself on the mat for the third time, referee David Hartman called for the bell at 2:49 of round one.
In the opener, former sparring mates Sergio Vega (2-1-2, 2 KOs) of Woodland, California and Cmaje Ramseur (1-1-1, 1 KO) of Elk Grove, California fought to a crowd-pleasing, spirited draw.
Ramseur, 144, pressed the action early, forcing Vega, 140, to fight while backing up at moments in the first two rounds. Both fighters kept a steady pace early, but something seemed to light a fire under Vega late in the fight. A leaping left uppercut thrown by Vega in the fourth may have been the most telling blow in the fight, but Ramseur came right back with some clean shots of his own as the fight came to a close.
In the end, one judge had three of the four rounds for Ramseur, 39-37, but was overruled by the other two, who scored the fight even, 38-38, and thus a majority draw. At intermission, promoter Nasser Niavaroni named the bout fight of the night.
The intriguing co-main event scheduled to take place between Joeshon James (6-0, 3 KOs) of Sacramento and Chris Thompson (7-0, 5 KOs) of Kansas City, Missouri was scrapped two weeks ago when the Midwesterner pulled out with a reported wrist injury. Somewhat curiously, Thompson has already taken to social media with video hitting a heavy bag while touting a late August return to the ring. James was on hand and thanked his supporters who wanted to come see him fight.
The event, dubbed “Hot August Fights,” was promoted by Nasser Niavaroni and Upper Cut Promotions.
Photos by Erik Killin
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com
