Saucedo stops Salka on Berchelt-Sosa card

The Dignity Health Sports Park Arena (formerly known as The  StubHub Center) held a pretty solid undercard Saturday night that was aired on the streaming platform ESPN+. The highlight of the undercard for me was a bout on the stream which saw the return of super lightweight Alex “El Cholo” Saucedo (29-1, 19 KOs).

Saucedo’s return in the ring was a triumphant one, as the former world title challenger knocked out Rod Salka (24-6, 4 KOs) in the opening round. This was the first fight for Saucedo since falling short to then-champion Maurice Hooker nearly one year ago.

A left hook to the body towards the end of round four dropped Becerra to one knee. He would beat the count and was game early in round five, but a combination to the head dropped him again to the canvas. Becerra beat the count, but referee Ray Corona stopped the bout at 51 seconds, giving Saucedo the win.

“It was great to be back. I wanted to get some rounds in, but the knockout came, so it is what it is,” Saucedo said. “I hope to be back in the ring very soon.”

Stoppages EVERYWHERE on this #BercheltSosa undercard.

? Alex Saucedo – KO1
? Raymond Muratalla – KO5

Action rolls on on ESPN+ ➡️ https://t.co/vFLut7dB9I pic.twitter.com/XT4Hdjqo1o

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) November 3, 2019

In other action on the card leading up to the main event telecast in ESPN:

Crowd favorite Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (9-0, 7 KOs), from nearby Fontana, Calif., knocked out fellow Californian Arnulfo Becerra (7-3, 5 KOs) in the fifth round of a lightweight fight.

Australian prospect Daniel Lewis (5-0, 3 KOs) cruised to an eight-round decision over Alexis Gaytan (6-5, 2 KOs) in his American debut. Scores for the middleweight bout were as followed: 80-72 2X and 79-73.

In a fight featuring a pair of unbeaten super lightweights, Abram Martinez (8-0, 6 KOs) dropped Ruben Rodriguez (9-1, 3 KOs) twice in the third round en route to the stoppage.

Freddie Roach-trained welterweight prospect Gor Yeritsyan (12-0, 10 KOs) defeated Shoki Sakai (23-11-2, 13 KOs) by eight-round unanimous decision (80-72, 79-73 and 77-75).

Elvis “The Dominican Kid” Rodriguez (5-0-1, 5 KOs) opened the evening in fine fashion, knocking out Chilean veteran Luis Norambuena (4-5-1, 0 KOs) in the fourth round of a scheduled six-round super lightweight bout.