By Francisco Salazar

LAS VEGAS - Junior middleweight and amateur standout Aaron McKenna was successful in his pro debut, winning by unanimous decision over Travis Conley (1-1, 1 KO).

McKenna repeatedly scored with right hands to the head of Conley, who was decent in spots, but was never close to putting McKenna in any danger. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of McKenna, who signed a promotional contract earlier this year with Golden Boy Promotions. 

Junior lightweight Pedro Duran remained unbeaten, dropping Daniel Evangelista twice en route to a knockout victory after the fifth round. The action was dull during the first three rounds until both fighters began letting their hands go in the fourth round.

Duran (16-0-2, 13 KOs) dropped Evangelista twice in the fifth round, leading to Evangelista (20-9-2, 16 KOs) to remain on his stool after the fifth round. 

In the opening bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, flyweight Joselito Velazquez stopped veteran Armando Vazquez.

Velazquez (5-0, 5 KOs), who represented Mexico at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, utilized his height and reach to rain punches down on Vazquez (22-21-1, 5 KOs), who gave all he had, but was not able to keep up with Velazquez.

A barrage of punches dropped Vazquez in round five. Vazquez stood up and fought back, but was hurt again, prompting referee Jay Nady to stop the fight at 1:27.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV.com, and FightNights.com. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing