Torres Stops Holt

WBO light welterweight champion Ricardo “Mochuelo” Torres (32-1, 28 KOs) rallied late to come from behind and knockout American challenger Kendall Holt (22-2, 12 KO’s) in the 11th round of a scheduled 12-round bout, on Saturday night at the Salon Jumbo del Country Club, in Barranquilla, Atlantico, in Colombia. Torres, 27, from Colombia and well known for his explosive knockout power in each fist, had trouble in much of the fight with the faster, more boxing oriented Holt, who jabbed and the outside, staying away from Torres’ punching alley.

As the rounds went by, the situation began to look bleak for Torres, who round himself in the position of potentially losing his title in front of his countrymen in Colombia. Instead of getting discouraged, Torres began a concerted effort to take the fight to Holt, beginning in the 10th round, preventing him from escaping along the ropes as he had in the earlier rounds of the fight.

Towards the end of the 10th round, Torres stunned Holt with three consecutive huge right hand shots. However, Holt continued fighting, shaking off the punches well, but the punches served notice for what was to come in the next round. In the 11th round, Torres landed a crushing right hand to the chin of Holt, badly hurting him.

Torres quickly moved in and unleashed a firestorm of punches to the head of Holt, who was defenseless to stop any of them at this point. Finally, Holt crumpled to the canvas after taking a heat seeking missile of a left hand from Torres. After barely getting to his feet, Holt was met with another flurry of punches from Torres, at which point the referee Genaro Rodriguez stepped in to halt the senseless brutality and reward Torres with the 11th round knockout victory.