By Sam Gregory: In the first televised bout on the undercard of tonight’s Mayweather-Marquez fight, 30 year old Cornelius Lock of Detroit improved his record to 19-4-1 with 12 KO’s by stopping the previously undefeated Puerto Rican Orlando Cruz 16-1-1 with 7 KO’s in a battle between two southpaws.

Staring at the opening bell Cruz showed his very tactical fighting skills setting up his punches and cutting off the ring on his opponent. Through most of the first round Cruz looked to be in total control of the fight when Lock landed a solid well timed shot that sent Cruz to the canvas in the last 30 seconds of the first round.

In the second round both men threw a high volume of punches that were both hard and accurate. Cruz went to the body of Lock who matched his opponent punch for punch. Even though the highly skilled Cruz was able to cut off the ring on his opponent Lock was able to win the early rounds with a slightly better connect rate.

By the end of the third round HBO’s unofficial scorecard had Lock winning every round.

Even though Cruz was behind in the fight he proved to be a very game fighter going to his opponent’s body with a high volume of punches..

Through the fourth round it was clear that Lock was the bigger stronger man that gained total control of the fight.

Just over 2 minutes of the 5th round Lock landed a right hook that sent Cruz to the canvas hard enough to prompt referee Robert Byrd to step in and call a halt to the bout at 2:08 of round five.

Cornelius Lock improved his record to 19-4-1 with 12 KO’s while Orlando Cruz suffered his first defeat falling to 16-1-1 with 7 KO’s