Last night on ShoBox: The New Generation, Rod Salka pulled a home field upset by outboxing Alexei Collado in the main event, while Felix Diaz got past Emmanuel Lartey with some trouble, and Sammy Vasquez Jr scored a first round TKO win over Juan Rodriguez Jr.
Here are post-fight quotes from the fighters.
ROD SALKA
"I'm heading to Carson next week to call out the winner of Figueroa-Belmonte. I want to fight whoever wins that, doesn't matter to me. I earned a shot at the title."
"I dictated the pace of the fight. I kept him where I wanted him and forced him to keep going for that overhand right, which he couldn't land cleanly. I was throwing first and throwing last, just like I wanted to do. I mixed up my offense well and kept my hands up."
ALEXEI COLLADO
"He was smart and that was the difference. He kept moving. His movement was the problem for me."
STEVE FARHOOD, Showtime
"You have to love what Salka did and how he did it. Even after scoring a left hook knockdown, he stayed with his game, didn't try to do what he couldn't do and remained poised and confident in his own abilities. His conditioning was fantastic and even though he did nothing to surprise Collado, the Cuban couldn't find the answer."
FELIX DIAZ
"It's disappointing to know it was scored a split decision. I think I dominated most of the rounds so I don't see how the judges scored it that way.
"I want to see my family - it's been three months - and then head back to Oxnard to get in the gym with Robert (Garcia)."
EMMANUEL LARTEY
"I can't tell the judges what to do. I think it should have been scored a draw. This is the only job I know. I need to go back to the gym and work on some things.
SAMMY VASQUEZ JR
"It's not that it was easy, it was that it was well-executed. We had a game plan, stuck to it and that's what happened. All the fans, the soldiers watching overseas on AFN (American Forces Network), my family watching on Showtime, that was the biggest part of the night."