By Manuel Perez: Undefeated super bantamweight prospect Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. (13-0-1, 11 KOs) stopped Adolfo Landeros (20-11-1, 9 KOs) in the 8th round of a scheduled 12-round bout on Friday night at the Civic Center, in Kissimmee, Florida, to win the vacant WBO Latino super bantamweight title. Vazquez, Jr., 24, the son of famous Puerto Rican fighter Wilfredo Vazquez, dropped Landeros, 28, with a big right hand moments into the 8th round. He then poured it on after he got up off the canvas, hitting him with a flurry of shots and causing him to stagger around the ring taking shots. The referee Brian Garry then stepped in and halted the fight at 0:45 of the round with Landeros still incredibly on his feet.

Vazquez Jr. looked pretty average in the early going, appearing slow, hesitant and nothing like a future champion. He struggled in the first three rounds, appearing to lose all of them by a wide margin. He was staggered at the end of the 3rd round by a big left hand by Landeros. It was a lucky thing that the punch landed at the end of the round, for I seriously doubt that Vazquez would have made it out of the round without being knocked out by Landeros.

Vazquez Jr. took a lot of punishing shots in the fight and had serious swelling under both eyes from the shots he was forced to absorb from Landeros. Though the win was a good one for Vazquez Jr., it was worrisome that he was essentially fought to a standstill much of the time by a fighter who had lost seven out of his last twelve fights going into his fight with Vazquez Jr.

Based on this fact, and also the quality of fighting I observed from Vazquez Jr., I find it hard to see him ever winning a major title in the super bantamweight division. He’s a decent fighter, but more low B-class, possibly C-class, than a top level fighter in my view of him. Decent but not nearly top grade from what I saw of him on Friday night.

Landeros controlled the action in the first three rounds of the fight, hitting the cautious looking Vazquez Jr. with numerous jabs to the head one after another. It wasn’t all that hard for Landeros to do, because Vazquez Jr. often posed with his hands down by his sides as if looking to have his picture taken. For his part, Vazquez Jr. mostly landed right hands, but few of them. His best punch by far is his right hand, which is good but not great. His hand speed was average, not nearly good enough to dominate the C-class Landeros. For the most part, Landeros looked to be the better fighter of the two for the first three rounds.

If someone hadn’t told me which of the two was Vazquez Jr., the fighter who came into the fight much more hyped than Landeros, I would have thought it was Landeros. He looked significantly the better fighter during this time of the fight. Vazquez continued to get nailed by jabs and right hands in rounds two and three. Landeros poured it on in the last 20 seconds of the third round, with Vazquez trying to match him punch for punch as the two fighters stood toe to toe.

However, Landeros got the better of Vazquez Jr. during the exchange and shook him with a big left hook to the jaw that staggered Vazquez badly just as the round was ending. He walked back to his corner looking badly hurt, and it was a lucky thing that the round ended when it did. There’s no way he would have made it out of the round without tasting the canvas once or twice.

Vazquez Jr. came back to narrowly win the 4th round with the use of his right hand. He looked much more energized than he had in the previous rounds, no doubt feeling the fight slipping away from him. The round was close, however, as Landeros came on strong in the last minute to tag Vazquez often with left hands and jabs.

In rounds five though seven, Vazquez Jr. took complete control of the fight, battering Landeros with good right hands and keeping him on the defense for the most part. Vazquez was still getting hit often, and his face began to swell up under both eyes.

In the 8th round, Vazquez Jr. came rushing out of his corner and landed a nice right uppercut, then another big right hand that put Landeros down. He got up, badly hurt, and was met with a withering fire from Vazquez. Landeros staggered to the ropes where he was met with a barrage of punches from Vazquez. The referee then stepped in and halted the fight while Landeros was still on his feet.

Like I said, not a bad performance by Vazquez, but not nearly good enough for me to ever consider him a top 15 fighter. I see him getting knocked out and beaten badly if he ever takes on a good top tier fighter. There’s something missing from him in the way of power, speed and defensive ability. If he can ever find these qualities than perhaps he’ll someday be a contender but as of now, I see him more C-class than a true prospect.