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The fights are underway in Washington, DC, and we've already seen big wins for a pair of prospects on the way up over veterans on the way out.
In a welterweight fight, Sadam "World Kid" Ali knocked out Michael Clark in 2:06. The win was predictable for Ali (19-0, 12 KO), but it's never fair to expect a first round KO. That said, this is the second straight fight that the 40-year-old Clark (44-10-1, 18 KO) has lost via KO-1, as he was stopped in 2:27 by Edgar Santana in November.
Light heavyweight Marcus Browne improved to 10-0 (7 KO) with a pretty dominant decision win over Otis Griffin (24-15-2, 10 KO), taking the fight on scores of 80-71 across the board, scoring one knockdown en route to the wide victory. Browne, 23, continues to impress, and looks like one of the better pro prospects from the still professionally undefeated U.S. Olympic team of 2012.
Junior welterweight prospect Zachary Ochoa (7-0, 4 KO) stopped Hector Marengo (6-8-4, 4 KO) in round five, when Marengo's corner decided to stop the one-sided bout.