WBO featherweight champion, Rafael Espinoza successfully defended his title for a fourth time at Arena Coliseo in Mexico, as he became the first man to halt Arnold Khegai in a 10th-round stoppage win.
Espinoza (28-0, 24 KOs) was last seen in May in Las Vegas, dominating Edward Vazquez before forcing a stoppage in the seventh round,, while Ukraine’s Khegai (23-3-1, 14 KOs) took to the ring in September, taking an eight-round points win against Liborio Solis in Germany.
It was one-way traffic almost throughout, with Espinoza busy and using his height and reach advantages to good effect.
By round four, the Mexican’s uppercuts were causing noticeable damage to the challenger, who found his nose bloodied as a result.
The champion was taking punches from Khegai, but they were just bouncing off him, and he continued to come forward and land with spiteful shots of his own.
The Ukrainian was being busted up, with his eye now showing considerable wear and tear in the seventh, and the referee had a doctor inspect, and he ruled the visitor ok to continue.
That spurred Espinoza on, as he piled on the pressure, but Khegai held firm, even though the writing was on the wall.
The beating continued until the 10th round, and when Khegai’s corner didn’t leave the ring, the referee started a count, and the 33-year-old had seen enough, declaring Espinoza the winner.
Delgado defeats Valenzuela
In the other 12-rounder on the card, Lindolfo Delgado remained undefeated, but in his first foray into championship-level, he needed a split decision and to get off the deck to get past Gabriel Valenzuela in a Mexican derby at super lightweight.
Delgado (24-0, 16 KOs) was down in the final round, but did just enough on the cards, taking two verdicts of 114-113 against the same score for Valenzuela (31-5-1, 17 KOs).
Vargas, Torrez successful
In 10 round contests, Emiliano Vargas (16-0, 13 KOs) was a points winner in his super lightweight contest against Jonathan Montrel (19-4, 13 KOs) and Richard Torrez Jr (14-0, 12 KOs) needed less than a round to defend his NABF and WBO NABO heavyweight titles against the outgunned Tomas Salek (23-8, 14 KOs).
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Montalvo marches on
In a six-rounder at super featherweight, Julian Montalvo (5-0, 4 KOs) was a first round winner against Nicolas Patron (3-3, 1 KO).
