NEW YORK–The weigh-in fight was more competitive then the actual fight. Jose Zepeda annihilated Josue Vargas in the opening frame of their junior welterweight fight at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Zepeda landed a short left to the head that froze Vragas, who immediately fell face first on the canvas. Vargas tried to get up and then crashed into the bottom rope. Vargas did eventually get to his feet but then ate a devastating barrage in the corner and the fight was stopped at 1:45.
Zepeda, 139.6 lbs of Long Beach, CA is 35-2 with 30 knockouts. Vragas, 139 lbs of Bronx, NY is 19-2.
JOSE ZEPEDA
“I was ready. I was 100 percent ready, and I told him in the press conference there’s levels to this. He was the one who wanted to fight me. I just accepted the fight, and it showed today that boxing is not a game in there. There’s levels to this.”
“I told him, and he probably knew I hit hard. I don’t think he recovered after that shot.”
“After the way he went down, I didn’t think {he’d recover}. He probably was going to head up, but he was going to be wobbly on his feet, and that’s what happened and I was able to finish him.”
“I’m 32 years old, and I’m in my prime. I want the WBC world title and all the belts, to be honest. I’m ready for it. I showed today I’m ready for the WBC world title.”
VARGAS
“He caught me with a good left hand, and I tried to recover, but I think I got up too fast. That’s what happened. Overall, I’m OK. I’m good. I’m healthy. We’re not stopping from here. It’s on to the next.”
“I learned from my disqualification loss, and now I learned from my second loss.”
“It’s part of the sport. The greatest athletes in boxing have losses. I’m not ashamed of myself. I’ll be back stronger, for sure.”
Sultan Knocks down Caraballo 4 times; Decisions Caraballo
Jonas Sulton pulled off an upset victory as he dropped previously perfect Carlos Caraballo and won a 10-round unanimous decision in a bantamweight fight.
In round two, Sultan dropped Caraballo with a flurry to the head. In round three, Sultan sent Caraballo to the deck again with a left right to the face. In round four, Caraballo came back to rock Sultan several times.
Sultan came back in round six as he sent Caraballo to the canvas with a left hook. In round eight, Caraballo began to rock Sultan with some hard left hooks and hurt his opponent several times. Sultan began to swell under his right eye, In round nine, Sultan seemed to have sealed the fight when he floored Caraballo with a hard counter right.
Sultan landed 92 of 480 punches; Caraballo was 137 of 352.
Sultan, 117.6 lbs of the Philippines won by scores of 94-93 on all cards and is now 18-5. Caraballo, 117.6 lbs of Puerto Rico is 14-1.
“This is boxing. This is war. And I came to win tonight. Caraballo is a tough man, but I wanted this one,” said Sultan
Carlos Jackson pounded out a eight-round unanimous decision over Jonathan Guzman in a junior featherweight bout.
Jackson landed 79 of 385 punches; Guzman 93 of 352.
Jackson, 123 lbs of Atlanta, GA won by scores of 78-74 and 77-75; Guzman won a card 77-75.
Jackson is now 18-1. Guzman, 123 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is 24-2.
In a toe-to-toe war, Mathew Gonzalez and Dakota Linger stood chest to chest and wailed away on each other, and the six-round junior welterweight contest ended in a majority draw.
The two landed many hard blows, which included a sixth round that had the crowd on their feet as Linger made a furious stand and took the final round that got him the draw by scores of 58-56 for Gonzalez and 57-57 twice.
Gonzalez landed 150 of 522 punches; Linger was 122 of 509.
Gonzalez, 143 lbs of Ridgewood, NY is 12-0-1. Linger, 141.8 lbs of Buckhannon, WV is 12-5-3.
In a spirited and at times testy six-round welterweight bout, Pablo Valdez remained undefeated with a majority decision over Alejandro Martinez.
Valdez, 148.4 lbs of New York won by scores of 59-55 twice and 57-57 to go to 5-0. Martinez, 148.6 of East Los Angeles is 2-2-1.
Jahi Tucker stopped Jorge Rodrigo Sosa in round two of their scheduled six-round welterweight bout.
Tucker hurt Sosa several times during the fight and finished off with a hard combination in the corner that forced referee Shawn Clark to stop the bout at 2:18.
Tucker, 147.6 lbs of Deer Park, NY is 5-0 with three knockouts. Sosa, 145.2 lbs is 3-3.
Ray Cuadrado won a four-round unanimous decision over Michael Land in a junior lightweight contest.
Cuadrado, 129.6 lbs of Ridgewood, NY won by scores of 49=0-36 and 39-37 and is now 2-0. Land, 129.4 lbs of Dallas, TX is 1-4-1.
Kasir Goldston remained undefeated with a four-round unanimous decision over Marc Misiura in a junior welterweight fight.
In the final round, Misiura was docked a point for an intentional headbutt to the mouth.
Goldston, 142 lbs of Albany, NY won by scores of 40-35 on all cards and is now 4-0. Mislura, 142.2 lbs of Scranton, PA is 2-2.
NOTES—During the Caraballo-Sultan fight, the roof of the Hulu Theater began to shake due to a sold out concert featuring Harry Styles that was playing in the big room at Madison Square Garden.
