In the opening bout of the evening?s pay-per-view telecast, lightweight prospect Joel Diaz, Jr., (20-0, 16 KOs), laid a beating on veteran opponent Luis Arceo, (28-14-4, 18 KOs), who fought back like a man before succumbing in the fourth round to cuts over each eye, his cheek, his nose, and the superior skill and power of his younger opponent. Each fighter rocked the other in the first round with the left hand. Diaz was surprisingly easy to hit for the slower, older Arceo but Diaz simply continued to step on the gas, daring Arceo to keep up as the two fighters traded leather over the next two rounds while Arceo?s face began to break down from the onslaught. In round four, Diaz finally put Arceo down with a straight left, right hand combination. Arceo rose to his feet and was game to continue but referee David Denkin stepped in to protect Arceo from himself at 1:27 of the fourth round.
Unbeaten super middleweight Ron Ellis, Jr., (12-0, 10 KOs), made quick work of Jas Phipps, (5-6-2, 2 KO), scoring a stoppage at 1:15 of round two due to a shoulder injury to Phipps. Early in round two Phipps went down after an Ellis flurry along the ropes. When Phipps got up he was holding his left shoulder and talking to the referee. Phipps was clearly favoring his shoulder when action resumed and he went down again after another Ellis flurry, even though it did not appear Ellis landed anything of significance. After Phipps beat the count, the referee walked Phipps over to the ringside physician, who advised the referee to call the fight after a short conversation with Phipps.
The opening bout of the undercard for Mosley v Mayorga II at the Forum in Inglewood, California, ended in a surprise as cruiserweight prospect Dimar Ortuz, (10-0-2, 7 KOs), survived two knockdowns by journeyman Victor Barragan, (12-8-1, 3 KOs), to escape with a generous split decision draw over eight rounds, 76-74, 74-76, 75-75. Ortuz was coming off a one year layoff and it showed, as Barragan was the more active fighter early and dropped Ortuz in round two with a right hook. Ortuz started to settle into a rhythm in the middle rounds, boxing well in the center of the ring, but he tired late, and Barragan took advantage with another right hook, dropping Ortuz onto the seat of his pants midway through round eight. Barragan had Ortuz in bad shape in the closing seconds but the unbeaten fighter managed to hold on to the final bell.
