Richard Torrez Jr. had little trouble handling his most experienced opponent to date, defeating Joey Dawejko by fifth-round disqualification at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Asia on Friday.
Torrez (11-0, 10 KOs) was moments away from his 11th straight knockout win to start his career when Dawejko (28-12-4, 16 KOs) was disqualified for losing his mouthpiece five times in two rounds, which two resulted in points. deductions before the fight was called off.
“Joey was a vet, just like I said. He did not give up. That mouthpiece came out a little too much. It’s a veteran move, but at the end of the day, congratulations to him. He put up a good fight. I think we were able to show more boxing ability that I told you about,” Torrez said. the 2020 Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist from Tulare, California.
Torrez used superior footwork and combination punches to overwhelm the 34-year-old Dawejko early. Dawejko increased his output in the second, landing several counter punches in an attempt to slow down the 25-year-old Torrez.
Joey Dawejko was DQ’d for excessive loss of his mouthpiece
pic.twitter.com/WUHO9dPBuB
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) September 21, 2024
The outcome was clearer in the fourth, as Torrez’s busy right hand blinded Dawejko to the southpaw’s left hand, which crashed into Dawejko’s head with greater regularity. With his nose a bloody mess, Dawejko proceeded to lose his mouthpiece four times in the round, with the referee taking it off the canvas and placing it in his mouth each time without rinsing it, causing two pulled off points along the way. Between the short breaks, Dawejko also began to break down physically, with a left uppercut that nearly dropped him at one point.
The loss ends a run for Dawejko where he has won seven of his previous eight bouts after back-to-back losses to Stephan Shaw and Zhan Kossobutskiy in 2022 and 2021.
Torrez-Dawejko was the co-main event for the card headlined by the super middleweight bout between Jaime Munguia and Erik Bazinyan on ESPN.
Emiliano Vargas kicked off the ESPN portion of the card with a brutal fifth-round stoppage of Larry Fryers in an eight-round scheduled junior welterweight.
Vargas (12-0, 10 KOs), the son of former junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas, took target practice on New York-based Irishman Fryers (13-7-1, 5 KOs) and dropped Fryers with a southpaw left hand drop. stance, forcing the referee to stop the fight at the 1:23 mark without counting.
The 21-year-old Vargas was in control from the opening bell as his 34-year-old opponent followed without cutting off the ring or giving any angles. Vargas began to take advantage with counter punches from both hands, backing his smaller opponent into the ropes. Vargas adjusted more of a boxing pace in the second round, but was still able to hurt Fryers with a flurry of left uppercuts. With Fryers nose ripped open and unable to match the firepower of Vargas, the referee took a momentary look to stop the fight.
Fryers appeared to catch a minor break in the fifth, as Vargas appeared to hurt his right hand after landing it on Fryers’ head early in the fifth. Vargas adjusted to only throwing left hands for the remainder of the round before scoring the takedown moments later.
“I learned from experience. Every time I’m in the ring I gain more experience. You learn on the job. I don’t care what anyone says. There is no video on how to be a professional fighter. I’m just blessed to do it here for the beautiful Arizona fans,” said Vargas, whose brothers Fernando Vargas Jr. (15-0, 14 KOs) and Amado Vargas (11-0, 5 KOs) are also pro boxers.
The loss is the fourth by stoppage for Fryers.
