Melrose fights from Massachusetts

Janer Jones won the Massachusetts middleweight championship when defending champion Anthony Andreozzi could not continue due to an ankle injury on Saturday at Melrose Memorial Hall. 

Just before the end of the first round of a scheduled six, Jones dropped Andreozzi with a right hand. Andreozzi rolled an ankle while trying to get up and could not continue, giving Jones the first-round TKO victory at the three-minute mark. 

Jones, a Pittsfield, Mass resident who stood 8 inches taller than Andreozzi, 3-1 with three knockouts.Andreozzi of Swansea, Mass., dropped to 4-3 (1 KO).

Jon Gruber of Fall River, Mass. won the vacant USBF heavyweight title with a six-round unanimous decision against Justin Rolfe of Fairfield, Maine. The scores were 59-55, 60-54, and 60-54. Gruber is 3-1 - Rolfe is 7-5-1 (3).

Former WBC Asia Silver and Asian Boxing Federation welterweight champion Vaibhav Singh Yadav made his U.S. debut with a six-round unanimous decision against William Para Smith of Anchorage, Alaska. All three judges scored it 60-53. Yadav, a southpaw, dropped Smith in the second with a left hand. Yadav is now 10-2 (7). Smith is 4-14-1 (3).

Former New England welterweight champion Mike Ohan of Holbrook, Mass. outpointed Daniel Sostre of San Juan Puerto Rico over 10 rounds. The scores were 100-90 (twice) and 99-91. Ohan, who lost to former US Olympian Tiger Johnson in December, improved to 17-2 (9). Sostre dropped to 13-23-1 (5).

This was the second time Ohan and Sostre fought. In September 2018, Ohan won a six-round unanimous decision.

Light heavyweight James Perkins of Lynn, Mass. knocked out Juan Celin Zapata of Bronx, NY in the first round of a scheduled six. Perkins (11-0-1, 8 knockouts) dropped Zapata twice before Tom Clark counted him out at 1:40. Zapata shook Perkins briefly with a right hand before Perkins landed an overhand right for the first knockdown and a left hook for the second. Zapata dropped to 7-12-2 (5).

Heavyweight Kevin Nagle of Scituate, Mass. made his pro debut with a second-round knockout of Aquila Aponte of Boston in a scheduled four. Nagle, who weighed 276.5 pounds to Aponte’s 259.4, dropped Aponte with a right hand. Referee Kevin Hope finished the 10-count at 1:33. Aponte dropped to 0-3.

In the opening bout of the evening, Carlos Marrero, Jr. won a six-round split decision against Tyrone Luckey at junior welterweight. The scores were 58-56 (twice) for Marrero and 58-56 for Luckey. Marrero, of Bridgeport, Conn. is now 5-8-3 (0), and Luckey of Mattawan, N.J. dropped to 16-20-4 (12).