IBF World Super Welterweight Champion Bakhram Murtazaliev defended for the first time by scoring four knockouts and stopping former WBO World Super Welterweight Champion ‘The Soul Taker’ Tim Tszyu in the third round in a scheduled 12-round fight on Saturday night at stopped the Caribe Royale Resort. in Orlando, Florida.
Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) stopped former WBO Junior Middleweight champion Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs) at 1:55 of the third round after scoring four knockouts over a scheduled 12 rounds.
In the first round, Murtazaliev controlled his jab, with Tszyu suffering a small cut on the top of his head from a clash of heads. In the second round, Murtazaliev scored the first takedown with a minute left on the chin for an 8 count from referee Christopher Young.
Midway through the round, a right to the chin dropped him a second time for an 8 count. In the final minute, a right dropped Tszyu a third time seconds before the end of the round for an 8 count.
In the third round, a left hook from Murtazaliev dropped Tszyu for a fourth time for an 8 count from referee Young. Seconds later, Murtazaliev had Tszyu on his feet, landing right on the head as the towel came in to stop the fight.
Super welterweight Yoenis Tellez (9-0, 7 KOs) stopped Johan ‘The Chelo Manotas’ Gonzalez (35-4, 34 KOs) at 1:57 of the seventh round of a scheduled ten rounder.
In the first round, Gonzalez used an effective jab to knock out Tellez. In the second round, Tellez switched from southpaw to orthodox, but it didn’t matter; Gonzalez took another round.
In the third round, Tellez switched back to southpaw as Gonzalez scored well in a close round. In the fourth round, Tellez finally started to get his punches together and outworked Gonzalez. In the fifth round, it was all Tellez until the final seconds, when Gonzalez came up with too little, too late.
In the sixth rounds final seconds, a right from Tellez to the chin dropped Gonzalez for an 8 count from referee Camile Lomardi. In the seventh round, a left hook from Tellez on the chin dropped Gonzalez for an 8 count. Seconds later, a right dropped Gonzalez again, prompting referee Lombardi to call a halt.
Cesar ‘El Tijuanero’ Mateo Tapia (17-0-1, 10 KOs) finished in a majority draw with Endry ‘El Chino’ Saavedra (16-1-1, 13 KOs) over ten rounds for the vacant IBF Int’ l Middle Title.
In the second round, a clash of heads caused a cut under Tapia’s right eye. In the third round, Saavedra knocked Tapia down twice. In the fourth round, Tapia came back to hold his own until 30 seconds were up. Saavedra landed a right on the chin and sent Tapia rocking.
In the fifth round, Saavedra’s body shots had Tapia holding on. With 10 seconds left, Tapia landed some rights to the chin and Saavedra went down for an 8 count as the bell rang. In the sixth round’s final minute, Tapia had Saavedra clutching the bell, his right eye closed.
In the seventh round, Tapia fought back, with Saavedra holding on throughout. In the eighth round, both had their moments for the first half of the round as Saavedra took over.
Halfway through the ninth rounds, a combination of Saavedra Tapia into the ropes and driven down for an 8 count. Tapia’s right eye was closed. In the tenth and final round, Tapia rocked Saavedra several times with rights to the chin.
Scores 94-92 Tapia, 93-93 and 98-93.
Heavy Dainier Pero (9-0, 7 KOs) defeated southpaw Willie ‘Snake’ Jake, Jr. (11-5-2, 3 KOs) was stopped in the third round of a scheduled 8-round bout.
Superveer Justin Viloria (7-0, 5 KOs) stopped Diuhl ‘Elegante’ Olguin (16-41-7, 10 KOs) in the seventh round of an 8.
Super Bantam southpaw Gary Antonio Russell (20-1, 13 KOs) knocked out Jaden ‘Oveja Negra’ Burnias (6-3-2, 4 KOs) in the fourth round of a six-round fight.
