Vanes Martirosyan survived a ninth round knockdown but built up enough of a points lead to win a ten round unanimous decision over former world champion Kassim Ouma at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The two put on a crowd pleasing fight which saw Ouma fight with spirit that he had not shown since his days as the IBF Jr. Middleweight champion over five years ago. Ouma was aggressive as he would be diving in while throw punches that left openings for Martirosyan to successfully counter effectively. Ouma landed some hard rights inside but Martirosyan landed the harder shots with his flurry of choice was a solid jab-right hand for which he used due to his decided height and reach advantage. In round four, Martirosyan buckled Ouma slightly with a solid right hand. Just seconds after that, the two fighters clashed heads which caused a cuts around the left eye of Martirosyam\n.
The fighters stood toe to toe on many occasions with an entertaining exchange at the end of round six. In round nine, Ouma landed a quick right hook during an exchange that sent Martirosyan to the canvas. Martirosyan jumped up quickly to show it was just a flash knockdown. In round ten both tried to close the show in dynamic fashion was Martirosyan getting the better of a hotly contested last thirty seconds of the fight.
Martirosyan, 153 lbs of Glendale, CA won by scores of 97-93, 97-93 and 97-92 to raise his record to 27-0. Ouma, 150 lbs of Palm Beach Gardens, FL via Uganda has now dropped five of six and is now 26-7-1.
Former twelve time national Golden Gloves champion, Jose Benavidez Jr. wasted no time showing off the talents that have made him one of Top Rank’s next big prospects as he dropped Steven Cox just seconds into their scheduled four round Super Lightweight bout which was the catalyst for a first round stoppage victory in his pro debut.
Benavidez, who is trained by Freddie Roach, landed a booming right that sent Cox to the seat of his pants. Cox got up and ate a few more barrages until referee Russell Mora stopped the bout at 1:21 of round one.
Benavidez, 138 1/2 lbs of Phoenix, AZ is 1-0 with one knockouts. Cox, 139 lbs of Independence, MO is 1-1.
In an entertaining Jr. Lightweight affair, Diego Magdaleno remained undefeated with an eight round unanimous decision over Gerado Robles.
Magdaleno was quicker and landed the harder shots with the exception of round three where Robles landed some hard rights throught Magdaleno’s southpaw stance. Magdaleno rocked Robles with a pair of straight lefts in round seven and coasted home by winning by scores of 80-72, 78-74 and 78-74.
Magdaleno, 131 1/2 lbs of Las Vegas is now 13-0. Robles, 131 1/2 lbs of Kansas City, Kansas is now 9-9.
