Virgil Green of Vancouver defeated Antonio Neal by technical knockout on Friday to earn the welterweight Boxing Illustrated Novice Championship.
The bout was part of Rumble at the Reef XIX at the Silver Reef Casino Resort and Spa in Ferndale.
Green, 24, improved to 7-2 as a professional boxer with his second win in a span of seven weeks.
Friday’s fight was scheduled for five rounds, but was stopped 1:39 into the fourth round after Green backed Neal into a corner and delivered a series of jabs.
Leonard Gabriel, who coaches Green at Fisticuffs Gym in Vancouver, said that Green’s jabs were the difference in the fight against the 20-year-old Neal. Neal, of Granger, Calif., entered Friday’s match with a 2-0 record in professional fights.
“We knew he was going to be tough,” Gabriel said of Neal. “Virgil used a speedy combination of jabs and wore the guy down.”
Green, who also holds the Northwest junior welterweight belt, will likely return to action in late fall or during the winter, according to Gabriel.
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