Giovanni Marquez overwhelmed Nicky Vitone on Friday night.
The junior welterweight prospect from Houston remained unbeaten by stopping Vitone in the second round of a scheduled eight-round encounter on the Albert Bell-Presco Carcosia undercard at OTE Arena in Atlanta. Marquez knocked Vitone to the canvas late in the first round, resumed his onslaught early in the second round and left referee Malik Waleed little choice but to step between them and end their one-sided bout 59 seconds into the second round.
The 22-year-old Marquez is a son of former IBF junior middleweight champ Raul Marquez, who serves as an analyst for Showtime’s boxing broadcasts. Marquez, a 152-pound national Golden Gloves champ in 2021, continued his strong start as a professional.
Vitone (9-3-1, 7 KOs), of Pine Brook, New Jersey, lost by technical knockout in a second straight bout. Underdog Jordan Rosario (5-10, 1 KO) previously stopped the 27-year-old Vitone in the sixth round of his April 1 bout in Paramus, New Jersey.
After dropping Vitone late in the first round, Marquez unloaded an array of power punches that hurt Vitone again early in the second round. Vitone tried to hold 30 seconds into the second round, but Marquez broke free and continued to hammer him with punishing punches.
Waleed wisely stepped between them to stop the brutal beating a little less than a minute into the second round. Vitone remained on his feet when Waleed waved an end to the bout.
Marquez caught Vitone with a right uppercut about 10 seconds before the first round ended. Marquez’s multi-punch combination thereafter, punctuated by a left hook, knocked Vitone to the canvas a few seconds before the bell sounded.
Marquez’s sweeping right hand rocked Vitone 1:20 into the first round. A right-left combination by Marquez also landed several seconds later.
Super flyweight prospect Stephanie Chavez easily defeated Devany Cuevas by unanimous decision in a six-round bout that immediately preceded Marquez’s impressive victory.
Chavez (3-0, 0 KOs), of Orange, California, clearly outboxed Cuevas and scored a shutout on the cards of judges Trae Webb and Carl Williams, both of whom scored her a 60-54 winner. Judge Richard Sells scored two rounds for Cuevas, who lost 58-56 on his card.
San Antonio’s Cuevas (2-5-1, 0 KOs) is 0-5-1 in her past six fights.
In the first fight DAZN streamed Friday night, explosive southpaw David Lopez dropped Joseph Suero twice within the first 75 seconds of their scheduled four-round welterweight bout and produced a first-round technical knockout.
Las Vegas’ Lopez (4-0, 3 KOs) first floored Suero with an overhand left that sent Suero into an awkward position just 22 seconds into their bout. Suero got up, but a vicious right hook by the 19-year-old Lopez knocked Suero flat on his back, beneath a bottom rope, with 1:49 on the clock in the opening round.
Suero (4-2, 4 KOs), a southpaw from Duluth, Georgia, got up again, but referee Nate Mann determined that he was unfit to continue. The official time of the stoppage was 1:27 of the first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.