By Mark Eisner: David Morrell Jr (8-0, 7 KOs) successfully defended his WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight title with a twelfth round knockout over his mandatory challenger Aidos Yerbossynuly (16-1, 11 KOs) on Saturday night at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In the twelfth round, Morrell, 24, knocked the badly beaten Yerbossynuly down twice to get the knockout. The contest was halted at 2:34 of round 12. You can argue that the referee should have stepped in and halted the fight long before the two knockdowns because Yerbossynuly was taking a beating, and his face looked badly swollen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWxecE-3cVM
Undercard results:
- In the co-feature bout, Brian Mendoza (21-2, 15 KOs) defeated former IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Jeison “Banana” Rosario (23-4-1, 17 KOs) in an upset fifth round knockout. Rosario, 27, was down twice, hitting the deck from a body shot in round two and going down from a headshot in the fifth round. The time of the stoppage was at :35. Losing to this level of opponent shows how far Rosario has fallen since he captured the IBF & WBA belts from then champion Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams by a fifth found knockout in January 2020. Since then, Rosario has lost three out of his last six fights and looks nothing like the fighter who knocked out J-Rock two years ago.
- Undefeated middleweight Fiodor Czerkaszyn (21-0, 13 KOs) won a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision victory over Nathaniel Gallimore (22-6-1, 17 KOs). The judges scored it 97-93, 99-91, and 100-90. Czerkaszyn controlled the fight every step of the way, beating Gallimore to the punch and outboxing him the entire time.
- Light heavyweight Andre Dirrell (29-3, 18 KOs) kept his career alive with a tenth round knockout over Yunieski Gonzalez (21-4, 17 KOs). Dirrell, 39, dropped the Cuban Gonzalez in the ninth round. In the tenth, the referee stepped in and halted the fight due to Gonzalez taking punishment from Dirrell.
- Former IBF/WBA junior middleweight champion Julian “J-Rock” Williams (28-3-1, 16 KOs) picked up his first win in three years since 2019, defeating journeyman Rolando Mansilla (18-12-1, 8 KOs) by an eight round unanimous decision in a contest that took place in the 160-lb division. The judges scored 80-81, 79-72, and 79-72. In the fifth, Mansilla was docked a point for repeatedly failing to keep his mouthpiece in.
- Light welterweight Kent Cruz (16-0-3, 10 KOs) and Enriko Gogokhia (13-0-2, 8 KOs) fought to a disappointing eight round draw. The judges’ scores were 76-76, 76-76, and 78-74 for Gogokhia. Oddly enough, earlier this year, Cruz and Gogokhia fought to another draw.
Preview:
With a victory tonight, David Morrell could face David Benavidez in 2023, provided he wins his next fight against Caleb Plant.
“I was asked, ‘Where do you want to go? Minneapolis, California, or Las Vegas?’ And I asked, ‘Where do people speak more English?’ So, I said, ‘I’ll go to Minneapolis because I wanted to learn English,'” said David Morrell to SHOWTIME Boxing about why he moved from Cuba to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“And he said, ‘It’s really cold there,’ and I said, ‘No problem. I’ve been to Russia, so it’s not important.’ When I got there, I had to run at 5:00 A.M. I said, ‘No way, this can’t be,’ but the truth is, I ended up loving it.
“I love Minneapolis, the people, the place, everything. It’s cold and all, it’s not easy, but yeah, I like it a lot. To be honest, I’ve never seen so many Cubans, and at my fights, I’ve seen a lot, and I’m not talking about the people in my camp.
“I’m talking about the public, the people I’ve seen with the Cuban flag. And I’ve been like, ‘Wow!’ It left an impact and impressed me because it’s something that had never happened to me.
“First and foremost, I’d like to thank my team for their support, which made this possible. Each time, we’re trying to bring back boxing to Minneapolis. And how you’ve seen each time we’re going to fight or do something.
“Everyone is attentive and brought tickets. Everyone is always waiting, and how we’ve done it. Hopefully, each time it gets bigger. There are things that we are nurturing and constructing, and right now, we’re not at 100, but we’re on the way.
“First of all, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that a Latino would come to a place like Minneapolis, a place where I didn’t expect to get so much care that I got. Not only the armory, not only at the fights.
“I go out to the streets; I go out to eat or to the mall, and people recognize me, and they say to me, ‘Hello, how are you?’ And that’s something I never expected. It’s almost like they took to me so much and accepted me as another citizen of Minneapolis.
“The best part of living here is being able to create a home, to create a second home in Minneapolis,” said Morrell.
David Morrell will defend his WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight title tonight against his tough-as-nails unbeaten mandatory challenger Aidos Yerbossynuly in a fight that should be a thrill to watch from start to finish.
The talented Cuban Morrell (7-0, 6 KOs), who arguably is the best fighter in the 168-lb division, will face his toughest test as a pro against the powerful Kazakh Yerbossynuly (16-0, 11 KOs) in their 9:00 p.m ET / 6:00 PM. PT card, live on SHOWTIME Championship Boxing from The Armory in Minneapolis.