ATLANTIC CITY –  In the main event at Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel and Casino, Danny Roman (21-2-1, 8 KOs) of Los Angeles stopped previously undefeated Adam Lopez (16-1-1, 8 KOs) of San Antonio in the ninth round of a WBA final super bantamweight eliminator.  Roman has now won 14 in a row dating to March 2014, and none of the fights have been close.  

In the fourth round a big left hook dropped Lopez hard. He got up on unsteady legs, bleeding bad from his nose and soon went down for a second time from an uppercut. Lopez once again got up and took a beating for the remainder of the round. It was a miracle that Lopez survived the round.

Lopez seemed to be recovered by the fifth round and did some good work by fighting in the pocket while throwing combinations. As the fight continued, Roman was breaking Lopez down with harder punches and was busting him up to the head and body. Lopez's face was bruised and swollen as they entered the second half of the contest.

During the ninth, Lopez was hurt several times to the head and body. When Lopez went back to the corner, his trainer Ronnie Shields waved off the contest.

"I thought I was going to knock him out in the fourth," said Roman, who is promoted by Southern California-based Thompson Boxing Promotions. "I ran out of time. He was saved by the bell."

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Nevertheless, Roman, who is from Los Angeles, was not to be denied in the most high profile fight of his young career. The SHO Stats tell the story. The quick-handed Roman put a real hurt on Lopez by connecting on 54% of his power punches and 39% overall. After nine brutal rounds, Lopez's trainer called the fight.

"Roman fought a very disciplined and calculated fight," said Raul Marquez, expert analyst for Showtime. "He broke him down round by round. He took care of business. He gave Adam Lopez a beat down and now he's in line to fight world champion Nehomar Cermeno.

"He took his time. He didn't rush being that it was his first fight on TV. It was an eliminator. You thought he would be rushing into things. He boxed very well. Every round was a beat down."

"He was absolutely dominant," said Steve Farhood, longtime boxing analyst at Showtime.

Roman, 26, is staring at a world title opportunity.

"I'm thrilled to get this win," said Roman, who came in as the WBA No. 4, while Lopez was No. 3. "I did what I told everyone I was going to do. But I can't relax now. It's time to prepare for Nehomar Cermeno."

"Danny proved to the boxing world that his time has arrived," said Ken Thompson, president of Thompson Boxing Promotions. "We've been watching him develop into a top flight fighter and today he showed what he's capable of. He's going to be a world champion."

 Lopez, who left the ring promptly after the stoppage, was not happy with his performance.

“He was the better man tonight,” Lopez said in the locker room. “I kept trying to catch him with uppercuts and I got caught every time. I was trying to get on the inside, but it was hard.

“I thought I was clawing my way back into the fight, but my eye started hurting. It was the first uppercut that knocked me down in the fourth that got me right in the eye. It was hard to keep on going with my eye like that. When I got back to the corner after the ninth round, Ronnie told me he had seen enough and he stopped the fight.”

In the co-feature, undefeated super middleweight Ronald Ellis (14-0-1, 10 KOs) of Lynn, Mass. won an eight round unanimous decision over Christopher Brooker (11-3, 5 KOs) of Philadelphia, Pa. The scores were 77-75, 79-73, 79-73.

Ellis started fast and was hurting Brooker to the head and body. After two rounds, the fight became ugly with a lot of grabbing, holding and rough tactics by Brooker.

In the Showtime televised opener, former national amateur champion Kenneth Sims Jr. (11-0, 3 KOs)  won an eight round unanimous decision over Emmanuel Robles (15-2-1, 5 KOs) in a super lightweight bout. The scores were  78-73, 79-72, 79-72.

Sims had some tough moments in the fight, got shaken up and even lost a point for losing his mouthpiece multiple times, but the judges barely scored any rounds for Robles.