Giovanni Lorenzo, Leo Santa Cruz and Caballero Win

COMMERCE, CALIF.-Newly signed middleweight contender Giovanni Lorenzo didn’t waste time showing he’s a bargain for TKO Boxing Promotions in beating Daryl Salmon in three rounds on Thursday.

A crowd of 2,000 at Commerce Casino saw Lorenzo (29-2, 21 KOs) drop Salmon (16-4) twice in three rounds with the end coming at 2:53 of the third round with a counter left hook that let Salmon immobile. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. stopped the fight.

Lorenzo recently signed with the Las Vegas outfit and didn’t look old or slow despite his gray hair. Once the bell rang he looked to end the fight as quick as possible against the southpaw Salmon.

In the co-main event Leo Santa Cruz (13-0-1, 5 KOs) stepped on the gas from the opening bell against Mexicali, Mexico’s Jose Cota (8-5-1). Wherever Cota covered Santa Cruz found an opening especially with his blistering body shots that had the Mexicali boxer’s body red by the end of the first round. In the second round Cota’s guard came down to cover his reddened body when suddenly a left hook dropped him. He survived but couldn’t figure out how to stop the extremely skinny Santa Cruz’s attack. The third round saw Santa Cruz land two consecutive big right hands that snapped the Mexicali boxer’s head back and forced referee Raul Caiz Jr. to end the contest at 1:35 of the third round.

Coachella’s popular Randy Caballero (3-0, 3 KOs) brought a large crowd 100 miles west but all they got for their travel was 56 seconds of one-sided action. The former amateur star annihilated the over-matched but game Travis Bedwell (0-2) of Tennessee. It was a very bad mismatch and didn’t serve anyone especially Caballero and the fans. This guy had over 100 amateur fights. He’s probably ready to fight a more experienced opponent.

Russia’s Dmitry Chudinov (5-0, 3 KOs) needed only two rounds to beat another Tennessean in Nathan Bedwell (1-3) a tall southpaw. After Bedwell started pretty confident the air was literally let out of his belly with a Chudinov right hand in the first round and down he went. He got up and fought hard. In the second round Bedwell tried hard but Chudinov was too much for him and had him hurt at the end of the round. The referee gave him a break and let him come out for the third round but Chudinov blasted away forcing the referee to end the fight 18 seconds into the third round.

Ventura’s Austreberto Juarez (9-0) won a unanimous decision against Colorado’s very tough Ernie Marquez (9-7-1) in a six round flyweight bout.

Other bouts

Middleweight Mario Ortiz (10-1) stopped Ray Craig (9-6) at the end of the fifth round by technical knockout.

Cruiserweight Imad Ali (6-1) beat Valente Tinajero (8-2) by decision.

Heavyweight Steve Fierro (6-3-3) beat Tony Sanchez (0-2) by decision.

Heavyweight Alexander Flores (2-0) of Pomona stopped Arizona’s Richard Hill (1-2 with a counter right hand for a knockout at 1:15 of the second round.