By Jesse Kelley and Ramon Hough

Jr middleweight Armando Velardez stopped previously unbeaten hometown favorite Matt Vanda Thursday night at the Aldrich Arena in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Velardez (18-3) staggered Vanda (31-1) in round seven, then dropped him twice in round eight before referee Mark Nelson stopped the fight.

From the opening bell it was evident that Velardez wanted to attack Vanda's body. Vanda began the fight working behind a decent jab. Early on, Vanda's defense and movement seemed better than in his past performances.

Vanda started to hold his guard a bit lower in the third round. Velardez saw the openings and landed a nice left hook to the head. He followed this with a hard left-right combination to the head once again. Vanda seemed to be getting frustrated, however he did close the round strong, landing a left-right-left combination to the head.

Velardez really seemed to be taking control as the fourth round got underway. Both fighters were having their moments. But Vanda seemed to forget about his jab and started loading up with single shots.

There was a good exchange to start the seventh but it was Velardez who was throwing more. A hard right hand to the head wobbled Vanda along the ropes which almost put him down midway through the round. Vanda was hurt but his heart showed as he attempted to fire back. Velardez punctuated the round with a right-left, right-left combination to the head of Vanda. It was a huge round for Velardez.

Velardez continued to pressure Vanda at the start of the eighth. Two consecutive right hooks to the head sent Vanda face first to the canvas. A left-right combination found their mark putting Vanda down for the last time. Vanda's corner stopped the fight at :43 of the eighth round.

After the fight, Velardez spoke to FightNews about his thoughts on the fight. "We definitely wanted to go to the body early. The left hooks, the right hooks, I knew he couldn't take it. This is a huge win for me on national tv. His record looks good on paper so it should be good for me. Hopefully Showtime will have me back in the future."

Vanda was obviously discouraged after the fight but gave full credit to his opponent. "He caught me off balance. What can I say? He got me!"

In a bloodbath, featherweight prospect Bernard Dunne of Ireland won a unanimous decision over Adrian Valdez of Mexico. Both fighters had their moments in a fight full of accidental headbutts.

Dunne, now fighting out of LA, seemed to control the first three rounds by trapping Valdez on the ropes and unleashing straight right hands to the head. The southpaw Valdez was looking to counter the oncoming Dunne with jabs and straight lefts. Dunne was cut badly on his forehead in the first round by an accidental headbutt. In the third round, Valdez was cut over his left eyebrow by another accidental clash of heads.

Dunne kept coming forward in the fourth, but Valdez's counter lefts started landing more frequently. Valdez landed a hard, right hook that seemed to hurt Dunne. Valdez followed up, trapped Dunne on the ropes, and landed two hard lefts and another right hand.

Valdez continued landing straight lefts in the fifth round. Dunne kept coming forward, but didn't land many punches. Dunne did his best work when Valdez was against the ropes.

The sixth round was very close. Dunne continued moving forward and started landing left hooks. Valdez continued to counter effectively with straight lefts. Dunne seemed to win the seventh round with left hooks and uppercuts.

In rounds eight and nine, Dunne continued stalking Valdez, but walked into a number of straight left counters. Valdez also started landing a counter right hook.

Valdez landed at least four hard right hooks in the final round, while Dunne continued pressing the action with straight rights.

In the end, the scores read 96-95, 96-94, and 97-93. All in favor of Dunne. With the win, Dunne improves to 14-0, 8 KO's. Valdez is now 14-3-3, 6 KO's.

Dunne had this to say after the fight: "It was a rough fight. I needed something like that to help me develop. You have to give him credit because he showed up to fight."

Valdez felt he won the fight and had this to say: "I'm happy with my performance. We're hoping for another opportunity. I don't think he will, but if Bernard Dunne will give me a rematch, I'll win by knockout."

Jason Litzau 11-0, 11 KO's excited his hometown fans by stopping Jesus Perez 23-7-2 13 KO's by TKO following the end of the fifth round.

Perez began the bout throwing looping shots that missed for the most part. Litzau was doing the boxing and coming forward.

Litzau was posing and playing a bit coming out for the second whenever Perez was able to connect.Litzau landed a nice left-right combination flush to the head. Now it was Perez who was taunting.

The Saint Paul native was starting to look more and more confident as he began landing hard shots upstairs at will. The difference in speed was starting to become evident.

A counter right from Perez may have clipped Litzau sending him down but looking unharmed. Referee Denny Nelson immediately ruled it a slip. Litzau looked serious now and landed a left uppercut which snapped the back the head of Perez in return. Litzau missed with a right but landed a hard left hook that got the crowd going.

Litzau was really starting to take control by the fifth as he sent Perez stumbling on wobbly legs on more than one occasion. An accidental clash of heads opened a bad cut over the left eye of Perez nearing the end of the round. By suggestion of Perez's corner, referee Denny Nelson ended the fight

In a dominant win, Mary Jo Sanders remained undefeated with a ninth round stoppage over Lisa Holewyne. Sanders, 140, seemed to win every round by using her superior speed and athleticism. Holewyne, 140, fought most of fight cautiously. Sanders put Holewyne down for good in with a huge, counter right hand. Referee started counting, but Holewyne said she couldn't continue. The end came at 1:10 of the ninth round. Sanders, a Detroit native, improves to 11-0, 3 KO's. Holewyne falls to 22-13-1, 6 KO's.

In his pro debut, Victor Gutierrez of San Antonio knocked out "Sugar" Ray Meyers of Saint Paul. Gutierrez, 154, used a devastating body attack to wear Meyers down. Meyers never stopped trying, but had trouble breathing through a bloody nose and from the heavy body shots that he took. Referee Mark Nelson called the fight to a halt at 2:20 of the second round. Gutierrez is now 1-0, 1 KO. Meyers is now 1-3, 1 KO.

Erik Rodriguez improved his record to 15-1-1, 7 KO's with a third round TKO over Heriberto Velasquez. Rodriguez attacked the body early to set up power shots to the head. Velasguez never stopped trying and landed an occasional haymaker, but by the third round, his corner had seen enough and stopped the fight.

Lazaro Gonzalez won his pro debut with a second round knockout over Bertrum White. Gonzalez controlled the fight with straight punches and strong defense. White had plenty of spirit, but couldn't seem to land his haymakers with any effect.