Two fights on Golden Boy’s ESPN card brought two early knockouts. In the main event, Ismael Barroso revitalized his career with a third round stoppage of Fidel Maldonado Jr. Marcelino Lopez also scored a big win in the opener.
Ismael Barroso (20-1-2, 19 KOs) took a step toward re-establishing his reputation as a fearsome power puncher in the main event. The first two rounds were competitive, if not a little ugly by their end. Barroso landed a couple decent shots in a mostly uneventful first round. Conversely, Fidel Maldonado (24-4-1, 19 KOs) landed a few beautiful counters in the first minute of the second round, but from there the fight devolved into an ugly clinch fest until a pair of big left hands landed from Barroso in the third.
Those shots put Maldonado down hard. He got up and clinched his way through finishing the round, but he the same strategy lost him a point in the fourth for repeated holding and hitting. In the fifth Fidel tried to reassert himself, but all he received in return were more left hands and a bad cut under his right eye. The sixth round brought the finish. It was yet again a left hand from Barroso that brought Maldonado to his hand and knees, but this time it was to his body and he did not rise.
Opening the card, Pablo Cesar Cano (30-7-1, 21 KOs) started strong with an aggressive first round. Behind strong combination punching, the Mexican native landed quite a bit and opened a notable cut over Marcelino Lopez’s (33-2-1, 18 KOs) eye. It was all for naught, however, when a huge right hand from Lopez basically knocked Cano out on his feet in the second round. Unfortunately for Cano, he froze on his feet and took another left on the way down. He beat the count, but the fight was wisely called off.
This result almost assuredly ends Cano’s career as even a fringe contender while likewise marking a new chapter in the career of Marcelino Lopez.
