David Benavidez dashed Anthony Yarde’s dreams of a world title win at the third attempt, stopping the Brit in the seventh round in Riyadh on Saturday.
Yarde had twice fallen short of glory against Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev respectively and Benavidez ensured it wouldn’t be third time lucky, dropping him in the seventh before the referee intervened after a barrage of punches went answered.
Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) pressed forward from the opening bell, but Yarde (27-4, 24 KOs) was countering well in the early exchanges.
‘The Mexican Monster’ switched to the southpaw stance in the third round and upped the ante, landing with a left uppercut and connecting with his left hook.
Yarde was remaining competitive, but struggled to stop the 28-year-old’s relentless pressure.
The Londoner sensed that rounds were passing him by and made a fast start to round six, detonating a brutal right hand which sent Benavidez on the retreat.
The 34-year-old let his hands go with the Arizona man pinned up against the ropes.
However, the onslaught was short-lived, with Benavidez finishing the round strongly and Yarde cut a tired figure as he slumped back to his corner at the end of the round.
Benavidez once again pinned the challenger up against the ropes and Yarde wilted to the canvas after a flurry of combinations in the seventh.
Yarde rose from the canvas and the champion was docked a point for hitting Yarde when he was down, but he was unrelenting and after pouncing on ‘The Beast From The East’ again, Benavidez stunned him with a devastating left hook.
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After one more left hook landed, referee Hector Afu jumped in and Benavidez retained his WBC and WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight world titles.
Despite the lure of an undisputed 175 pound title showdown with Dmitry Bivol, Benavidez, who secured a first win inside the distance at light heavyweight, announced that he’ll be moving up to cruiserweight to challenge unified champion, Zurdo Ramirez on May 2 in Las Vegas.
Haney outclasses Norman to become welterweight champion
Devin Haney dropped and outclassed Brian Norman Jr to become the WBO welterweight world champion.
Haney (33-0, 15 KOs), coming off a points win over Jose Ramirez in May, dominated proceedings and stunned Norman (28-1, 22 KOs) in the second round, flooring the Atlanta man with a straight right round.
Norman, who spectacularly knocked out Jin Sasaki in the fifth round in Japan in June, struggled to pin ‘The Dream’ down and despite a late surge, Haney had far too much variety and precision, running out a comfortable winner on the scorecards.
One judge somehow scored it a far too close 114-113, but two judges had it 117-110, 116-111 to declare Haney the new champion and a three-division titlist.
Bam Rodriguez KO’s Martinez to unify super flyweight division
Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez unified the super flyweight division, knocking out Fernando Martinez in the 10th round.
Rodriguez (23-0, 16 KOs), who came into the clash as the WBC and WBO champion, added Martinez’s WBA strap in emphatic fashion.
After dominating the contest with a masterful display of skill and accuracy, the 25-year-old added an exclamation mark to his performance with a hard left hand laying out Martinez (18-1, 9 KOs), who was unable to beat the referee’s count.
‘Bam’ could now target a shot at undisputed glory by facing IBF champion, Willibaldo García.
Mason battles past Noakes to become world champion
Abdullah Mason won the vacant WBO lightweight world title, but was tested to the brink by Sam Noakes in a fight of the year contender.
Mason (20-0, 17 KOs) dominated the early stages and had the Brit on shaky legs in the third round.
Noakes (17-1, 15 KOs) had a torrid round, suffering a cut following a clash of heads, which caused a large gash over his left eye.
The Maidstone man didn’t let it deter him and he connected with a series of brutal right hands in the fifth.
The 28-year-old forced the American into a fire-fight, but had to weather a storm in the 10th with Mason hurting him with an assault to head and body.
Noakes recovered in the 11th and both men were exchanging with vigour as the bout went to the scorecards.
One judge scored the bout 117-111, while two others had it 115-113 to crown Mason the youngest active male world champion at 21-years-old.
Remaining Undercard
Elsewhere, Vito Mielnicki (22-1, 12 KOs) won the vacant WBO Global middleweight title with a ninth round knockout of Samuel Nmomah (21-1, 5 KOs)
Saudi Arabian prospect, Mohammed Alakel (7-0, 1 KO) extended his unbeaten record with a unanimous decision win over Jailing Li (7-6, 4 KOs) at super featherweight.
At super middleweight, Julio Porras Ruiz (13-0-1, 9 KOs) and Pius Mpenda (11-4-2, 5 KOs) were held to a draw, while Saudi Arabian lightweight, Sultan Almohammed (2-0, 1 KO) secured his second professional victory with a first round stoppage over Umesh Chavan (3-2-1).
Juan Perez (1-0) scored a points win on his debut over four rounds against Barker Ssewanyana (1-2-1) at super flyweight.
