Friday at the 2300 Arena in South Philly, prospect Thomas “TJ” Velasquez (9-0 with 5 knockouts) of Lehigh Avenue and the Danny Garcia Gym in Kensington defeated Brandon Sanudo (5-4 2KO) of Baja California, Mexico by Unanimous Decision in a lightweight bout.

  Sanudo looked every bit an Olympian. Unfortunately he looked like a marathon runner and not an elite international boxer. It was the most one-sided fight involving a Mexican that anyone had seen since May 6th when Canelo Alvarez defeated Julio Cesar Chavez on Pay-Per-View TV. For the majority of the 6 rounds, Sanudo fluttered about like a wounded duck while Velasquez hunted him around the ring.

  In the first round, Velasquez rocked Sanudo with a jab that almost knocked him down. It must have hurt, because there was genuine fear in Sanudo’s eyes from that point on. Velasquez hit him with several lefts and rights to the body but could not finish his opponent off. Late in the fight, Sanudo refused to exchange and accepted defeat. Judges scored the bout 60-54, 60-54 and 60-53. TJ was cornered by his father Tom Sr., Angel Garcia and cutman Joey Eye.

  “I thought TJ did great,” said Angel. “Sometimes you can’t knock everybody out. He ran a lot. If you run, you are just trying to survive. He was a good opponent. It makes TJ a better fighter. Next time TJ faces someone like that, he’ll know how to handle it.”

  “I think it went alright,” said Tom Sr. “It could have done better if the guy wasn’t running around so much. We have to adjust. We did alright. When someone runs that much, it’s because TJ hits hard. At the end of the day, if they don’t run they’ll end up on their back.”

  In other bouts of local interest, Edison High School grad Steven Ortiz (6-0 2KO) stayed unbeaten as a professional by knocking out Hector Rivera (3-2 2KO) of San Juan, Puerto Rico at 2:37 of the second round in Super Lightweights. He dropped Rivera twice with repeated left hooks and ended the fight with a thunderous right uppercut to the chin that caused the referee to intervene. Trainer Chino Rivas was in Ortiz’s corner.

  Also at superlightweight, Titos Gonsalves (0-2) of the Joe Hand Gym was stopped after a pair of knockdowns by Gerardo Martinez of Mexico City by way of Phoenixvlle, PA at 1:47 in the first round.

  Demetrius Williams (1-2) also of Joe Hand defeated Antonio Allen by decision in a four round Junior Lightweight bout.

  Tyrone Crawley Jr. (7-0) stopped Juan Rodriguez (7-7-1) of Virginia in a six rounder to remain undefeated. •