IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr (28-0, 22 KOs) wore down and stopped WBA champion Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) in the tenth round on Saturday night to become a three-belt champion at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
Spence hurt the 35-year-old Ugas with repeated left hands to the head in the tenth, causing the referee to stop the action to have the Cuban fighter’s injured eye examined by the ringside doctor. The fight was then halted.
Spence vs. Ugas early results:
- In a predictable outcome, the young 24-year-old lightweight contender Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (23-2-1, 16 KOs) massacred 40-year-old former IBF/WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (30-5, 18 KOs) in scoring a fifth-round knockout in the chief support bout on the card. Cruz dropped Gamboa four times in the canvas, flattening him in rounds two, three, four, and a final time in the fifth. The slaughter was stopped at 1:32 of round five. The major question is why on earth was this fight ever sanctioned in the first place?
- Lightweight contender Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (12-0, 8 KOs) destroyed former WBC super featherweight champion Francisco ‘El Bandido’ Vargas (27-4-2, 19 KOs) by a first-round knockout. Valenzuela flattened the 37-year-old Vargas with a left to the head. The loss for Vargas was his third in his last five fights.
- Undefeated welterweight Cody Crowley (21-0, 9 KOs) defeated 37-year-old former two-time world title challenger Josesito Lopez (38-9, 21 KOs) by a lopsided 10-round unanimous. The scores were 99-90, 98-91, and 98-91. Despite the one-sided scoring, Lopez had his moments in the fight, showing that he can still punch like a son of a gun, but his boxing skills have deteriorated with age.
- Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs) dethroned WBA ‘regular’ welterweight champion Radzhab Butaev (14-1, 11 KOs) by a 12-round split decision. The scores were 116-111, 117-110 for Stanionis, and 114-113 for Butaev. The heavy-handed Stanionias dominated the action with his hard shots. In the 11th, Butaev was penalized a point for holding.
- Light welterweight contender Brandun Lee (25-0, 22 KOs) easily beat Zachary Ochoa (21-3, 7 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision. The scores were 100-92, 99-91, and 99-91.
- Junior middleweight Vito Mielnicki (11-1, 7 KOs) defeated Dan Karpency (9-5-1, 4 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision.
- Cruiserweight prospect Darius Fulghum (2-0, 2 KOs) blasted out Nosa Nehikhare 5-2 (0 KOs) by a fourth-round knockout. The scores were 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73.
- Middleweight Samuel Arnold (5-0, 3 KOs) defeated Darryl Jones (4-4-1, 2 KOs) by a first-round knockout. Arnold hurt Jones with a big right hand, then unloaded on with heavy artillery until the referee stepped in to halt the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 2:53 of the fourth.
- Super bantamweight Angel Barrientes (9-1, 6 KOs) beat Fernando Garcia (13-5, 8 KOs) by a six-round majority decision. The scores were 58-56, 58-56 for Barrientes, and 57-57.
