Featherweights Bernard Dunne and Adrian Valdez were the main event  on Thursday night’s Shobox card.  It didn't take long for blood to start flowing in the fight, as a head butt opened a cut on the top of Dunne's forehead in the first round causing blood to trickle down the Irishmen's head throughout the fight. 

Dunne did his best work early in the fight when he trapped Valdez on the ropes unleashing combinations to Valdez's head and body.  A head butt in the third round opened a cut over Valdez's left eye. As the rounds wore on Valdez would start to land his counter left hands with more regularity. Dunne’s best weapon of the night was his left hook as he kept walking forward trying to land. 

In the later rounds Valdez started to land more than just his counter straight lefts as he started using more of his arsenal, landing hooks and straight punches with both hands. Dunne never stopped stalking Valdez throughout the fight, always coming forward, looking to land shots of his own. Many of the rounds were close and could have gone to either man but in the end all three judges saw it in favor of Bernard Dunne 96-94, 96-95, and 97-93. Bernard Dunne Improves his record to 14-0 (8 KO’s) while Adrian Valdez drops to 14-3-3 (7 KO’s). 

Bernard Dunne’s trainer Freddie Roach had this to say about his boxers performance: "It was O.K. It was a tough fight. The cut didn't help. He got cut early in the first round. I thought Ben landed the bigger shots, but it was a close fight. We need to pick things up a little bit."

Dunne had this to say about his fight: "I can obviously box a lot better. I won. That is the main thing. The head butts, it happens. It was a learning experience for me. That was a tough fight for me. The kid came to fight."

When asked about a fight with St. Paul native Jason Litzau who fought on the undercard, Dunne said, "Obviously. If he keeps winning and I keep winning, we're eventually going to meet. That's up for our management to decide."

The co-main event featured Matt Vanda of St. Paul, Minnesota taking on Armando Velardez of San Bernardino, California.  Vanda chose to work behind the jab in the early rounds, trying to set something up, while Velardez went to work on Vanda's body early. The body work by Velardez would begin to pay off in the middle rounds as Vanda's hands started to drop and his pace slowed.  Even with the body punches taking effect Vanda still fought back landing the occasional flurry backing up Velardez.

Going into the seventh round the fight was close but things were about to change as Velardez rocked Vanda halfway through the round with a right to Vanda's head. It looked as if Vanda was on his way to the canvas but he grabbed onto Velardez keeping himself up and giving himself a few extra seconds to recoup.

Once the fighters were separated Vanda showed heart and battled back but Velardez would flurry and land a hard combination to Vanda's head to end the round. Armando Velardez came out fast in the eighth round,  hoping to catch Vanda and he did, landing a right hook to the head that sent Vanda crashing to the canvas.