Jan Paul Rivera earned a seventh-round stoppage against the previously unbeaten Justin Goodson in the Most Valuable Prospects 7 series Friday at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Rivera (10-0, 6 KOs), a 23-year-old featherweight prospect from Salinas, Puerto Rico, showed off precision, speed and power in stopping Goodson (8-1, 8 KOs) in the main event, which had been scheduled for eight rounds.
In the third round, Rivera unleashed a brutal right hook that sent Goodson crashing to the mat and continued to dismantle his opponent with relentless power shots throughout the bout. Rivera capped off the performance with back-to-back knockdowns in the seventh, ultimately sealing the impressive TKO victory at 2:43 of the round. Rivera’s work earned him the Caribe Royale Performance of the Night bonus.
In the co-main event, Cuban Olympian Dainier Pero demonstrated both power and skill against James Evans in a fifth-round stoppage win.
From the opening bell, the 24-year-old Pero (8-0, 6 KOs) unleashed a barrage of well-placed jabs and ferocious body shots, breaking down the defense of Evans (7-2-1, 7 KOs) and sending him to the canvas twice in the fourth round. The relentless pressure continued into the fifth round, with Pero sending Evans, 31, staggering repeatedly and hitting the canvas two more times. Despite a brief resurgence, Evans was unable to withstand Pero’s unyielding onslaught and dropped to his knees for the final time at 2:07 of Round 5.
The impressive TKO victory suggested Pero can be a formidable force to be reckoned with in the heavyweight division.
Also on the main card, heavyweight David Garcia (7-0, 4 KOs), of Crescent City, Florida, stopped Chicago’s Dominicc Hardy (6-3, 4 KOs) in the first round, and 24-year-old junior welterweight prospect Sean Mason (12-0, 9 KOs) authored a fourth-round knockout win against France’s Thomas Guillemette (8-2, 4 KOs).
In the preliminary rounds, 19-year-old Saint Petersburg, Florida, cruiserweight Damazion Vanhouter (7-0, 4 KOs) made quick work of Spearfish, South Dakota’s Cody Kerr (3-3-1, 1 KO), delivering a first-round TKO and breaking Kerr’s tooth in the process.
Krystal Rosado (4-0, 2 KOs), a 21-year-old from Puerto Rico, earned a fourth-round stoppage victory over Sheridan, Wyoming’s Veronika Dmitriyeva (1-2) in a bantamweight fight. Kaipo Gallegos (6-0-1, 5 KOs), an 18-year-old WBO Youth World Champion and 18-time national champion, took a fourth-round TKO win over Armando Frausto (10-5-1, 5 KOs). And in the opening bout, Roberto Rivera Gomez (4-0, 2 KOs), of Dade City, Florida, blanked Carlos Dos Santos Rocha (3-5, 2 KOs), of São Paulo, Brazil, in a six-round unanimous decision at junior lightweight.
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