Renteria stops Maure, Matellon edges Cano

By Héctor Villarreal

Two members of Spartan Team beat previously undefeated opponents to win regional titles on Saturday night in Panama.

Panamanian John “El Emperador” Renteria (14-4-1, 11 KOs) stopped his countryman Lesvy “Preciso” Maure (4-1, 1 KO) at 0:19 on the fifth round to conquer the WBA Fedecentro welterweight championship at Veneto Hotel & Casino on the main event of the Sparta Bajo Fuego boxing card.

Cuban Daniel Matellon (5-0-2, 2 KOs) once again is the protagonist of a fight which is a genuine candidate for best of the year. Matellon battled for eleven rounds against Venezuelan Kenny Cano (10-1, 7 KOs) to win the WBA Latin American title by a tight unanimous decision. All 3 judges scored the same (105-104).

Two other Cuban fighters remained unbeaten.

Welterweight Damian Rodriguez (9-0, 5 KOs) scored an impressive 2nd round stoppage of Walter Perez (3-2-1, 3 KOs) and super feather Pablo Vicente (7-0, 5 KOs) crushed Felipe Lares by TKO in round five.

Jamaican welterweight Michael “Wasp” Gardener ( 6-2, 3 KOs) won a six round lopsided decision over Marcos Martínez (3-11-1, 3 KOs).