Photo by Showtime Sports
Sammy Vasquez Jr. (18-0-0, 13 KOs) once again thrilled his hometown crowd at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Shobox this Friday night with a dominate performance over the extremely tough Emmanuel Lartey (16-3-1, 7 KOs).
Lartey’s two previous losses had been in close, competitive fights against very talented up-and-coming prospects Errol Spence Jr. and Felix Diaz, but he was no match for Vasquez, who dominated nearly every minute of the 10-round main event.
Vasquez proved the slicker, more accomplished fighter from the get-go, establishing a rock-solid jab that kept Lartey at distance for most of the fight.
Vasquez, who they call “The Who Can Mexican,” controlled tempo in the first six rounds, moving Lartey backwards and working off of the jab, landing very effective straight left hands to Lartey’s face and putting in damaging work to the body.
Anytime Lardey attempted to get off first, he was immediately shut down, countered by sharp right hooks that stunned Lardey and allowed Vasquez to land three and four punch combinations.
It wasn’t until the sixth round when Lardey was able to stop Vasquez’s onslaught with an illegal low blow that hurt Vasquez, and drew Lardey a warning.
Moving into the second half of the fight, Lardey seemed worn down, frustrated at the beating he’d been taking and the fact he was landing at a very low percentage.
After a phone booth-fought eight round, Lardey’s facial features looked disfigured, but he decided to come out for the ninth round at the request of his corner who pleaded, “Give me one more!”
Vasquez was able to coast to a unanimous decision victory, his 18th win as a professional. He moves into 2015 still undefeated and under the wing of boxing’s most influential advisor, Al Haymon.
In the co-main event, Baytown Texas’ Craig Baker, an undefeated but unproven Light Heavyweight shocked the former Cuban amateur star, Humberto Savigne.
Savigne was able to come out fast in the first round and hurt Baker early with clubbing right hands, but Baker recovered and won the second half of the opening round.
The second round was all Baker, who hurt Savigne with a strong overhand right that put him on the ropes.
Baker dropped Savigne with a left uppercut followed by a right hook, sending him to the canvas.
Savigne was able to get to his feet but was not steady enough and was stopped for a surprising and disappointing TKO loss.
Also on the card, one-loss Dominican prospect Claudio Marrero looked very impressive in a unanimous decision victory over Orlando Rizo in the opening bout of the broadcast.
