Canelo Alvarez did what he was supposed to do. He dominated Avni Yildirim and scored a stoppage win after round three to retain the WBA/WBC Super Middleweight world championships at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Alvarez came out landing vicious body shots and hard uppercuts that started to soften Yildirim up. In round three, Alvarez landed a hard right hand that sent Yildirim on his back. Yildirim continued to take punishment for the rest of the round the fight was stopped in the corner.
Alvarez, 167 1/2 lbs of Guadalajara, MEX is 55-1-2 with 37 knockouts. Yildirim, 167 1/2 lbs of Turkey is 21-3.
Arroyo stops Rodriguez in 5; Wins Interim Flyweight Title
McWilliams Arroyo won the WBC Interim Flyweight title by stopping very late replacement Abraham Rodriguez in round five.
Arroyo broke Rodriguez down with hard shots until the fight was stopped at 1:41 of round five.
Arroyo, 112 lbs of Fajardo, PR is 21-4 with 16 knockouts. Rodriguez took the fight on less than a day notice as champion Julio Cesar Martinez hurt his hand. Rodriguez is now 27-3.
Forrest and Zhang fight to a Draw
It looked like it would be an easy night at the office for world ranked heavyweight Zhilei Zhang, it was anything but as he had to literal hold on to get a 10-round draw with Jerry Forrest.
Zhang scored hard knockdowns in each of the first three rounds, and was seemingly one punch away from ending things. Forrest hung in there, and and dominated the second half of the fight as he landed quick and hard combinations that had an exhausted Zhang holding on to the point where he was deducted a point in the 9th frame. Forrest had a strong final round that saw him hurt Zhang on a couple of occasions.
Zhang was 104 of 311 punches; Forrest was 156 of 555.
Forrest took a card 95-93 and two cards were even at 94-94.
Forrest 236 3/4 lbs of Newport News, VA is 26-4-1. Zhang, 256 3/4 lbs of China is 22-0-1.
Pacheco Decisions Gomez Jr.
Diego Pacheco remained undefeated with a eight-round unanimous decision over Rodolfo Gomez Jr. in a super middleweight fight.
Pacheco landed 117 of 382 punches; Gomez was 70 of 351.
Pacheco, 168 lbs of Los Angeles won by scores of 79-73 on all cards and is mow 11-0. Gomez, 167lbs of Laredo, TX is 14-5-1.
Castro Stops Moraga in 2
Marc Castro stopped John Moraga in round two of their scheduled four-round junior lightweight bout.
In round one, Castro dropped Moraga in the opening seconds with a jab. In round two, Castro dropped Moraga with a hard right hand. Moments later Castro ended thing when he landed a hard uppercut that sent Moraga down again, and the fight was stopped at 2:29.
Castro, 129 1/2 lbs of Fresno, CA is 2-0 with two knockouts. Moraga, 131 lbs of Pheonix, AZ is 1-3.
Highly-touted prospect Keyshawn Davis stopped Lester Brown in round two of their scheduled four-round lightweight bout.
In round two, Davis put Brown down with a solid right to the head. Later in the round, Davis continued the assault until the bout was stopped at 2:50
Davis, 136 1/2 lbs of Norfolk, VA is 1-0 with one knockout. Brown, 134 1/2 lbs of Nassau, BAH is 4-3-3.
Aaron Aponte remained undefeated by winning a four-round unanimous decision over Harry Gigliotti in a junior welterweight contest.
In round four, Aponte landed a right hand that sent Gigliotti down. Later in the round Gigliotti was deducted a point for headbutting.
Aponte, 139 3/4 lbs of Hialeah, FL won by scores of 40-34 on all cards, and is now 2-0. Gigliotti, 139 1/4 lbs of Havenhill, MA is 6-2.
Alexis Espino remained undefeated with a fifth round stoppage over Ashton Sykes in a super middleweight fight.
In round five, Espino hurt Sykes with hard left. That gave Espino the opportunity to land a series of hard punches that left Sykes prone, and the fight was stopped at 2:03.
Espino, 167 3/4 lbs of Las Vegas is now 7-0 with five knockouts. Sykes, 166 1/4 lbs of Colombia, MD is 5-4.
