By Robert Coster

Bantamweight Junior Almonte, considered one of the Dominican Republic’s top prospects, faced off against fellow countryman Rafael Rodriguez with two titles at stake, the WBC Fecarbox belt and the vacant Dominican title, on Saturday in the city of Santiago. Almonte (8-0, 6 KOs), nicknamed “Little Bomb” (“Bombita”) certainly pleased his fans with a sterling performance, using combination punching to the head and the body against Rodriguez (11-2, 9 KOs), battering him in lethal and systematic manner. Rodriguez fell to his knees and was counted out at 1:51 of the first round.

The 23-year-old Almonte’s performance drew praise from his New York-based manager Frank Aybar. “Junior dismantled his opponent in clinical fashion. I really enjoyed his performance. This young man has the talent to go all the way–what we need is a good promoter.”

In another interesting match, 130lb Dominican champion Juan Orbin Medina defended his local title against Juan Alberto Garcia. The little known Garcia (8-0, 7 KOs) surprised Medina (15-2, 7 KOs) with his power and relentless attack. Medina chose, erroneously, to slug it out and was knocked down in the second round and stopped in the eighth, suffering another knockdown, getting up on wobbly legs which led the referee to stop the fight.

The 10 bout card was presented by Cruz and Rodriguez Boxing Promotion and held at the Nanni Marrero Coliseum.