Jaycob Bradley Gomez enjoyed his earliest night at the office in more than 17 months.
The unbeaten 22-year-old southpaw from Caguas, Puerto Rico bumped off his second consecutive unbeaten opponent after a fifth-round technical knockout win over Ezequiel Borrero. Gomez scored an opening round knockdown and had Borrero hurt along the ropes to force the stoppage at 1:40 into the fifth round Wednesday evening at Whitesands Events Center in Plant City, Florida.
The 2024 ProBox TV Wednesday season premiere saw Gomez fight at the series’ headquarters for the fourth time and his third straight appearance. He didn’t waste any time to make his mark versus Las Vegas’ Borrero, whom he dropped with a straight left midway through the opening round.
Gomez remained composed but once again had Borrero hurt in round two. He was denied a knockdown call when Borrero’s glove touched the canvas during an exchange, though the sequence was ruled a slip.
Borrero was not without his moments. He was able to tag Gomez with right hooks on several occasions, but lacked the fire power to keep the rising Boricua at bay.
Gomez closed the show in round five. Borrero (6-1, 2KOs; 1NC) was pinned along the ropes and unable to defend himself from a power-punching flurry, at which point the bout was brought to a halt.
The win marked the first inside the distance for Gomez (9-0-1, 6KOs) since August 2022, when he stopped Angel Luna in the opening round at this very venue. He has since gone the distance in three straight fights prior to his sixth stoppage win registered on Wednesday.
Gomez-Borrero was the opening bout of a ProBox tripleheader. Headlining the show, Luis Feliciano (17-0, 8KOs) and Mykquan Williams (19-0-2, 8KOs) in a ten-round battle between unbeaten junior welterweights.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox