Marques Valle was forced to go beyond the opening round for the first time as a pro.

The fight didn’t last much longer than that, however, as he was able to put away Paraguay’s Jorge Rodrigo Sosa in the second round of their junior middleweight contest. Valle scored three knockdowns in all, the last of which left Sosa unable to respond to referee Jose Rivera’s commands to bring a halt to the contest at 2:38 of round two in their ProBox TV preliminary contest Saturday evening from Whitesands Events Center in Plant City, Florida.

Valle—who hails from nearby Lutz, Florida—had fought less than six minutes combined through his first four bouts, blasting through the opposition since turning pro in September 2020. He was nearly on his way to another quick win when Sosa (3-5, 3KOs) was floored twice in the opening round. Valle went on the attack in the final 30 seconds, only for Sosa to literally hold on to make it to the bell.

The third and final knockdown came late in round two. Valle (5-0, 5KOs) cracked each side of Sosa’s body before landing a left hook that was window dressing by that point. Sosa beat the count but staggered abound as the referee gauged his awareness before deciding he was done for the night.

It was a good night for the Valle family. Younger brother Dominic Valle improved to 4-0 (4KOs) with a third-round stoppage of Nicaragua’s Manuel Guzman (8-6-1, 6KOs). Valle dropped Guzman hard, with the fight immediately waved off at 2:39 of round three in the opening bout of a five-fight live stream.

Julio Solis went more rounds than at any other point in his young career to remain unbeaten. The 21-year-old lightweight was extended eight rounds in a unanimous decision win over Argentina’s Emiliano Martin Garcia. Judges Michael Ross (80-72), Brad Jackson (80-72) and Brian Garry (80-72) all scored the contest in favor of Solis in preliminary action.

Solis—a Puerto Rican prospect who hails from nearby Tampa—scored six straight knockouts to begin his career before going the six-round distance in his most recent fight. Saturday marked his first time going eight rounds, boxing for the most part but also wasn’t scared to trade whenever Garcia (17-7-1, 13KOs) was able to close the gap and make things rough. Solis (8-0, 6KOs) remained composed and outboxed Garcia enough to earn his latest victory.

Headlining the show, unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Cesar Francis (10-0, 6KOs) faces former WBO lightweight titlist Raymundo Beltran (37-9-1, 23KOs) in a scheduled ten-round contest.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox