Light heavyweight Da’Mazion Vanhouter has passed exams in the classroom and in the boxing ring thus far.
The 18-year-old Vanhouter dropped Brad Ragan of Kansas City, Missouri twice en route to a first round knockout win at the Avanti Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida. Vanhouter, who resides in nearby Safety Harbor, improves to 3-0, 2 knockouts.
About a minute into the first round, Vanhouter hurt Ragan (1-3, 1 KO) with a left-right combination to the head. Another left hook dropped Ragan to the canvas. The momentum of the punch sent Ragan underneath the ropes and almost off the canvas and onto a table that was placed against the ring. Ragan beat the count, but was met by a right hand followed by a left hook to the body that prompted referee Frank Santore to stop the fight at 1:30.
Saturday’s win over Ragan was the U.S. debut for Vanhouter after fighting both his previous fight in Mexico. He made his pro debut at the age of 17 on April 2 of last year.
Vanhouter won multiple amateur championships as a teenager and has been sparring against former world light heavyweight title challenger Radivoje Kalajdzic since the age of 16. He has also been in training camps with former world welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman.
The oldest of five children, Vanhouter is a senior at Bayshore High School in Bradenton, Florida, which is south of the Tampa/ St. Petersburg area. Several faculty members from the Bayshore High School made the 90-minute trip to watch Vanhouter fight in person.
Both Vanhouter and Kalajdzic are managed by Ryan Rickey.
On top of excelling in the boxing ring, Vanhouter is also excelling in the classroom. He currently has a 4.0 GPA and is a finalist for being named valedictorian of his graduating class.
Vanhouter is trained by Rick Caronongan.
In the main event, middleweight Thomas Lamanna of Millville, New Jersey defeated Salim Larbi by unanimous decision. Scores were 95-94, 96-93, and 97-92 for Lamanna, who improved to 35-5-1, 14 KOs. Lamanna was the promoter of record for Saturday’s card.
Junior lightweight Orlando Gonzalez of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, defeated Mexico City’s Rodrigo Guerrero (26-16-2, 16 KOs) by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Gonzalez, who improved to 20-2, 12 KOs.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing