By Mike Smith: Former light heavyweight world title challenger Callum Johnson (18-1, 13 KOs) put on a punching display in knocking out Sean Monaghan (29-3, 17 KOs) in the second round on DAZN on Saturday night at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, in Verona, New York.
The fight was halted at the start of the third round after Johnson landed a flurry of shots to the head of a bleeding 37-year-old Monaghan resulting in referee Charlie Fitch waiving off the contest. Had he allowed it to continue, Johnson would have flattened Monagahan.
Johnson, 33, set a beautiful trap for Monaghan in round two in backing up against the ropes, and catching him with a huge right hand to the head that hurt him, causing him to stumble backwards several fight. Johnson then came forward and nailed him with two nice shots to send Monaghan down on his backside. A badly hurt Monaghan got back to his feet, and was dropped moments later after getting hit flush with a right hand. Surprisingly the referee chose not to stop the fight at that moment.
“I would love to have the winner of the main event fight,” Johnson said afterwards in saying that he wants to fight the winner of the Dmitry Bivol vs. Joe Smith Jr. fight. “I want the best fights. I want to care for my family. There isn’t fighter in the super middleweight or light heavyweight division that is stronger than me. They might be better than me, but they’re not stronger than me,” Johnson said.
There’s no question that Johnson is one of the top punchers in the 175 lb division today. If Johnson isn’t the biggest puncher, he’s very close to being the best. We saw what Johnson did to Artur Beterbiev in hurting him badly in the second round of their fight last October. Johnson let Beterbiev off the hook when he had him ready to go.
Sergey Kuzmin vs. Joey Dawejko – RESULTS
Undefeated light heavyweight contender Sergey Kuzmin (15-0, 11 KOs) won a close 10 round majority decision over journeyman Joey Dawejko (19-7-4, 11 KOs) The scores were 95-95, 96-94 and 96-94. Boxing News 24 had the fight scored 95-95. Kuzmin, 31, looked tired throughout and didn’t push the fight the way he needed to for him to win a clear decision. Shockingly, it was the younger 28-year-old Dawejko taking the fight to Kuzmin, and making him look old. Neither guy looked good in the fight. Kuzmin is a top 15 contender in the heavyweight division, but in light of this performance, it’s hard to see him doing anything. If Kuzmin can keep fighting journeyman, he might get ranked high enough to get a world title shot in two or three years, but it’s unlikely any of the champions will give him a world title in a voluntary defense.
Israil Madrimov vs. Frank Rojas – RESULTS
In the performance of the night, undefeated junior middleweight prospect Israil “The Dream” Madrimov (2-0, 2 KOs) crushed Frank Rojas (24-3, 23 KOs) in the second round of a scheduled 10 round fight. Madrimov, 24, is a talented former amateur star from Uzbekistan that Matchroom Boxing USA recently signed. Madrimov hurt Rojas with a huge left hand to the head in the second round and then followed with a BIG right to the head that knocked Rojas flat on his face. He was completely unconcious on the canvas. Not aware of how hurt Rojas was, Madrimov celebrated his knockout win by doing a flip. It was only after that move that Madrimov realized how badly hurt Rojas was. He then went over to check on him out of concern. Rojas was ushered out of the ring on a stretcher. It was bad to look at. The official time of the stoppage by referee Benjy Esteves at at 1:56 of round 2.
Th performance from Madrimov was devastating to watch. He can really punch. This guy looks like a world champion level fighter in waiting. When you compare the way Madrimov punches to guys like Jarrett Hurd, Jermell Charlo, Tony Harrison and Jaime Munguia, none of them possess the same thudding power as this guy. Madrimov looks like the real deal. He could be a world champion at 154 very soon depending how quickly Matchroom Boxing wants to move him. Madrimov has Gennady Golovkin like punching power, and he’s been punching like that since his amateur stays. It’s no wonder why Matchroom wanted to sign him up.
Nikita Ababiy vs. Cory Dulaney – RESULTS
In another impressive performance from a potential world champion, unbeaten middleweight prospect Nikita Ababiy (3-0, 3 KOs) defeated Cory Dulaney (5-9-3) by a first round knockout. Ababiy unloaded on Dulaney with shots in knocking him down. Moments later, Ababiy dropped Dulaney for a second time with a left-right. A badly hurt Dulaney got back to his feet, but the referee opted to halt the fight. Ababiy needs to fight better opposition than this. He’s got the talent to beat a lot better than this.