The straight right hand solidly found its target late in the second round. It was a punch that staggered the boxer from Shippensburg. Vince Calio had weakened his opponent.

Under the dim lights inside the White Building on Saturday, Calio stepped into the ring --donning the trademark dark blue trunks. Then the junior proceeded to dismantle Ryan Yocum, scoring a third-round decision at the Penn State Boxing Nittany Lion Invitational.

Not even a flurry of punches in the last round by Yocum could save him, as Calio dominated. Behind an effective jab and a barrage of combinations, the Philadelphia native mounted up points with the judges in the early rounds.

"I came in wanting this fight," Calio said, after improving his record to 1-2 this season. "I was too anxious to put him out, and I should have thrown more punches. I have to work on putting more punches together when someone is hurt."

Calio was also named the most outstanding boxer at the invitational, which consisted of brawlers from six schools. Penn State Boxing Coach Bill Wrable was pleased with his 156-pound fighter.

"He's a first year boxer and he's really progressing," Wrable said. "The only glaring mistake he made was in the third round when he got hit repeatedly."

Nick Kent was the other Penn State boxer in action at the invitational. The 190-pound fighter was knocked down in the second round by Lock Haven's Chad Minor and suffered his first defeat this season.

Kent is already looking to redeem himself at the Northeast Regional Qualifier in March.

"That's not gonna happen again," he said. "I don't care who it is."