WBO/WBA lightweight champion, Ukraine's Vasiliy Lomachenko (12-1, 10 KO's) scored a fourth round knockout over England's Anthony Crolla (34-7-3, 18 KO's) successfully defending his titles Friday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles headlining the Top Rank on ESPN+ livestream. Lomachenko scored a knockdown at the end of the third round but in the fourth round a short right to the head sent Crolla to the canvas as he was knockdown head first. Referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight at 58 seconds of the fourth.
Former super middleweight champion Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez (40-0, 26 KOs) of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico made his light heavyweight debut with a knockout over Tommy Karpency (29-8-1, 18 KOs). Ramirez busted up Karpency early in the first round busting his nose and gave him a mouse underneath his left eye. El Zurdo continued to slowly break down Karpency landing solid shots up until the end of the third as Karpency could not continue.
Undefeated super lightweight Arnold Barboza Jr. (21-0, 8 KOs) of South El Monte, California scored a spectacular knockout over former world champion Mike Alvarado (40-5, 28 KOs) of Denver. A left hook did it as Alvarado was down and struggled to get up forcing the referee to stop the fight at 49 seconds of the third.
Other Bouts
In the opening bout from Staples Center welterweight Alexander Besputin (13-0, 9 KOs) won a hard fought unanimous decision over Alfredo Blanco (20-8, 11 KOs) of Argentina. Besputin was cut on the right eye in the opening round but was able to overcome with his superior skill over the tough Argentinian in going the distance. Judges scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
Kazakh middleweight Janibek Alimkhanuly (6-0, 2 KOs) won a one sided unanimous decision over Cristian Olivas (16-5, 13 KOs) of San Diego in going the distance ten rounds. The southpaw Alimkhanuly worked the jab in the opening rounds as Olivas stood close and stalked early on. Alimkhanuly fought on the inside ripping Olivas with an uppercut in the third, snapping his head back. A right hook in the fourth by Alimkahanuly rocked Olivas but he continued to stay close.
Halfway through in the sixth, the Kazakh once again connected with the uppercut as Olivas was still in close. It was all Alimkhanuly throughout the second half of the fight as he stayed in control mixing it up, working his way to a unanimous decision victory. Scores 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
Welterweight Ruben Rodriguez (6-0, 2 KOs) of Indio, California won a majority decision over Ramel Snegur (3-4-1, 2 KO's) of Portland, Oregon. Rodriguez rocked Snegur twice in the opening round. Snegur was able to make it out of the first, in going the distance as Rodriguez worked his way to a four round unanimous decision. Scores were 39-37, 39-37, and 38-38.
Italian 2016 heavyweight Olympian Guido “The Gladiator” Vianello (3-0, 2 KOs) took only 49 seconds in knocking out Lawrence Gabriel (3-2-1, 2 KOs) in the first round. A crushing right did as Gabriel was out.
Los Angeles super featherweight Chris “The Boy” Zavala (3-0, 2 KOs) _ Sergio Gonzales (2-2, 1 KO)
Elvis Rodriguez (1-0, 1 KO) _ Kevin Luna (1-2, 1 KO)
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