Heavyweight prospect Mike Balogun remained unbeaten late Friday night, knocking out Sergio Ramirez Marin at the Garden Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
Balogun, who resides in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, improves to 19-0, 15 knockouts. He has now stopped seven of his last eight opponents.
From the opening bell, the southpaw Balogun was the aggressor, putting Ramirez on the defensive. Past the midway point of the second round, Balogun dropped Ramiez with a well-placed punch to the body. Ramirez stayed on one knee as he was counted out at 1:49.
The 38-year-old played collegiate football at the University of Oklahoma in 2008. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the San Francisco 49ers in 2010, but was cut before the season began. He also signed to the practice squads that year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then-Washington Redskins before finally seeing action with the Buffalo Bills.
In his previous fight on December 2, Balogun stopped Trey Lippe in the opening round. He is promoted by Lou DiBella.
Ramirez, who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, drops to 20-8, 12 KOs.
In bantamweight action, Ja’Rico O’Quinn, who resides in Detroit, defeated Jobert Alvarez of the Philippines by unanimous decision.
All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of O’Quinn. The 26-year-old had not fought since losing in the opening round to bantamweight contender Saul Sanchez on a ShoBox telecast on September 24.
The 32-year-old Alvarez, who now resides in Renton, Washington, drops to 20-3-2, 7 KOs.
Junior lightweight Joshafat Ortiz, who is originally from Ponce, Puerto Rico and now resides in Reading, Pennsylvania, improved to 10-0 1 NC, 5 KOs, defeating Saint Louis’ Derrick Murray (15-5-1, 5 KOs) by unanimous decision.
In a clash of unbeaten heavyweights, Michael Pirotton stopped Jonathan Gruber (3-1, 2 KOs) of Fall River, Massachusetts at 1:58 of the fifth round. Pirotton, who resides in Liege, Belgium, improves to 6-0, 3 KOs.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 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 by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing
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