By Peter Lim

Featherweight Pablo Cruz scored three knockdowns en route to a third-round stoppage of Lavale Wilson in the main event of the latest Savarese Boxing fight night at the Bayou City Events Center in Houston. Cruz (12-1, 5 KOs) set a torrid pace and dominated the fierce exchanges from the outset.

Wilson (1-16), a southpaw, was in shape, came to fight and proved a better fighter than his dismal record might suggest. Although outgunned, he held his own and returned fire with conviction in the early goings.

In the second round, Cruz pierced through Wilson's guard with a harpoon of a straight right that felled Wilson like a bullet. Wilson bravely beat the count on wobbly legs and Cruz unleashed a brutal follow-up assault to the head and body but Wilson stubbornly refused to yield.

Just when Wilson appeared to be fully recovered in the third, Cruz dropped him with a counter right uppercut. Again, Wilson rose on rubbery legs and, moments later, Cruz executed a textbook combination consisting of a right to the body followed by a left hook to the chin that dropped Wilson for the third time. The referee waved the fight over as soon as Wilson hit the canvass.

"I always knew I had power and we've been working on it," Cruz said. "More knockouts to come."

Middleweight Radmir Akhmediyev (10-1, 8 KOs) methodically outworked and wore down a survival-minded Dedrick Bell (12-28, 7 KOs) for a fourth round TKO. Akhmediyev, from Kazakhstan, took the fight into the trenches from the getgo and bludgeoned Bell with both hands upstairs and down. Bell covered well and sporadically returned fire but he was simply outgunned.

In the fourth round, Akhmediyev dropped Bell with a chopping right cross to the temple. As soon as Bell beat the count, Akhmediyev chased him down, trapped him along the ropes and dropped him with a double-fisted flurry, prompting the referee to call a halt to the fight.

In other bouts:

Cruiserweight Kenneth Allen (3-0, 2 KOs) needed just 30 seconds to flatten Jaylon Corey (0-2). Allen drilled a straight right to the body that felled Corey to the canvass where he remained for several minutes.

Craig Callaghan (12-1, 4 KOs), a six-foot-one welterweight, utilized his height and reach to sharpshoot his way to a four-round shutout decision over Robert Hill (5-27, 1 KO).

Flyweight Amanda Garza made a successful pro debut by dropping Ashley King (0-2) twice en route to a four-round decision.

Maurenzo Smith (14-10, 10 KOs) outpointed Joseph Rabotte (11-28, 3 KOs) in a sloppy, lackluster heavyweight affair.