Jordan Panthen outfights tough Deandre Pettus to unanimous decision win

Jordan Panthen made his Golden Boy Promotions debut on Friday but was unable to get the stoppage victory. Pantheon defeated Deandre Pettus by a unanimous decision, with the scores being 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93.

The bout served as the co-feature of Golden Boy Fight Night taking place at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, California. The bout streamed on DAZN and Golden Boy Boxing’s YouTube page.

Panthen, 28, pressed forward, engaging the action as Pettus, 30, tactically boxed around the outside of the ring. A cut was opened on Panthen’s scalp in that same round which was ruled by referee Thomas Taylor to be caused by a clash of heads. The cut would not play a factor in the fight, however. 

In the second, Panthen continued to press forward and Pettus proved a tricky opponent. 

Pettus, who came in at 161lbs the day prior, looked dramatically bigger than Panthen, helping him to absorb Panthen’s blows well. 

In the third and fourth rounds, neither could take outright control of the fight. Panthen continued forward and Pettus was tricky enough to not let Panthen’s aggression overwhelm him. The bout was defined by Panthen’s relentless pressure, as he took control in the middle rounds, with Pettus looking to fight in spurts. The sixth saw Panthen deliver his most meaningful punches though Pettus finished the round strong with a brilliant right hand to end the round. Panthen controlled the seventh, keeping Pettus on the ropes. That momentum snowballed into the eighth as Panthen continued to come forward and let off combinations. Once again, Pettus rallied late in the round, but was unable to sway the judges. Panthen’s body shots in the ninth were the story of that round. 

Despite Panthen’s efforts to finish strong and live up to his promise of a stoppage, Pettus, never previously stopped, was able to see the final bell.

Honolulu, Hawaii’s Panthen is now 11-0 (9 KOs) as he saw a four-fight knockout streak end. Pettus of Columbia, South Carolina, is now 12-4 (7 KOs). 

Junior middleweight Grant Flores is emerging as an interesting Golden Boy Promotions prospect to watch, as he wasted no time knocking out his most experienced opponent to date, David Ramirez of Heredia, Costa Rica.

Trained by the Diaz Brothers, Joel and Antonio, Flores dropped Ramirez in the corner with a right uppercut followed by a right to the body. The exchange caused Ramirez to take a knee at the 2:59 mark of the bout as Ramirez was unable to beat the referee’s 10-count. The crowd erupted with applause as Flores scored the most emphatic stoppage of the night, and more than likely won over one or two new fans with a performance like this.

Flores improves to 8-0 (6 KOs), while Ramirez is now 17-4 (12 KOs). Ramirez has now been knocked out in his last two fights. 

Junior middleweight Cayden Griffiths of Coachella, California, extends his knockout streak to three to start his young career. Griffiths knocked out Marc Misiura of Scranton, Pennsylvania in the second round with a left hook to the body. The time of the stoppage was 1:43. 

Griffiths is now 3-0 (3 KOs) and Misiura falls to 3-7-1 (1 KO).

Junior featherweight Jordan Fuentes of Fresno, California, came close to his first career stoppage but in the end had to settle for a four-round unanimous decision victory over Brandon Badillo of Charlotte, North Carolina. Fuentes landed a well-timed check right hook from the southpaw stance to floor an overly aggressive Badillo, who recklessly charged at him in the third round.

Fuentes is now 3-0 (1 KO) and Badillo falls to 0-3-1.

In the opening bout, junior lightweight Leonardo Sanchez of Cathedral City, California, took an aggressive, come-forward approach to win a unanimous decision over a very tough Joseph Cruz of Sonora, Mexico. Sanchez was the aggressor for the whole fight though Cruz ability to counterpunch kept Sanchez honest despite stunning Cruz on multiple occasions. All three judges scored the fight 60-54.

With the win, Sanchez improves to 8-0 (6 KOs), while Cruz falls to 10-12 (6 KOs) though he proved to be a better fighter than his record suggests.

Lucas Ketelle took an unconventional path to boxing, eventually finding his stride in gyms and media. For the past decade, he has hosted the “Lukie Boxing” podcast, filmed training camps for fighters like Arnold Barboza Jnr, Mikey Garcia and Caleb Plant, and worked with top professionals such as Mike Bazzel. Ketelle is also an author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for ProBox TV, BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @LukieBoxing.