By Francisco Salazar
While waiting for an opportunity to fight on a premium network or a big-money fight, Henry 'Hank' Lundy is going to remain busy.
In a stay-busy fight Friday night, Lundy stopped Daniel Evangelista of Mexico in round five before a sold-out crowd at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The 33-year-old Lundy improves to 28-6-1, with 14 knockouts. Evangelista falls to 20-8-2, with 16 KOs.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Lundy, who was fighting in his hometown for the first time in almost eight years.
Lundy was fighting for the first time since Dec. 30, when he won a one-sided 12 round decision over prospect John Delperdang. The fight against Delperdang came several months after knee surgery following his fifth round knockout loss to Terence Crawford on Feb. 19 of last year.
Evangelista had lost once in five bouts after losing three consecutive fights in a row.
Lundy was the dominant fighter from the opening bell, beating Evangelista to the punch throughout the fight. Lundy continue to batter Evangelista until referee Gary Rosato stopped the bout at 2:53 of the fifth round.
True to form, Lundy called out any and all lightweights after the fight.
“I stay ready. I’m anxious. Anyone who thinks I’m slipping can come see me at 135 or 140, I got something for you! 135 is my home. I had to go back and forth because nobody would fight me. A phone call is right around the corner. I will step in as the opponent and shock the world once again," Lundy said.
"I want a world title shot at 135. Everyone saw what I did at 140 against one of the best, Terence Crawford. Try me at 135. If I gotta go down to 130, I can do that too.”
Unbeaten Jaron Ennis continued to demonstrate why he is one of the top welterweight prospects, knocking out veteran Wilfredo Acuna at 1:23 of the opening round.
The 19-year-old Ennis, who resides in Philadelphia, improves to 12-0, with 10 KOs. Acuna falls to 16-21, with 12 KOs.
Hard-hitting cruiserweight Alvin Varmall Jr. (11-0-1, with 9 KOs) knocked out Juan Reyna (6-7-1, with 2 KOs) at 2:02 of the opening round.
In a minor upset on paper, junior welterweight Don Richardson (2-1, with 2 KOs) stopped previously-unbeaten Scott Kelleher (5-1, with 3 KOs) at 2:19 of the opening round.
Junior middleweight Isaiah Wise won a six round unanimous decision over Mark Daniels (3-1, with 1 KO). Scores were 59-55, 59-55, and 60-54 in favor of Wise, who improves to 5-1, with 3 KOs.
Lightweight Marklin Bailey (5-0, with 3 KOs) won a four round majority decision over Vinnie Denierio (1-2, with 1 KO). One judge scored the bout 38-38, while the other two judges score the bout 39-37 in favor of Bailey.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing