Before Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs meet to unify their Middleweight titles, DAZN presented three prelim fights. Here are results from the card: Vergil Ortiz., Jr. def. Mauricio Herrera, KO (Round 3, 0:29) Vergil Ortiz quickly established himself as the faster, cleaner fighter against Mauricio Herrera. Starting in the first round, he had the veteran seemingly befuddled. Late in round 2, he threw a series of shots that put Herrera down hard in the final second of the round. Herrera made it out for round 3, but Ortiz quickly landed a clean right cross that put Herrera down and out, and that was that. Joseph Diaz Jr. def. Freddy Fonseca, TKO (Round 7, 2:07) Joseph Diaz Jr. came out aggressively in his fight with Freddy Fonseca. He started round 1 throwing hard shots, clearly looking for the early KO to re-establish himself as a fighter to watch. His work to the body was particularly impressive, as he dug into his hooks there, mixing them in nicely between shots upstairs. In round 6 he out together a combination that dropped Fonseca and seemed to really hurt him (including, to be fair, one to the back of his head). Fonseca made it back to his feet and through the round, but it was realistically over at that point. Two minutes into round 7, Fonseca’s corner wisely stepped up and threw in the towel, making Diaz the first man to stop him. Lamont Roach Jr. def. Jonathan Oquendo, UD (97-92, 97-92, 96-93) The main card opener was a match between the undefeated Lamont Roach Jr and battle-tested veteran Jonathan Oquendo. And it was a tough, back and forth battle. Both men landed some good shots, including at one point a very good body shot from Oquendo that staggered Roach. But neither was able to really impose his will and make a particularly strong case for the win. Some controversy came in round 8 when Oquendo lost a point for headbutts, though the deduction seemed possibly premature. In the end, that didn’t matter, as Roach earned the win and stayed undefeated.<doc-sep>Along with former titleholder Gennadiy Golovkin, WBO middleweight titleholder Demetrius Andrade is one of two guys most likely to face Canelo Alvarez when Alvarez returns on Sept. 14, barring injury or anything like that. Canelo has made clear that he wants to fully unify the 160-pound division, and Andrade’s strap is the only one he hasn’t collected. Andrade was in attendance at Canelo-Jacobs last night, and unlike Golovkin, he liked the fight. He was also one of the very few who thought Jacobs won. “I was entertained by the fight, two guys that have a great IQ,” Andrade said on the DAZN post-fight show. “Danny Jacobs, I thought he did what he had to do to pull it off, but I’m not the judge. Canelo definitely came to fight and it was great for boxing.” Andrade (27-0, 17 KO) returns to the ring on June 29 to face Maciej Sulecki in his second title defense. “I’ve got Sulecki next, he’s a guy that fought Danny Jacobs, another top guy. I get him out of the way and Canelo should be the guy,” he said. Asked how he would combat Alvarez, Andrade didn’t give too much away. “Just be me and don’t get too caught up with what’s going on,” he stated. “One thing I will do is put my jab in his face all night.” Andrade’s fight with Sulecki will be held in Andrade’s hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, and will be a DAZN main event. While most may not see it as a big fight, it’s huge for Andrade’s career. “This is my stepping stone to be able to say I want Canelo next.”<doc-sep>The biggest night of boxing thus far in 2019 is finally upon us. WBC and WBA middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) will have his large Mexican fanbase backing him on this Cinco de Mayo weekend, as he unifies titles with IBF champion Daniel Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) in Saturday’s main event. Before they enter the ring, there’s a full night of fights set for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. You can watch the four preliminary card fights right here on Bloody Elbow starting at 6 PM ET/3 PM PT, before main card action commences exclusively on DAZN at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT. We are LIVE for the #CaneloJacobs Undercard Watch the Main Card https://t.co/j4BIUfmyff https://t.co/8Nb4tfJHsS — DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) May 4, 2019 The bout order for the prelims is as follows: Preliminary Card Anthony Young def. Sadam Ali by TKO at 2:38 of round 3 - 10 rounds, welterweights John Ryder def. Bilal Akkawy by TKO at 2:12 of round 3 - 12 rounds, super-middleweights Aram Avagyan def. Francisco Esparza by unanimous decision (97-92, 96-93, 96-93) - 10 rounds, featherweights Alexis Espino def. Billy Wagner by unanimous decision (39-35, 30-35, 39-34) - 4 rounds, super-middleweights<doc-sep>
The fights are underway at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the Canelo vs Jacobs card, and we saw some young fighters get in work on the Facebook prelims portion of the show. To watch Canelo vs Jacobs live, sign up for DAZN! Aram Avagyan UD-10 Francisco Esparza Scores were 96-93, 96-93, and 97-92, which were deserved. Avagyan (9-0-1, 4 KO) is a 28-year-old featherweight from Armenia, represented his country at the 2016 Olympics and lost in the second round to Ireland’s Michael Conlan, now a top prospect with Top Rank. Avagyan struggled a bit early with Esparza (9-1-1, 3 KO), including getting clipped and dropped in the second round, but starting around the fourth, Avagyan’s class and skills just took over, and he was able to pretty handily outbox the 24-year-old Esparza down the stretch. Bad Left Hook had it 96-93 for Avagyan, giving Esparza the first three rounds plus that knockdown, but the last seven frames to Avagyan. Alexis Espino UD-4 Billy Wagner 19-year-old Matchroom prospect Espino (2-0, 1 KO) weighed in at 164 for this fight, but he’ll try to settle in at 160 when the fights get serious, where he’ll be a really big fighter. There’s a chance he’ll never quite be able to do 160 given his frame, but that’s the plan. Anyway, Espino dominated this fight, but Montana’s Wagner (1-1, 0 KO) was tough as all hell, gave the kid four really good rounds, and Espino and trainer Robert Garcia knew that, showing great respect to Wagner after the fight. Wagner took some big shots and stayed up in this one. There appeared to be a knockdown in the second, but then it seemed like referee Jay Nady didn’t count the knockdown after Espino landed a shot once Wagner was on the canvas, kneeling. Espino lost a point for that. But whatever, Espino won on scores of 39-34, 39-35, and 39-35, and got a bloody nose for his efforts.