Middleweight Raphael Igbokwe stopped hard-hitting Juan Carlos Rodriguez in round 3 Saturday night at the Oxigeno Human Playground in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Igbokwe, who resides in the Houston, Texas suburb of Fresno, improves to 16-2, 7 knockouts.

The southpaw Igbokwe was the more-accurate puncher of the two, landing straight left hands to the head of Rodriguez. Igbokwe hurt Rodriguez in round 3, battering him until referee Ronald Alvarez stepped in to stop the fight at 2:40.

The 28-year-old has now won his last four bouts since losing back-to-back split-decisions to Alexis Gaytan in 2019.

Rodriguez (18-3, 17 KOs), who resides in Caracas, Venezuela, has now split his last six fights after winning his first 15 fights as a pro.

Fringe junior lightweight contender Pablo Cruz of Houston defeated journeyman Jose Luis Graterol by unanimous decision.

Scores were 79-72, 79-72 and 80-71 in favor of Cruz, who improves to 21-3, 6 KOs and bounces back from losing a unanimous decision to Eddy Valencia in his previous fight on December 9.

The Venezuela-based Graterol drops to 22-21-5, 8 KOs.

Both Igbokwe and Cruz are both managed by Joseph Vredevelt.

In the main event, Yokasta Valle successfully defended her IBF 105-pound world title belt by defeating Sana Hazuki (8-5-1, 2 KOs) of Fukuoka, Japan by unanimous decision.

Scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 98-92 for Valle, who improves to 21-2, 9 KOs.

Originally from Nicaragua and now resides in San Jose, Costa Rica, Valle made the second defense of the IBF title she won in August 2019 by defeating Joana Pastrana of Spain by unanimous decision.

Also on the 3MG Boxing card, amateur standout Freudis Rojas of Las Vegas was successful in his pro debut, knocking out late-sub Luis Solorzano (5-23-1) of Nicaragua at 1:09 of the opening round.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene 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. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.