By Francisco Salazar, photo by Cynthia Saldana

ONTARIO - With the way Manuel Mendez has performed in recent fights, it looked as though Mohamed Rodriguez had no chance to walk out of the Doubletree Hotel with a victory Friday night.

That is why they fight the fights.

Rodriguez dropped the junior welterweight prospect twice en route to a fourth round knockout victory in this Los Angeles suburb.

Rodriguez improves to 10-4, with four knockouts, while Mendez drops to 15-2-2, with 11 KOs.

Over the last year or so, Mendez, who is trained by Joel Diaz, had emerged as a solid prospect. His first round knockout victory over Vitor Jones Freitas, the nephew of former world titleholder Acelino Freitas, on November 4 further cemented his status as a prospect to keep an eye on.

Rodriguez last fought on April 1, losing a unanimous decision to Fidel Maldonado.

From the opening bell, Rodriguez's height and reach seemed to give Mendez problems. Rodriguez was able to connect from the outside, with left hooks and right crosses to the head of Mendez.

Rodriguez hit pay-dirt in round three, dropping Mendez with a right cross to the head. Mendez got up and was able to fight back, attempting to attack to the body of Rodriguez.

Undaunted, Rodriguez was able to close the show, staggering Mendez with a barrage of punches in the fourth round. Rodriguez followed up with a right cross to the head, dropping Mendez to the canvas. Referee Dr. Lou Moret waved the fight over at 54 seconds.

Junior welterweight Jessie Roman won by knockout when Erick Martinez (13-8-1, with 7 KOs) did not come out for the fifth round. After an even opening round, Roman began to assert himself from the second round on, ripping hooks and right hands to the body. Martinez's punch output dropped with each passing round, forcing him to fight defensively. After the fourth round, Martinez's corner told referee Rudy Barragan that Martinez was not able to continue. Jessie Roman (22-3, with 11 KOs) is the younger brother of Jose Roman.

Fringe featherweight contender Rafael Rivera (25-0-2, with 16 KOs) stopped former world title challenger Ruben Tamayo near the end of the second round. Despite giving up height and reach to the southpaw Tamayo (24-10-4, with 16 KOs), Rivera was able to get on the inside of Tamayo's guard, ripping punches to the head and body. Rivera scored repeated with right hands to Tamayo's head during the second round, forcing Tamayo to fight defensively. Rivera landed a series of right hands to the head, forcing Tamayo to take a knee. Referee Dr. Lou Moret counted Tamayo out at 2:58.

Heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin stopped Malcolm Tann in the fourth round of a scheduled eight round bout. Kuzmin (12-1, with 8 KOs). Kuzmin dropped Tann (24-5, with 13 KOs) twice in the opening round, once in round two, and ended matters in round four with a right hand to the head. Time of the knockout was 1:19. After the fight, Boxrec.com lists Kuzmin as having a record of 11-0, with 8 KOs.

Junior lightweight Michael Dutchover won a hard-fought six round unanimous over Miguel Carrizoza (10-2, with 2 KOs), who came tonight to fight and was able to catch Dutchover with left hooks to the head. Dutchover was able to weather through Carrizoza's offense to effectively counter and outland his opponent. Scores were 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56 for Dutchover, who improves to 5-0, with 4 KOs.

Junior bantamweight Saul Sanchez (3-0, with 2 KOs) stopped Cristian Bartolini in the opening round. Sanchez dropped Bartolini with a left hand, but it was ruled that the punch landed below the belt. After Bartolini (2-4, with 2 KOs) was able to continue, Sanchez dropped him with an overhand right to the head. Bartolini struggled to get up as referee Dr. Lou Moret counted him out at 1:20.

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