Photo by David Algranati/TheFightPhotos

Overhand right. Stoppage. Worm.

Justin Figueroa gave his hometown fans exactly what they wanted Saturday, knocking out Mario Rios at 2 minutes, 34 seconds of the second round at Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Figueroa, 12-0 (10 KOs), blasted out Rios, 10-4-1 (7 KOs), with a single overhand right, followed by a left jab that sent the 35-year-old Argentinian from Buenos Aires into the ropes. Referee Ricky Vera took a long look at the unsteady Rios and made the correct call, preventing him from taking unnecessary damage.

Figueroa punctuated the performance with his trademark “Worm” celebration at center ring. Figueroa, who is nearing his third year as a professional, said the early knockout shows he’s getting more comfortable with his skills.

“I feel like I’m starting to get experience” said Figueroa, 26. “I started stepping to him and I let him swing prematurely. He started swinging himself out, then I started watching his swinging. I thought, ‘This guy doesn’t have anything for me.’ I knew his time was coming because it’s ‘Justin Time.’”

The loss is the second straight by knockout for Rios, who was finished in one round last December by Alex Bray.

The six-round scheduled junior middleweight fight headlined a card that was presented by Boxing Insider Promotions and aired live on DAZN.

Brian Arregui scored by far the biggest win of his career in the night’s co-main event, outhustling Vlad Panin to win a split decision in a 10-round junior middleweight fight. Two judges scored the fight decisively for Arregui, 99-91 and 97-93, while the third had it for Panin, 97-93, in what amounts to a mild upset.

Panin, 21-2 (13 KOs), tried to control the fight from the outside, flurrying with combinations but finding himself an inviting target for the overhand rights of Arregui, 11-5 (7 KOs). The fight was fought at a measured pace, though the excitement level ratcheted up several levels in the ninth, when both were rocked by the other’s power shots. Panin absorbed a series of overhand rights that broke through his defense, but he managed to turn the fight around later on, hurting Arregui with body punches.

The loss was the first for Panin, a Belarus native now living in Los Angeles, since his 2020 defeat against Moises Fuentes (the welterweight boxer, not the late minimumweight titleholder). Arregui, 25, snapped a four-fight losing streak.

Damian Tinnerello, a U.S. Air Force reservist from Berlin, New Jersey, went the distance for the first time as a pro, defeating Jose Edgardo Perdomo, 6-5 (3 KOs), by unanimous decision. Tinnerello, 5-0 (4 KOs), won by scores of 40-35, 39-36 and 39-36, though the 22-year-old junior middleweight was tested.

Tinnerello started off the fight strongly, dropping Perdomo with a right hook to the body and a left hook to the chin in the first round. Tinnerello continued to target the body in the second round, primarily with the left hook, but was wobbled late in the third round by a straight right hand that landed on his chin and rocked him to the ropes. Perdomo, who took the fight on just three days’ notice, continued to warm up into the fourth, landing hard shots to begin the round. But Tinnerello showed he had the boxing skills to stay in the pocket and counter Perdomo’s aggression, landing strong left hooks in return.

Bruce Seldon Jnr, the 30-year-old son of the former WBA heavyweight titleholder, continued his unbeaten run through the preliminary stages of pro boxing, bulldozing Gabriel Costa in just 53 seconds of the first. Seldon, 5-0 (4 KOs), stormed at Costa, 4-8-1 (2 KOs), with a combination that put him down early in the round. Costa beat the count but was positively aired out by a right hand to the body seconds later, leading the referee to stop the fight without a count.

Seldon Jnr, whose large frame draws instant comparisons to his father, turned pro last year without a single amateur fight.

In earlier bouts, super middleweight prospect Cali Box, 5-0 (3 KOs), of Franklin Township, New Jersey, won a four-round unanimous decision over Victor Pradis, 2-3-1, while Julio Sanchez III, 1-0, of Galloway, New Jersey, won his professional debut, outpointing Douglas Diggs, 0-4, by unanimous decision in a four-round junior welterweight fight.

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.