Joe Smith Jr retained the WBO light heavyweight belt with a ninth-round knockout over late substitute Steve Geffrard at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York on Saturday night.
The time was 37 seconds.
Smith (28-3; 22) was in control from the opening bell and in the third and fourth rounds scored with lefts and rights to the head against Geffrard (18-3; 12) who spent most of the time in defensive mode.
The challenger never got into the fight as the champion dominated though rounds five to eight before he smashed Geffrard to the canvas in the ninth round to finish him off.
On the same card, WBO No 3 rated featherweight Abraham Nova (21-0; 15) won on an eighth-round technical knockout over late substitute William Encarnacion (19-2; 15). Time was 55 seconds.
NIGHT OF KNOCKOUTS
WBO No 9 junior middleweight Carlos “Chema” Ocampo (32-1; 20) won on a first-round knockout over Omir “Guerrero de Dios” Rodríguez (11-4-1; 5) on Saturday night at the Zonkeys Auditorium in Tijuana, BCN, Mexico.
Junior welterweight Carlos “Tiburón” Sánchez (22-0; 18) sent José Luis “Pepo” Espinoza (14-6-1, 9) down and out in the first round.
In a junior bantamweight bout George Navarro won on a first-round stoppage against Javier Marquez and junior welterweight Abimael Cruz beat Ulises Pérez on a third-round technical knockout.
Jonathan Pinedo scored a second-round knockout against Marco Diaz in a junior bantamweight bout.
AVERY SPARROW STOPS MATT CONWAY IN TEN
In an upset Avery Sparrow (11-3;4) from Philadelphia won on a tenth-round knockout over Matt “Sweet Child” Conway (20-3; 8) to win the Pennsylvania State and vacant International Boxing Association junior lightweight titles on Saturday night at the Pittsburgh Shrine Centre in Cheswick, Pennsylvania. Time was 1:30.
JADE BORNEO STOPS MOHAMMED OBBADI IN THREE
In an IBF junior bantamweight title eliminator Jade Bornea (17-0; 11) won on a third-round knockout over Mohammed Obbadi (22-2; 13) on Friday night at the Auditorio Jacales, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Time was 2:25.
ARBOLEDA COMES BACK FROM KNOCKDOWNS TO WIN
Lightweight Jaime “Jaimito” Arboleda (18-2; 14) had to come back from two knockdowns before scoring a ten-round majority points decision over Nicolas Polanco (20-2-1; 11) for the WBC Latino silver title on Friday night at the Vasco Núñez de Balboa Convention Centre in the El Panama Hotel in Panama City, Panama. Scores were 95-93, 95-93, 94-94.
Junior welterweight Hugo Alberto “Nato” Roldan (21-0-1; 7) also had to come back from two knockdowns to win on a ten-round majority points decision over German Del Castillo (10-2-2; 7). The scores were 96-92, 96-92 and 94-94.
In a woman’s flyweight bout Gabriela “Sweet Poison” Fundora (5-0; 2) beat Nataly Delgado (8-5-1; 3) over eight rounds.
Lightweight Carlos Suarez (9-2; 6) won on a sixth-round stoppage against Ernesto Marin (9-1; 5).
DOCTOR CLIVE NOBLE PASSES AWAY
Former long-time South African Boxing Board member Dr Clive Noble has passed away. He was 83.