By Chris Williams: In the Night of the Olympians, undefeated featherweight contender #4 WBA, #7 WBC, #10 WBO, Gary Russell Jr. (20-0, 12 KO’s) destroyed an over-matched 21-year-old Roberto Castaneda (20-3-1, 15 KO’s) in the main event on Friday night at the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, California.

Russell Jr. flattened Castaneda with a powerful right hook in the 3rd round that knocked him clean out. The fight was immediately stopped by referee Pat Russell at 1:25 of the round while Castaneda was looked over to make sure he was alright.

Russell Jr. showed an excellent jab, right hook and left hand in totally dominating the 21-year-old Castaneda. The speed difference between the two fighters was starting as Russell Jr. was so much faster than Castaneda. The speed difference made it hard for Castaneda to land his shots because he would get hit with blinding counter shots in return each time. After awhile, Castaneda’s work rate dropped off to next to nothing because he didn’t want to keep getting hit.

For the most part, Russell Jr. fought flat-footed as he chose to sit down on his shots with that kind of fighting style. He didn’t move his head much, but then again he didn’t have to because Castaneda wasn’t throwing anything back at him.

This was a good win for Russell Jr., but he’s got to step it up against better opposition because this wasn’t a good opponent. Castaneda had been stopped in the 6th round in his previous fight by Christopher Martin last June, and had been also stopped earlier this year in the 5th round by a fighter named Felipe Orucuta.

The card was filled with former U.S Olympians in mostly mismatches against weaker opposition. Russell Jr. 24, by far looked to be the best of the bunch and perhaps the only one that you can predict a future world title belt around his waist at some point.

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Making his debut, bantamweight prospect Rau’shee Warren (1-0, 1 KO’s) survived a 4th round knockdown to defeat Luis Rivera (1-3) by a 4 round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 38-37, 40-36 and 38-37. Warren, 25, was knocked down in the 4th by a left hand from Rivera while Warren was in the process of trying to throw a wild right hook of his own.

The southpaw Warren didn’t show much in the way of power in the fight and was way too reliant on throwing wild right hooks. Rivera was able to hit Warren at times when he’d load up and telegraph his rights.

The majority of each round saw Warren stalking Rivera around the ring and nailing him with single shots. Warren had a bad habit of admiring his work after landing punches. He looked as if he was expecting Rivera to fall over with every shot he threw, and it was kind of strange because Warren lacked the power to really hurt Rivera. He did slightly stun Rivera in the 3rd round from a right hook, but Rivera quickly recovered and the moment was lost.

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Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale (1-0, 1 KO’s) totally destroyed 28-year-old Curtis Tate (4-4, 4 KO’s) by a 1st round knockout. Breazeale, 27, knocked Tate down twice in the round with big right hands. The fight was stopped after the second knockdown by referee Pat Russell at 1:06 of the round. Breazeale bludgeoned Tate with power shots in the opening moments of the fight after cornering him. He then landed a hard right hand that put Tate down. It looked as if Tate wasn’t eager to continue as there was something said about not being able to see. However, the action resumed and Breazeale quickly dropped him with another right hand and the fight was then halted.

Overall, Breazeale didn’t look all that impressive. He’s slow of hand and his power wasn’t all that great despite getting a knockout. He also looked kind of flabby for a heavyweight.

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Light heavyweight Marcus Browne (1-0, 1 KO’s) stopped 33-year-old Codale Ford (2-1) in the 3rd round. Browne, showing good speed and power, knocked Ford down with a left to the body in the 3rd round. After Ford got back to his feet the 22-year-old Browne unloaded on Ford with a flood of shots until referee Tom Taylor halted the fight at 1:04 of the round.

Browne looked good except for his cautious style of fighting. He should have blown Ford out in the 1st round but instead treated him like he was a live threat. Ford wasn’t even throwing punches, yet Brown timid and that’s not a good sign for the future. How will Browne react when he fights someone that throws punches back at him?

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Light middleweight Errol Spence (1-0, 1 KO’s) defeated 19-year-old Jonathan Garcia (3-4, 1 KO’s) by a 3rd round stoppage in a surprisingly tougher than expected fight for the 22-year-old Spence. In the 3rd, Spence knocked a tired Garcia down with a right hand. After Garcia got back to his feet, Spence unloaded on him with a number of unanswered shots until referee Ray Corona stopped the fight at 2:41 of the round.

Spence was hit a lot in this fight and showed serious problems with his defense. Also, his power wasn’t all that impressive either, as Garcia had been halted in his previous fight in the 1st round by Cletus Seldin, while Spence had all he could handle from Garcia during the opening round.

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Other results on the card:

Manuel Robles Jr. KO 1 Tim Ibarra
Terrell Gausha KO 2 Dustin Caplinger
Daquan Arnett KO 4 Jeremiah Wiggins