SANTA YNEZ, California – If it’s a pure scrap that the new Zuffa Boxing promotion is seeking as it moves to a January debut, Cain Sandoval is its man.
The Sacramento junior welterweight Sandoval provided another example of his unflinching street-fighting style Friday night by knocking out Jino Rodrigo in the 10th round of an all-action bout here at Chumash Casino Resort.
Sandoval was leading 88-83 (twice) and 89-82 on the scorecards at time of his KO win.
Sandoval, 17-0 (15 KOs), unleashed a devastating left-right-left combination to end the bout, decking the rugged construction worker from the Philippines who previously struck Sandoval with jolting punches.
“Whatever you do best in the ring, I’m going to take away from you,” Sandoval said afterward in describing his fighting philosophy. “He landed punches. I adjusted to them. That’s what real fighters do. That’s who I am.”
By weathering the drama that Rodrigo, 13-6-2, brought him, Sandoval persisted and delivered his defining combination 2 minutes, 30 seconds into the 10th round.
Trainer Freddie Roach instructed Sandoval to set up his power punches, so Sandoval worked his jab, slipped twice and then let the heavy blows rip.
“Then came the knockout,” he said.
Currently on the roster of veteran promoter Tom Loeffler’s 360 Promotions, Sandoval is among the 15 Loeffler fighters expected to make the transition to Las Vegas-based Zuffa Boxing when it launches with its new Paramount+ agreement in place for 2026.
He said he’s excited by the new venture – which may even include an immediate title fight for one of those new Zuffa belts.
“I’m ready for whatever,” Sandoval said. “Yeah, I’m gonna get hit. The other guy’s going to get hit harder.”
Sandoval was backed across the ring by a Rodrigo right in the second round.
It has been those defensive liabilities and limited head movement that concern those around Sandoval as his opposition elevates. Rodrigo jarred Sandoval’s head again in the third and landed a flush combination in the fourth, causing a mark under his left eye.
“It’s all up here,” Sandoval said. “If I get hit with a shot I’m not supposed to, it’s not reason to worry. I adjust like a real fighter.”
Sandoval responded as he typically does, with a hurtful combination of head blows in the fourth. A clean right turned Rodrigo’s head.
Sandoval’s punishment intensified in the fifth and then he shrugged off a response of blows by pummeling Rodrigo’s body and sending hard shots to the head.
Standing in the face of Rodrigo’s responses, Sandoval delivered rocking fists that wearied Rodrigo and took the sting out of his earlier, more effective blows.
In one eighth-round sequence, Sandoval absorbed a punch to the face and sent a fiercer one back that sent Rodrigo reeling to the ropes.
Earlier, charismatic and photogenic Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco won over the judges while defeating game opponent Perla Lomeli by scores of 80-72, 80-72, 79-71.
Moving down to junior featherweight, Verduzco, 6-0, is a natural to attract attention in Zuffa Boxing, which will offer women’s fights.
“I felt good – new division, learning some new things,” Verduzco said.
Verduzco started with powerful activity to pressure Mexico’s Lomeli, who responded better to the volume in the second round.
Lomeli charged at Verduzco and landed a right to open the third, pressing her left arm to Verduzco’s back and sending her down to the canvas, which referee Thomas Taylor rightfully declared wasn’t a knockdown.
Lomeli sought body shots in the fourth as Verduzco landed the heavier blows. The pair participated in an entertaining exchange in the fifth.
“She has a lot of experience [13 fights],” Verduzco said. “I never underestimate my opponents. I’m super-excited [about Zuffa}. The women, we’re gaining attention fast. We’re getting there, and I’m so excited to be among this generation of fighters. We’re working hard and getting the recognition. We know what’s out there.”
Lomeli responded to Verduzco’s activity early in the sixth by landing three hard rights to the face. Another combination in the seventh by Lomeli was effective.
The performance inspired Lomeli to ham it up for the camera before the judges weighed in, blowing a kiss and dancing before receiving congratulations from appreciative fans, and perhaps winning her own ticket to Zuffa.
The card opened with featherweight Jonathan Vasquez, of Santa Maria, California, impressively finishing Antonio Ferrel by first-round knockout.
Vasquez, 2-0 (1 KO), first dramatically dropped Ferrel with a hook earlier in the first, and then surged at him when the referee signaled the fight could resume.
A Ferrel cornerman implored, “Keep your hands up, Tony,” but Vasquez delivered a wicked right to the head that brought the stoppage just 51 seconds into the bout.
Like the other 360 Promotions fighters on the card, Vasquez is ticketed to fight for Zuffa Boxing.
“They’re all going,” one official told BoxingScene.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
