Gary Russell, jr retained the WBC featherweight title with a 7th round stoppage over mandatory challenger Oscar Escandon at the MGM National Harbor in National Harbor, Maryland.
Russell dropped Escandon in round three from a swift combination that was punctuated with a left to the head.
Rusell finished off his challenger in round seven when he landed a hard combination that knocked Escandon down and referee Harvey Dock stopped the bout at 59 seconds.
Russell, 125 1/2 lbs of Capitol Heights, MD is now 28-1 with knockouts. Escandon, 125 3/4 lbs of Gilroy, CA is 25-3.
In a bout that was overshadowed by an incident that happened the fight, Andre Dirrell won the vacant IBF Interim Super Middleweight title when Jose Uzcategui was disqualified for hitting after the 8th round bell.
Uzcategui landed a left hook that landed on Dirrell’s chin that sent Direll to the canvas and the fight was ruled a disqualification.
After the bout, Dirrell’s uncle, Leon Lawson, Jr. cold-cocked Uzcategui and a melee ensued in the ring.
Dirrell, 167 1/2 lbs of Flint, MI is now 26-2. Uzcategui, 166 1/2 lbs of Tijuana, MX is 26-2.
Rances Barthelemy won a debated unanimous decision over Kiryl Relikh in a super lightweight bout.
In round five, Relikh landed a hard overhand right that buckled Barthelemy. Then a left hand clipped Barthelemy which was ruled a knockdown.
Barthelemy, 139 1/2 lbs of Las Vegas was able to win on cards 117-109, 116-110 and 115-111 despite being outlanded by a 240-137 margin.
Barthelemy is now 26-0-1. Relikh, 139 1/2 lbs of Minsk, BEL is 21-2.
