Jose “Gato” Roman KOs Carlos Cardenas in the Opening Round

Roman KOs Carlos Cardenas – An anxious Jose “Gato” Roman returned to the boxing ring after a recent cancellation and erased Colombia’s Carlos Cardenas by knockout in the first round of a lightweight division fight on Friday evening.

Garden Grove’s Roman (23-1- 1, 16 KOs) was forced to suffer a cancellation in his last fight due to an opponent’s heaviness. He took out his frustrations on Cardenas (20-11- 1, 13 KOs) before a strong crowd at the Doubletree Hotel.

After some tentative probing and an exchange of blows, a quick short left hook staggered Cardenas to the surprise of Roman who quickly slipped into attack mode. The shaken Colombian tried to punch his way out and caught a few on the chin instead.

Roman chased Cardenas around the boxing ring with a concentrated attack. Both fighters exchanged but a left hook dropped the Colombian. He attempted to get up but was unable to rise to his feet. It was all over in 86 seconds.

Last month Roman was supposed to fight in the main event but his opponent was too heavy. Weeks earlier Roman’s father had passed away due to complications during surgery. A lot was on Roman’s shoulder and perhaps the postponement helped. In this fight he seemed poised and ready. Cardenas never had a chance.

Other bouts

In a head-banging clash between lightweights, John Delperdang (7-1, 7 KOs) out-brawled Colombia’s Andres Figueroa (7-2, 5 KOs) and knocked him out at 2:12 of the fourth round.

Figueroa had some moments with a solid body attack but Delperdang floored Figueroa with a short right from inside close quarters. After that, the Ontario prizefighter kept the pressure on until the fight was stopped.

A battle between undefeated super featherweights saw Pacoima’s tall Michael Norato (3-0) emerge the winner by decision over Mexico’s Miguel Barajas (2-1) after four rounds. A solid body attack in the last two rounds gave Norato the advantage in fight that was closer than the scores of the three judges, each of whom scored it 40-36. Every round was close but Norato was a little better.

Northern California’s Ruben “Cuatro” Villa (1-0) didn’t waste time in his pro debut, knocking out Mexico’s Gerardo Molina (1-1) at 2:25 of the first round of their featherweight clash. Villa, who was recently signed by Thompson Boxing Promotions and Banner Promotions, drove down with several dozen fans from Salinas. He floored Molina with the first left cross he landed. After bloodying Molina’s nose the southpaw Villa connected with a lead left cross that forced referee Raul Caiz Jr. to stop the fight. Villa is a former amateur national champion.

In a battle of new pros, Argentina’s Neri Romero (2-0, 2 KOs) connected first and knocked out Mexico’s debuting Pedro Dimas with a left hook to the body at 58 seconds into the first round of a lightweight contest. Referee Raul Caiz counted Dimas out. The Argentine was accompanied by former two-division world champion Marcos Maidana.

Roman KOs Carlos Cardenas