By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Philadelphia welterweight prospect Mike Jones came to Boardwalk Hall on Saturday night hoping to make a splash, and knowing that a win could be the first step to the big time.
Jones did exactly what he was supposed to do, dominating tough Hector Munoz for a one-sided fifth-round TKO on the undercard of the Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Martinez middleweight title fight.
The win could propel Jones into an HBO-televised bout against fellow prospect Antwone Smith on June 5 at Yankee Stadium on the undercard of the Yuri Foreman-Miguel Cotto junior middleweight title bout.
Even if that fight doesn't come off, and it probably won't because Top Rank is more likely to go with another fight HBO has approved, Vanes Martirosyan against Joe Greene in a junior middleweight bout, Jones, 26, remains an intriguing prospect with a lot of potential.
The father of two and part-time worker at Home Depot -- which gave him time off to train -- has been built largely without the benefit of television exposure by promoter Russell Peltz in small venues in Philadelphia. But Peltz is now working with Top Rank and Jones is starting to get some attention.
He was coming off his most notable win, a unanimous decision on Feb. 27 against onetime contender Henry Bruseles and hoping to build on it against Munoz, a 31-year-old from Albuquerque, N.M., who is promoted by former world champion Danny Romero.
Jones (21-0, 17 KOs) dominated Munoz (18-3-1, 11 KOs) from the outset. He staggered Munoz with a left hook in the first round and was relentless, landing 57 of 112 blows, according to CompuBox statistics.
He never let up. A right hand to the mouth had Munoz spitting blood in the third round. A right uppercut sent the blood flying in the fourth. Finally, with Munoz taking a shellacking in the fifth round, Jones staggered him with a right hand and referee Benji Esteves stepped in at 2 minutes, 3 seconds.
"He's a tough guy," Jones said of Munoz. "I didn't want to exert myself at the beginning. I wanted to set a good pace because I was a little sluggish my last time out. I could tell he was wearing down and I tried to counter and make my jab the offense. I wanted to keep the jab to the body. I'd just like to fight every month-and-half or two months. I'm ready to move."
Arroyo pulls upset
In a rock 'em, sock 'em fight, junior welterweight Vincent Arroyo (10-1, 7 KOs) rallied from a huge deficit to knock out former two-time national Golden Gloves winner Jeremy Bryan (13-1, 6 KOs) at 1:43 of the eighth and final round for an upset.
Bryan was pitching a shutout on two scorecards and had won six of the seven completed rounds on the third scorecard in the hard-hitting fight. But Arroyo was hanging in there, despite absorbing many flush shots.
In the fifth round, Bryan landed a sweeping right hand on Arroyo's face and blood went flying. But Arroyo came right back and stunned Bryan with a left hand.
In the eight round, it looked like Bryan would coast to a decision, but Arroyo clipped him with a left hook that staggered him. Arroyo pounced and as Bryan bent down with his backside along the ropes from the blows -- which perhaps could have been called a knockdown -- Arroyo nailed him twice and knocked him out.
• Middleweight Matvey Korobov (11-0, 8 KOs) outpointed Josh Snyder (8-5-1, 3 KOs) for a unanimous decision, 79-73 and 78-74 (twice). Korobov, a 2008 Russian Olympian, didn't look particularly good against the journeyman, getting hit often, but he did more than enough to take the clear decision.
• Junior middleweight Ronald Hearns (24-1, 19 KOs) scored a spectacular first-round knockout of Delray Raines (17-8-1, 12 KOs). Hearns' father, all-time great Thomas Hearns, was known for his destructive right hand. The son got the genes, because Ronald knocked Raines down twice, including an audible right hand to the head at 1:47 of the opening frame.
• Former heavyweight contender Dominic Guinn (33-6-1, 22 KOs) scored a seventh-round TKO of journeyman Terrell Nelson (8-9, 5 KOs) when Nelson, who was cut, didn't come out for the final round of the slow-paced fight. Guinn won his fifth fight in a row since back-to-back losses in 2007.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
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