MATT VANDA, HURTADO, KAYONGO TRIUMPH AT THE ARMORY

Unbeaten jr middleweight Matt Vanda of Saint Paul’s East Side improved his record to (29-0, 20 KOs) Friday night in St. Paul, MN by knocking out Wayne Boudreaux (28-26-1) of Marrero, LA in round four.

Vanda looked very sharp and accurate with his punches, frustrating Boudreaux with good movement. Boudreaux was never intimidated by the busier Vanda and did show up to fight, but just couldn’t seem to put together much offence of his own, fighting defensively most of the fight.

Vanda started off using his jab effectively early. He would rock Boudreaux with a hard left to the head midway through the first and a right uppercut again got Boudreaux’s attention. Other than a late flurry in the closing seconds, it was a very cautious round for Boudreaux.

Vanda started to get busier inside during the second, concentrating more on the body. Vanda followed a hard right uppercut to the head with two hurtful left hooks that sent Boudreaux reeling back into the ropes. “The Predator” pounced on Boudreaux and unloaded straight lefts and rights to the head. Boudreaux managed to work his way off the ropes and cover up nicely, but still did not offer much offense in return to this point.

The third round started much like the two previous rounds, with Vanda working behind a stiff jab. Vanda landed two consecutive left hooks and followed up with two hard jabs that snapped the head back of Boudreaux. However, Boudreaux capitalized on a wild miss from Vanda and caught him hard with a right-left combination to the head just as the bell sounded. Vanda walked back to his corner smiling at Boudreaux.

The hometown fighter came out in the fourth looking to close the show for his fans. A left hook to the head sent Boudreaux stumbling against the ropes where Vanda pinned him and landed at will. Two vicious uppercuts landed flush to the head of Boudreaux, slumping him down to his knees. Boudreaux tried bravely to get up, but referee Mark Nelson stopped his count and waived the fight off to save him from further punishment.

In other action, former WBA super lightweight champion Diobelys Hurtado (36-3-1, 24 KOs) made his welterweight debut a successful one by knocking out Rudy Lovato (19-27). The Cuban spent much of the first round chasing down the defensive minded Lovato. Hurtado backed Lovato up with nice hard jabs, and a right cross to the head dropped Lovato midway through the round. Hurtado started to pick it up in the second, a left cross stunned Lovado and moments later a nice right to the head sent Lovato into the ropes. Hurtado was landing more solidly as Lovato opened up his guard just a little.

Hurtado landed a hard overhand right toward the end of the third round that put Lovato down . Lovato tried to get back to his feet, but ended up back on the canvas. Mark Nelson counted him out at 2:10 of the round.

Also winning in impressive fashion was prospect Mohammed Kayongo of Kampala, Uganda now (7-0, 6 KOs) as he busted up and stopped the tough Mark Norge of Pittsburgh, PA

Ramone Hough also contributed to this report.