Joselito Velazquez made his presence known in a new weight class with a decisive win over a former world title challenger.
Velazquez dropped Andres Campos twice en route to an impressive knockout win late Friday night at the Poliforum in his adopted hometown of Cancun, Mexico. With the win, Velazquez (20-1-1, 13 knockouts) captured a regional title belt at 115 pounds and a world ranking by the WBC.
About midway through the opening round, a combination momentarily staggered Campos, who backed up against the ropes. Velazquez followed up, but Campos was able to weather the assault as he clenched or fought back in spurts.
Velazquez scored a knockdown in round two, dropping Campos with a lead left hook to the head. Campos beat the count, and again, weathered the onslaught of hooks and crosses Velazquez threw after action resumed.
Undaunted, Campos did his best work in rounds four and five, attempting to walk Velazquez down in order to land his share of punches.
The end of the fight came in the latter stages of round six as a left hook to the head staggered Campos back into a corner. Velazquez followed up to land a combination as Campos was on his way down to the canvas, prompting referee Javier Espinoza to immediately wave the fight off at 2:09.
Velazquez, who is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, previously fought on March 22, dropping Luis Araujo Arellano once en route to a unanimous decision win. On November 24, Velazquez defeated Pablo Carrillo by decision over 10 one-sided rounds.
The wins over Arrellano, Carrillo, and now Campos have taken place in Cancun.
The 31-year-old has won his last five fights since a unanimous decision loss to former world titleholder Cristofer Rosales.
Velazquez has been trained the last couple of years by Eddy Reynoso, who also trains Ring Magazine super middleweight champion and unified world titleholder Canelo Alvarez. He represented Mexico at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Campos, falls to 16-2-1, 5 KOs. In his previous fight in his hometown of Santiago, Chile on May 18, Campos fought to a majority decision draw against Edinson Martinez.
The 28-year-old Campos, who is managed by Tony Tolj, challenged then-IBF world flyweight titleholder Sunny Edwards on June 10 of last year, losing by unanimous decision. Campos returned to action three months later, dropping Ben Ligas before winning by knockout in round seven.
In the co-main event, junior featherweight Celex Castro, who also resides in Cancun, improved to 18-0, 14 KOs, dropping Argentina’s Ckari Cani Mansilla twice en route to a third round knockout victory.
Castro dropped Mansilla (17-4, 12 KOs) once in round two and once again in round three before the fight was stopped at 2:34.
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 santio89@yahoo.com
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