Sosnowski Stops Pucheta

By Boxing News - 09/16/2007 - Comments

sosnowski353535353.jpgWBF heavyweight champion Albert Sosnowski (41-1, 25 KOs) destroyed Argentinian challenger Manuel Alberto Pucheta (18-2, 12 KOs) in the 2nd round on Friday night at the Ice Rink, Kirkcaldy, in Scotland. Pucheta, 36, was knocked down three times in the process before the referee Terry O’Connor put a stop to the massacre at 2:03 of the 2nd round. Sosnowski, 28, nicknamed “The Dragon,” slowly stalked Pucheta in the first round, hitting him with right hooks and jabs, though mostly just stalking him.

Pucheta, for his part, looked badly out of shape, perhaps at least 30 lbs overweight. His conditioning or lack thereof, proved to be a problem for him, as he was already gasping for breath by the end of the first round and having difficulties keeping his hands up. He did, however, throw more punches than Sosnowski in the first round, though most of them were wild hammakers which badly missed Sosnowski. Towards the end of the round, Sosnowski landed a left-right combination and then another left hook that crashed into Pucheta’s face, sending him falling backwards to the ring ropes, where he then slid down to the canvas.

As he laid there, Sosnowski moved in and was close to landing one more shot but held his fire, to the relief of Pucheta. Pucheta staggered to his feet, bleeding from the nose and looking mostly tired as the fight resumed. Instead of covering up or trying to clinch, Pucheta motioned for Sosnowski to come forward and engage him, as if he had some kind of secret punch that he was going to deliver once he got there. Sosnowski, seeing this, came forward smiling and throwing huge hooks. Pucheta was tagged several more times before the round ended, but nothing substantial enough to end him down again.

sosnowski44645.jpgIn the 2nd round, Sosnowski resumed coming forward and throwing slow hooks at Pucheta, who tried to get out of the way of them but he was too tired to move much. Momentarily, Pucheta tried to start bouncing on his toes in an effort to move around the hulking Sosnowski, but that soon died out as he tired almost immediately with that brief effort. Finally, after Pucheta landed a rare left hook that landed to the head of Sosnowski, he responded with a hard combination and then with a powerful left hook that planted Pucheta on the canvas. At the same time that Pucheta fell, he lost his mouth piece, spitting it out from the impact of Sosnowski’s left hook.

After Pucheta rose wearily to his feet, the referee had him go to this corner and get his mouthpiece washed and put back in. As soon as the action resumed, Sosnowsk walked over and finished Pucheta off with another left-right combination that sent Pucheta to the canvas for the final time. The referee immediately moved in and stopped the bout after seeing that Pucheta was in no condition to continue fighting.

Sownowsk, despite having an impressive record of 41-1, remains unranked by any of the ranking organizations, perhaps largely because of the fact that Sosnowski has been slow to step up the level of his competition even though he’s already had 42 fights in his career. Up to this point, he’s fought exclusively low second tier and 3rd tier fights, not the type that will help further his career.