By Héctor Villarreal
Two members of Spartan Team beat previously undefeated opponents to win regional titles on Saturday night in Panama.
Panamanian John “El Emperador” Renteria (14-4-1, 11 KOs) stopped his countryman Lesvy “Preciso” Maure (4-1, 1 KO) at 0:19 on the fifth round to conquer the WBA Fedecentro welterweight championship at Veneto Hotel & Casino on the main event of the Sparta Bajo Fuego boxing card.
Cuban Daniel Matellon (5-0-2, 2 KOs) once again is the protagonist of a fight which is a genuine candidate for best of the year. Matellon battled for eleven rounds against Venezuelan Kenny Cano (10-1, 7 KOs) to win the WBA Latin American title by a tight unanimous decision. All 3 judges scored the same (105-104).
Two other Cuban fighters remained unbeaten.
Welterweight Damian Rodriguez (9-0, 5 KOs) scored an impressive 2nd round stoppage of Walter Perez (3-2-1, 3 KOs) and super feather Pablo Vicente (7-0, 5 KOs) crushed Felipe Lares by TKO in round five.
Jamaican welterweight Michael “Wasp” Gardener ( 6-2, 3 KOs) won a six round lopsided decision over Marcos Martínez (3-11-1, 3 KOs).