By Jim Dower: Former WBA super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg (34-2-2, 26 KOs) defeated journeyman Mario Briones (29-8-2, 21 KOs) by a 2nd round knockout on Saturday night in their fight in super featherweight action at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass. This is a Matchroom Boxing USA card.
Quigg hurt Briones with two hard right hands at the start of round 2. Quigg, 30, then flurries on Briones until the referee Gene Del Bianco stepped in and stopped the contest. Briones wasn’t happy about the fight being halted, as he was still on his feet and he looked fine. It was just that Quigg was flurrying and Briones wasn’t able to throw anything back due to the constant incoming from him.
The fight was surprisingly competitive, as Quigg was hit with a lot of shots in the in the 1st and 2nd rounds of the fight. Quigg looked like he was still worn down from his previous fight against World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Oscar Valdez last March. Quigg took an enormous amount of punishment in that fight. Tonight against Briones, Quigg didn’t look like the same fighter he was before that.
Quigg is hoping to get a world title shot against the winner of the Josh Warrington vs. Carl Frampton fight for the IBF featherweight title. Quigg has already been beaten by Frampton in February 2016 by a 12 round split decision. The way that Quigg looked tonight, he won’t do well against Frampton if he emerges s the winner of the Warrington-Frampton fight.
Junior middleweight Mark DeLuca (22-1, 13 KOs) defeated Walter Wright (17-4, 8 KOs) by a 10 round decision in an exciting fight from start to finish. The judges’ scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94.
2016 Olympic gold medalist Daniyar Yeleussinov (4-0, 2 KO’s) unloaded on journeyman Matt Doherty (8-6-1, 4 KO’s) with a storm of shots to score a 1st round knockout. The 27-year-old southpaw Yeleussinov, who comes from Kazakhstan, unloaded with some huge shots that backed him up against the ropes. The referee then stepped in and stopped the fight.
This was such a wipe-out for the 5’10” Yeleussinov that it was hard to see what he got out of the fight. With the long amateur career that Yeleussinov had, it’s hard to see what he’s gaining from fights like this. Yeleussinov’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing USA needs to push him faster than he would a normal prospect, as he’s too advanced in talent and age to be brought along as slow as he’s been. Yeleussinov’s lack of hand speed and his deliberate style of going straight at his opponents will make it hard for him to deal with the top guys like Errol Spence Jr. once he gets up there in the division.