Junior lightweight Rene Tellez stopped gatekeeper Gabriel Piña in round 7 Sunday afternoon at the Plaza Festival in Rosarito, Mexico.
With the win, Tellez (16-1, 0 knockouts) has now won his last three fights, all by knockout.
Tellez, who is originally from Queretaro, Mexico and now lives and trains in San Diego, California, last fought on November 29 in nearby Tijuana, knocking out Guadalupe Acosta Rodriguez in round 7. In his previous fight in December 2019, Tellez notched the most important win of his career thus far, knocking out previously-unbeaten and 2016 U.S. Olympian Karlos Balderas.
The 22-year-old chose to sit in the pocket and trade with the savvy Piña from the opening bell. Both fighters were able to score on the inside, connecting with hooks and crosses to the head and body.
By the middle rounds, Tellez’s punches began to take their toll on Piña, whose punch output began to diminish with each passing minute. Tellez was at his best imitating exchanges and backing up Tellez against the ropes.
About a minute into round 7, Tellez backed Piña against the ropes, landing a left hook to the body that dropped him to the canvas. Piña was not able to beat the count as referee Jesus Soto counted him out at 1:10.
Tellez is managed by Frank Espinoza and has bounced back since losing by unanimous decision to unbeaten lightweight Michel Rivera in June 2019.
Piña, who resides in Ensenada, Mexico, drops to 16-18-7, 7 KOs.
In the co-feature, junior welterweight prospect Kevin Torres, who trains in Bellingham, Washington and trains in San Diego, overcame a knockdown to defeat Saul Guardado by unanimous decision.
Scores were 77-73, 77-73, and 78-73 for Torres, who improves to 18-1-1, 14 KOs.
Guardado scored a knockdown within the first 30 seconds of the opening round, hurting Torres with a left hook to the head and following up with a barrage of punches. Torres beat the count and was able to fend off Guardado’s offense during the rest of the round.
Torres was able to outbox Guardado throughout much of the fight. The 24-year-old was able to vary his offense, either countering or initiating exchanges against Guardado.
Despite showing fatigue, Guardado was the more-aggressive fighter during the last two rounds. Torres was able to outbox Guardado until the final bell sounded.
With the victory, Torres has now won his last eight fights since suffering his only loss as a pro to Jorge Alberto Brito in November 2019.
Guardado, who resides in Ensenada, falls to 8-2, 7 KOs.
Also on the Best in Boxing card, junior middleweight Kevin Ottley stopped Cristian Vallejo (2-3, 2 KOs) of Agua Prieto, Mexico at 2:01 of round 2. Ottley, who resides in San Diego, improves to 7-2-1, 6 KOs and was making his return to the ring after a two and a half year layoff.
Junior middleweight Timothy James Parks of Loganville, Georgia improves to 3-0, 3 KOs by knocking out Raul Santillan (0-6) of Tijuana at 43 seconds of the opening round.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.