by Francisco Salazar, photos by Mikey Williams & German Villasenor

(GLENDALE, California) - Jose Felix is relying more on his power in his last two fights.

What has resulted is two knockout wins.

Felix stopped Luis Solis in the third round of a 10 round lightweight bout at the Civic Auditorium.

The bout headlined a nine-bout "Solo Boxeo Tecate" card, which was promoted by Top Rank, in association with Bash Boxing and Art of Boxing.

Felix was unbeaten in his first 27 bouts before losing a 12 round unanimous decision to interim WBA junior lightweight title holder Bryan Vasquez on April 12. Felix bounced back from the loss, stopping Alejandro Rodriguez in the sixth round.

Solis entered the bout on Saturday having lost three bouts in a row.

Solis was game from the opening bell, using his aggression to land left and right hands to the head of Felix.

Undaunted, Felix swung momentum in his favor early in the second round, dropping Solis with a left hook to the head. Solis continued to be game, but Felix was more on the attack.

Felix ended matters in the third round. A left hook to the head dropped Solis to the canvas. Referee Dr. Lou Moret immediately waved the fight over at 41 seconds.

Felix, from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, improves to 28-1-1, 23 KOs. Solis, from Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico, drops to 15-6-4, 12 KOs.

In a special attraction, flyweight Brian Viloria knocked out Armando Vasquez in the fourth round of a stay-busy fight.

The knockout win over Vasquez was his third win in a row since losing a 12 round split decision to Juan Francisco Estrada in April of last year.

The taller Viloria kept his distance from Vasquez, who pressed the fight in order to get on the inside, finding some success. During an exchange in the second round, Viloria was cut over his left eye due to an accidental head-butt.

Vasquez continues to find success, but Viloria began to time his opponent with hooks to the head and body.

In the fourth round, Viloria threw and landed a well-timed left hook to the body of Vasquez, sending him down to one knee. Vasquez tried getting up, but remained on one knee as referee Jack Reiss counted him out at 41 seconds.

Viloria, from Waipahu, Hawaii, improves to 35-4, 21 KOs. Vasquez, from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, drops to 20-14-2 1NC, 5 KOs.

Saul Rodriguez scored an emphatic sixth round knockout over Juan Solis. It was a major step up in opposition for Rodriguez (15-0-1, 12 KOs), who is co-trained by Robert and Eduardo Garcia. Solis (20-9, 9 KOs) came to fight, landing an occasional right that grabbed the attention of Rodriguez in the first couple of rounds. Rodriguez hurt Solis in the fourth round with a left hook to the head, but was unable to follow up as Solis used lateral movement to get hit again.

After a decent fifth round, Rodriguez ended matters impressively in the following round. Rodriguez landed a double left hook to the head that hurt Solis, eventually dropping him with a right to the head. Solis remained on one knee as referee Jerry Cantu counted him out at 56 seconds.

Welterweight Arnold Barboza won a four round unanimous decision over Samuel Garcia. Barboza (4-0) landed the more-telling blows, beating the game Garcia (0-2) to the punch during most of the exchanges. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Barboza.

2012 Olympic Silver Medalist Esquiva Falcao stopped Lanny Dardar (2-2-2, 1KO) in the fifth round. Esquiva (6-0, 4 KOs) controlled most of the action, finding success by digging to the body of Dardar. To his credit, Dardar hung in there and landed a few telling blows, but seemed to wince often when Esquiva landed to the body. A barrage of punches in the fifth round hurt Dardar, backing him up against the ropes. Referee Dr. Lou Moret saw enough, waving the fight over at 1:31.

In a bout featuring middleweights making their professional debuts, Cem Kilic won a four round unanimous decision over Jose Mejia. The more-polished Kilic was able to easily counter Mejia's aggression, landing at will to the head and body. All three judges scored the bout 40-36 in favor of Kilic.

 

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