Vasyl Lomachenko scored a sensational 4th round stoppage over Anthony Crolla to retain the WBA/WBO Lightweight titles in front of 10,101 fans at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Lomachenko was flawless as he took a couple of rounds to figure out Crolla, who did little more then move around the ring. He started to ramp up the activity at the end of round two. In round three, Lomachenko was credited with a knockdown as he landed a hard combination that referee Jack Reiss ruled that the ropes kept Crolla up. In the next round, Lomachenko continued to batter Crolla until he landed a perfect right hook to the temple that sprawled Crolla face-first to the canvas and the fight was stopped at 49 seconds.
Lomachenko, 134.6 lbs of Ukraine is now 13-1 with 10 knockouts. Crolla, 134.8 lbs of Manchester, UK is 34-7-3.
“I want to fight with Mikey Garcia, but we’ll see. I don’t know,” Lomachenko said. “I stay at 135 as long as it’s possible, and I want to unify all {the} titles.
Gilberto Ramirez announced himself to the light heavyweight division as he stopped Tommy Karpency at the end of round four of a scheduled ten-round bout.
Ramirez dominated the fight as he landed thunderous body work. Ramirez was effective with the straight left that drew blood from Karpency’s nose. Karpency could not continue at the end of the 4th frame citing a broken rib.
Ramirez, 174.6 lbs of Mazelton, MX is 40-o with 26 knockouts. Karpency, 174.6 lbs of Adah, PA is 29-7-1.
“I feel more comfortable at 175 pounds than 168,” Ramirez said. “I’m looking for all the champions at 175. I want to be a pound-for-pound fighter.
“I struggled making 168 for a very long time. We’ll see what’s next, but my body felt great at 175. My new head trainer, Julian Chua, did an excellent job preparing me for this fight. Karpency was a tough guy.”
Arnold Barboza Jr. stopped former world champion Mike Alvarado in round three of a scheduled ten-round super lightweight bout.
Barboza rocked Alvarado with a hard right and knocked him down with a follow up punch. Alvarado tried to get to his feet, but was wobbly and the fight was stopped at 49 seconds.
Barboza, 140 lbs of South El Monte, CA is 21-0 with eight knockouts. Alvarado, 139 1/2 lbs of Denver, CO is 40-5.
“That was a good fight, and now I want Jose Ramirez. I want Maurice Hooker,” Barboza said. “That’s what I want in my future. Alvarado is a tough guy, and I stopped him in three rounds. Hopefully, this performance will catapult me to a world title opportunity. To perform like I did in front of my hometown fans, it doesn’t get better than that.”
Said Alvarado: “He caught me with a clean, surprising shot. He just caught me. It’s boxing. Some just sneak in and do the job, you know?”
Janibek Alimkhanuly won a 10-round unanimous decision over Cristian Olivas in a middleweight fight.
Alimkhanuly, 160 lbs of Almaty, KAZ won by scores of 100-90 twice and 99-91, and is now 6-0. Olivas, 159 1/4 lbs of San Diego, CA is 16-5.
It was a short night at the office for Italian heavyweight Guido Vianello (3-0, 3 KOs), who knocked out Lawrence Gabriel (3-2-1, 2 KOs) at 49 seconds of the opening round. Vianello represented his homeland at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“I believe this was my strongest performance to date, and I’m only going to get better and better,” Vianello said. “My power is improving with every fight.”
Guido Vianello destroyed Lawrence Gabriel inside of a minute of their scheduled six-round heavyweight bout.
Vianello landed a hard right that hurt Gabriel. A few more hard shots put Gabriel down, and the fight was stopped in 49 seconds.
Vianello, 244 1/2 lbs of Rome, ITA is 3-0 with three knockouts. Gabirel, 208 lbs of Syracuse, NY is 3-2-1.
Alexander Besputin won a 10-round unanimous decision over awkward Alfredo Blanco in a welterweight bout.
Besputin was cut over the right eye in the first frame from a couple of wild shots that got through from Blanco.
In round nine, he was cut on his forehead.
Those did not matter as Besputin landed hard and quick combinations, and won by scores of 100-90 twice and 99-91.
Besputin, 147 lbs of Oxnard, CA is now 13-0. Blanco, 146 1/2 lbs of Pigue, ARG is 20-8.
“He had a very uncomfortable, awkward style, which made it difficult for me to find my rhythm,” Besputin said. “Most importantly, I got the win, and we can move on to bigger fights. I am a top contender now, and I am ready to fight for a world title next. Bob Arum says I can beat the top welterweights, and I know I can.”
Ruben Rodriguez won a four-round majority decision over Rumel Snegur in a welterweight bout.
Scores were 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38.
Rodriguez, 144 3/4 lbs of Indio, CA won by scores of and is now 6-0. Snegur, 142 lbs of Portland, OR is 3-4-1.
