By Ricardo Ibarra
On August 24th the Clackamas Armory in Clackamas, Oregon will play host to professional boxing for a second time this month. In what promises to be a stacked night of fights, Pure Combat will stage a mixed combat sports event at the venue featuring both professional and amateur boxing, as well as mixed martial arts. Headlining the card will be unbeaten Jr. lightweight prospect Victor Morales, Jr. (11-0, 7 KOs), taking on Darryl Hayes (6-14, 1 KO) in one of four pro boxing matchups scheduled.
Morales, a stand-out Pacific Northwest amateur who competed internationally for team USA, will be looking to notch his twelfth consecutive professional win, having gone his first eleven fights without a blemish. In his most recent victory, the twenty-one-year old from Vancouver, Washington defeated Marcello Gallardo this past April, scoring a seventh round TKO over the experienced journeyman. The win was his fifth straight victory to come within the distance.
Morales and Hayes will square off over eight rounds at the featherweight limit.
Highlighting the undercard will be a promising six round battle between lightweight buzz-saw Cris Reyes (7-0, 6 KOs), of Washington state, and tough Oregon journeyman Marco Cardenas (7-7-1, 3 KOs). Reyes, who’s made a strong impression in the Pacific Northwest since turning pro in October of 2017, has scored all but one of his wins by knockout and all of those within two rounds. He put on an impressive display in his last outing, needing just a little over half a round to stop California’s Lennard Davis on June 1st. Cardenas, a fan favorite in the region due to his busy style and propensity to brawl, last fought in November, scoring a fourth-round stoppage win over Jorge Linares. The two fighters will square off at the 135 lbs. limit.
Rounding out the remainder of the pro boxing portion of the card will be undefeated welterweight Nicholas Jefferson (9-0, 5 KOs), fighting in a four rounder against an opponent to be announced soon; and local favorite Lorenzo Caldera (1-0, 1 KO) squaring off with Phillip Schwartz (0-1) in a four round lightweight bout. A full line-up of amateur boxing, and pro and amateur MMA will fill out the rest of the show.
For ticket links and more info visit the Pure Combat Facebook page.