Canelo Alvarez won the WBO Light Heavyweight title with a 11th round knockout over Sergey Kovalev at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
It was a tactical fight with Kovalev throwing nothing but jabs, while Canelo was looking to counter hard shots. Kovalev was effective, especially early with that strategy as he was able to keep Canelo at bay.
Canelo seemed to get a little closer in the middle rounds with his counter shots. Kovalev rebounded nicely as he started throwing some power shots.
In round 11, Alvarez landed a left to the chin that stunned Kovalev badly. That was followed up by a crushing right that slumped Kovalev between the bottom and 2nd ropes, and referee Russell Mora stopped the fight immediately at 2;15.
Alvarez, who won a title in his 4th weight division, checked in at 174 1/2 lbs, and the Guadalajara, MEX native is now 53-1-2 with 36 knockouts. Kovalev, 175 lbs of Russia is 34-4-1.
Ryan Garcia made an emphatic statement as he stopped Romero Duno in the 1st round of their scheduled 12-round lightweight bout.
Garcia landed a big right that was followed up by a left that sent Duno on his pants, and the fight was stopped at 1:38.
Garcia, 135 lbs of Victorville, CA is 19-0 with 16 knockouts. Duno, 135 lbs of Los Angeles, CA is 21-2.
Seniesa Estrada defeated Marlen Esparza via technical decision after round nine in a battle of undefeated flyweights to win the WBA Interim Flyweight title.
In round five, the two clashed head very hard and a deep cut opened up on the forehead of Esparza. Estrada was more active and slowly beat down Esparza. With the cut deepening, Estrada could not continue after the 9th round.
Estrada, 110.5 lbs of East Los Angeles won by scores of 90-81, 89-82 and 88-83 to raise her mark to 18-0. Esparza, 111 lbs of Houston, Texas is 7-1.
Blair Cobbs remained undefeated with a stoppage after round six over Carlos Ortiz in a welterweight fight
In round one, Ortiz caught Cobbs with left to the head that forced the glove of Cobbs to hit the canvas for a knockdown.
In round six, Cobbs dropped Ortiz hard with a hard overhand left. Cobbs landed a nice body combination in the round and the could have been the stoppage flurry as Ortiz quit in the corner after the round citing pain in his rib area.
Cobbs, 147 lbs of Las Vegas is 13-0-1 with nine knockouts. Cobbs, 146 lbs of Mexico is 11-5.
The son of the legend, Evan Holyfield needed just 16 seconds to stop Nick Winstead in Holyfield’s pro debut in a scheduled four-round middleweight fight.
Holyfield, 154 lbs of Atlanta is 1-0 with one knockout. Winstead, 156 lbs of Albita Springs, LA is 0-2.
Bakhram Murtazaliev won a 12-round unanimous decision over Jorge Fortea in a junior middleweight elimination bout.
In round four, Murtazaliev had swelling around his left eye. That seemed to wake him as he stated to up his punch rate and came home with the victory by scores of 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110.
Murtazaliev, 154 lbs of Grozny, RUS is 17-0. Forte, 153.5 lbs of Sueca, SPA is 20-2-1.
Tristan Kalkreuth won a four-round unanimous decision over Twon Smith in a cruiserweight bout.
Kalkreuth, 188 lbs of Arlington, TX won by scores of 40-36 twice and 39-37 to got to 3-0. Smith, 188.5 lbs of Oklahoma City is 3-4.
Meirim Nursaltanov won a 10-round unanimous decision over Cristian Olivas in a middleweight bout.
Nursaltanov, 160 lbs of Merki, KAZ won by scores of 100-90 on all cards and is now 13-0. Olivas, 160 lbs of Mexicali. MC is 16-6.
