Amilcar Vidal turned out to be the better prospect.
Vidal, an undefeated middleweight from Uruguay based in Southern California, stopped previous unbeaten Edward Ortiz at 1:58 of Round 2 in a scheduled 10-rounder Saturday in Los Angeles.
The 24-year-old native of Montevideo hurt Ortiz (11-1-2, 4 KOs) with a huge overhand right. He then followed with about 25 hard punches, many of which landed on Ortiz’s face.
Referee Edward Hernandez Sr. jumped in when it was clear that Ortiz was taking too many big shots and stopped the fight. The winner outlanded the loser 32-7, according to CompuBox. Thirty of the punches Vidal landed were power shots.
“I trained for this, and I knew when he felt my punches, it would be over,” Vidal said. “I worked very hard to perform the way that I did tonight.”
Vidal (12-0, 11 KOs) has now stopped three consecutive unbeaten fighters, four in the past six months. Ten of his knockouts have come within two rounds.
The fact Vidal can fight at all is a miracle. He was run over by a truck about five years ago, which put him in a hospital for two months with a broken pelvis. He also needed surgery on his left arm, which left a large scar.
Vidal was told by doctors that he would never walk again. Now he seems to be a threat to the top middleweights.
Also, cruiserweight prospect Efetobor Apochi (10-0, 10 KOs) dropped Joe Jones (11-3, 8 KOs) three times before stopping him 51 seconds into Round 3.