Jonathan Lopez is asserting himself more as a force to be reckoned with at 130 pounds.
He proved that point with a vicious knockout win on Saturday night.
Lopez scored a vicious one-punch knockout win over Jose Santos Gonzalez at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in San Diego. Lopez, who resides in Orlando, Florida, improved to 13-0, 9 knockouts.
After jabbing Gonzalez to the stomach from a southpaw stance, Lopez followed up, throwing two jabs and following up with a hard left uppercut to the chin, dropping Gonzalez flat on his back. Referee David Solivan correctly and immediately waved the fight off at 47 seconds, physically motioning for ringside physicians to enter the ring to attend to Gonzalez.
After several moments, Gonzalez was able to sit up, stand, and eventually walk out of the ring under his own power.
The 20-year-old Lopez has had an impressive 2023. In his previous fight on June 2, Lopez dropped and defeated former WBO world featherweight titleholder Eduardo Baez by unanimous decision.
The win over Baez took place over four weeks after Lopez stopped Osvaldo Nunez Medina in the second round.
Lopez is trained by Eddy Reynoso, who also trains undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, two division world titleholder Oscar Valdez and unbeaten heavyweight Frank Sanchez. Lopez regularly spars Valdez in training camp.
Gonzalez, who resides in Guadalajara, Mexico, falls to 23-12-1, 13 KOs. In his last bout on December 17, Gonzalez lost by technical decision to Diego De La Hoya.
The 33-year-old is now winless in his last eight bouts.
Lightweight Adrian Torres knocked out William Flenoy (3-3-1, 1 KO) of Fresno, California to improve to 6-0, 5 KOs. Torres resides across the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana.
Also in lightweight action, San Diego resident Jaime Cuesta improved to 6-0, 3 KOs by knocking out Colin Huntington (2-3, 1 KO) of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Junior welterweight Jose Chollet, also of San Diego, stopped Kenedy Serrano (0-1-1) of Los Angeles, to improve to 2-0, 2 KOs.
The fight card was co-promoted by No Boxing No Life, Clase y Talento, MarvNation, and Borizteca Boxing. The card streamed live on ESPN Knockout.
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