Omari Jones Stops Alan Sanchez in Hometown Main Event
Omari Jones stopped Alan Sanchez in the second round Friday night at Caribe Royale Orlando, moving to 8-0 in his first professional main event. The 2024 Olympic bronze medalist did it in front of a hometown crowd on Matchroom Boxing Project Series 2, live on DAZN.
Referee Christopher Young waved the fight off with about two minutes left in the second of a scheduled eight. The broadcast clock still read near 2:00 when Young stepped in, after Jones had Sanchez bent at the ropes and was still punching.
“That’s paying dividends, and Amari Jones has Alan Sanchez in trouble here in round two,” the call said, using the pronunciation that ran through the telecast. “Amari Jones teeing off. Referee Christopher Young waves it off.”
The finish was scored as a second-round knockout for the hometown fighter. “Second round knockout win for the hometown hero, Amari Jones,” the commentary said. “That’s the kind of performance you want.” Jones is listed as Omari. The clip does not include a post-fight interview.
Jones, 23, entered at 7-0 with four knockouts and was fighting at super welterweight, 154 pounds, in the city where he grew up. He won bronze for the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics, then turned professional and stopped his first four opponents. The last three wins had gone the distance, including a unanimous decision over Diego Zuniga on May 30 in Houston, on the undercard of O’Shaquie Foster’s win over Ray Ford.
That is why the stoppage landed differently from a routine prospect win. Jones had spent the previous year showing he could box rounds. On Friday he ended one inside two rounds against a fighter with more than 30 professional bouts.
Sanchez came in at 24-7-1 with 10 knockouts. The 35-year-old, based in Fairfield, California, and fighting out of Mexico, had last been in the ring in May 2025, when Nicklaus Flaz stopped him. He was originally scheduled to meet Jones before Zuniga replaced him for the Houston date, so Friday was the delayed version of a fight that had already been on the board.
Jones had treated the Orlando headline as the point of the night before the first bell. “For me to actually have the title of the main event is just a dream come true as a kid,” he told The Ring. “That was always a goal and a dream to fight here and headline. It means everything.”
The card around him was the second Project Series show from Boxlab Promotions and Matchroom, with Jordan Orozco against Yusniel Abrahante in the co-main. Jones was the name on the poster. A second-round stoppage in that slot does more for a 7-0 fighter than another decision on an undercard, which is the path his previous three fights had taken.
If the result is entered as a knockout, Jones moves to 8-0 with five stoppages and Sanchez falls to 24-8-1. No official time beyond the broadcast clock was read in the available clip, and neither fighter was quoted after Young’s wave-off.
The next listing is the open question. Jones has now headlined, stopped a veteran in front of his own crowd, and put a finish back on a record that had gone quiet for three fights. Matchroom has the platform. What it books next will show whether Friday was a hometown showcase or the start of a real run at 154 pounds.
