Uzelkov Flattens Dominguez

By Jim Dower: Undefeated light heavyweight Vyacheslav Uzelkov (18-0, 11 KOs) made easy work of Julio Cesar Dominguez (18-4-1, 12 KOs), stopping him in the 3rd round tonight at the Sport Palace, in Kiev, Ukraine to defend his
WBA Inter-Continental light heavyweight title. After a slow start, the end came suddenly when Uzelkov, 28, dropped Dominguez with a left hand shot as he was attempting a punch in the 3rd. Upon getting up on wobbled legs, Dominguez was immediately attacked by Uzelkov, ranked #8 in the WBA light heavyweight division, who quickly knocked him down with a flurry of punches ending with a right hand. Seconds after the knockdown, Dominguez’s corner threw in the towel signaling the referee Mikael Hook to end the bout.

In the first round, it was Dominguez, 31, who looked to be the more impressive fighter as he landed well to the body with combinations. Uzelkov, for his part, looked very slow, focusing almost entirely of throwing jabs. His hand-speed was poor and he stood straight up most of the time, neither dipping to avoid shots or using any head movement. As a result, Dominguez easily won the round.

It was more of the same in the 2nd round, with Dominguez continuing to work the body with left-right combinations, and occasionally mixing in a shot to the head. Uzelkov repeatedly threw a slow jab, almost looking mechanical as he threw it, neither fast or with any sense of urgency. From the looks of it at this point in the fight, Dominguez appeared to be the better fighter and on his way to an easy victory.

Upon getting up, the referee gave Dominguez a standing eight count before allowing the action to resume. As soon as the action resumed, Ukelkov charge forward and hit Dominguez with a series of left hands, ending with a right to the head that dropped Dominguez to the canvas for the final time. As soon as he made it to his feet, his corner threw in the towel. However, the referee was stopping the fight anyway because Dominguez looked in bad shape and didn’t appear to have the legs to continue fighting.