Houston Area Super featherweight prospect Michael Angeletti continues to take care of business and shoot up the 122-pound rankings. He scored a sensational first-round stoppage of an overmatched Rafael Morel on the undercard of Figueroa-Lipinets at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The knockout came abruptly at 2:28 of the opening round. Morel apparently suffered a fractured orbital bone in the fight. Angeletti moved his record to 6-0 (5). He originally hails from Louisiana, now lives in Spring, Texas, and is a 2016 US National Amateur champion. Angeletti hopes to be fighting for a world title within a year to a year and a half. He has sparred with the likes of Shakur Stevenson and has gone 10-12 rounds with the 130-pound unified champ. Additionally, he has done a lot of sparring with the legendary Cuban former world champ and two-time Gold Medalist Guillermo Rogondeaux. That preparation, with those legends combined with his early success, has assured him he is ready to move up in class and challenge for world titles. However, when he does move up, he plans on moving down in weight to 118lbs.
In the cards' main event, Rio Grande Valley hero and the first world champion to come from "The Valley", Omar "Panterita" Figueroa, didn't fare as well. Figueroa called it a career after a high-action but mostly one-sided loss to former 140-pound world champion Sergey Lipinets. Lipinets secured the victory via 8th round TKO when Figueroa's father and trainer Omar Sr informed Chris Young that his son had enough. Figueroa expressed that he was able to overcome a series of mental health issues and was thankful for the camp and preparation he had to even get back in the ring, but said his body just wasn't responding. If this is the last time we see Figueroa in the ring, he will walk away with a 28-3-1 (19) record, held the WBC lightweight title, and was one of the most entertaining and fan-friendly fighters of his era.
Also in action was "Pork Chop" Alejandro Guerrero who originally hails from Irving but now fights out of Houston, took on Xavier Martinez on the undercard of the Navarrete-Baez card in the Pechanga Arena in San Diego. Pork Chop gut things going in the fourth round and wobbled Martinez courtesy of a right hand. However, the success didn't last, as Martinez rallied and had Guerrero badly hurt in the fifth. Martinez unleashed a flurry of power shots causing Referee Eddie Hernandez, Sr. to call a halt to the bout. Guerrero dropped to 12-3 (9). It's his third consecutive loss after a very promising 12-0 start to his young career.