Oakland native Amari “The Reaper” Jones (17-0, 15 KOs) made quick work of former champion Vincenzo Gualtieri (25-2-1, 8 KOs) in front of his local fans at SAP Center in San Jose, CA on Friday night.
Streamed live on DAZN, Jones looked eager to impress in the 12-round IBF Middleweight Title Eliminator that main evented the show.
Jones established a jab early on, as he picked apart Gualtieri with sharp combinations. In the third round, Jones dropped Gualtieri with a right hand, which brought the fans to their feet. Though Gualtieri made it back up, Jones floored him yet again with a hard right uppercut, with the referee finally waiving it off at 2:29 of the round.
“I made a statement tonight that needed to be made,” said Jones afterward.
“I proved that my win against veteran Luis Arias wasn’t a fluke by going out here and knocking out an experienced former world champion. I didn’t think it’d be that quick, though. I started to put my shots together really well,” added Jones.
In the co-feature, unbeaten cruiserweight Robin Safar (19-0, 13 KOs) earned a split-decision win over Yamil Peralta (18-2-1, 10 KOs) with scores of 116-111, 114-113, both for Safar, and 114-113 for Peralta.
