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Matthew Villanueva was too big, too strong, and too good for Michael Ruiz Jr in tonight's ShoBox opening bout in the super flyweight division, dropping Ruiz in the second round and stopping him in the seventh when referee Russell Mora stepped in to stop the fight, drawing no complaints from Ruiz or those watching the fight.
Villanueva (7-0, 7 KO) was impressive in the fight, showing plenty of power, and some very sharp punches along the way. Though a bit wide and with some obvious defensive liabilities, the 25-year-old from Burbank, Calif., was way too much for the game Ruiz (8-2-1, 3 KO), who attempted to counter-punch and keep himself in the fight, but was just not strong enough to hang in any longer.
According to the on-screen punch stats, Villanueva landed 184 of 379 power punches (49%), and 211 of 501 overall (42%). Bad Left Hook had him up 60-53 at the time of the stoppage with the official cards at 59-54 twice and 60-53. Showtime's new unofficial scorer, veteran judge Chuck Giampa, had it 60-53. Unfortunately that's not the most memorable thing about Chuck Giampa's TV debut so far.
On the untelevised undercard, welterweight prospect Javier Molina improved to 10-1 (4 KO) with a bounce-back win over Alberto Herrera (8-5-1, 5 KO). Thanks to Kim Francesca and Mark Ortega for their tweets during that fight.
Our live coverage continues here with the Joel Diaz vs Guy Robb fight next, followed by the main event.