Jimenez Stops Engel, Preserves 5/2 Date With Jesse Hart
Mar 29, 2015 • 1:07 AM ET
By Jake Donovan
Hammond, IN--
Mike Jimenez secured his coveted May 2 showdown with Jesse Hart, though overcoming a brief scare in rising from a knockdown to stop Kevin Engel in two rounds at Horseshoe Casino in Hammon, Indiana.
The Chicagoland super middleweight agreed to go through with the March 28 showcase even with the assurance of a dream assignment on the undercard of the major superfight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. His handlers took a collective gasp in round one, after their fighter was surprisingly on the deck.
The sequence produced initial shock value, but Jimenez quickly recovered and went on to dominate the brief action. Engel was in trouble early in round two before a wicked left hook to the body forced the stoppage.
The official time was 1:30 of round two.
Jimenez moves to 17-0 (11KOs) with the win, but more importantly can now proceed with the biggest fight of his career. Next on deck is a showdown with Hart, which will come on the non-televised portion of the epic May 2 event in Las Vegas.
All bouts at Horseshoe Casino were streamed live by Hitz Boxing on Periscope.tv.
FULL CARD
Mike Jimenez (17-0-0) KO2 Kevin Engel (20-12-0)
Romiro Carrillo (7-0) KO1 Antoine Knight (3-17)
Fred Bowen (5-1-1) KO1 Zach Knox (1-1-0)
Nick Ramirez (6-0-1) KO3 Antoine Elerson (2-11-0)
Mike Reid (2-0-0) UD4 William Chouloute (2-5-0)
Fidel Navarrete (8-0-2) UD4 Dewayne Wisdom (5-22-1)
Will Coix (5-0-1) D4 Benito Tovar (5-1-3)
Simon Buettner (7-1-0) TKO2 Sam Horowitz (2-1-0)
Joey Hefferle (4-1-0) UD4 Carl Currie (0-3-0)
Jose Arambula (9-0) UD6 Mike Fowler (3-1)
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home.
