Live Results: Benavidez vs. Yarde, Haney vs. Norman Jr – Round-by-Round Coverage

David Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) retained his WBC light heavyweight title with a seventh-round knockout win over Anthony Yarde (27-4, 24 KOs) on Saturday night at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Benavidez dropped Yarde in the seventh round with a flurry of shots after cornering him. The referee docked Benavidez a point for hitting Yarde while he was down. After the action resumed, Benavidez cornered the bloody & battered challenger Yarde, and unloaded with a storm of punches, forcing referee Henry Afu to step in and halt the fight. The time of the stoppage was at 1:59 of round seven.

“This is what I expected. He stepped into The Monster’s world, and this is what he got. They said I couldn’t stop this guy. I made it look easier than Kovalev and Beterbiev. May 2nd, Zurdo Ramirez. I’m going up to cruiserweight,” said Benavidez.

Results

Devin Haney (33-0, 16 KOs) won an ugly, clinch-filled, controversial 12-round unanimous decision against WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. (28-1, 22 KOs) in the chief support bout.

In round two, Haney scored a flash knockdown with a right hand. For the remainder of the fight, Devin mostly held and retreated. The scores were 114-113, 117-110, and 116-111 for Haney. This writer had it for Norman 9-3. Haney only appeared to win rounds 2, 5, and 11.

WBC and WBO super flyweight champion Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (23-0, 16 KO) scored a textbook 10th-round knockout of WBA super flyweight champion Fernando ‘Puma’ Martinez (18-1, 9 KOs) to become a three-belt unified 115-lb champion.

‘Bam’ dropped ‘Rodriguez with a picture-perfect left hook in the 10th round, sending him down backfiret. The referee then counted him out. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:25 of round 10.

Jesse Bam Rodriguez vs. Fernando Martinez

Round 1: Martinez got the better of ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, nailing him with big power shots. A big fight hand from ‘Puma’ Martiniez causes Bam to touch the canvas with a glove. The referee failed to call it a knockdown. A clear round for Martinez.

Round 2: Bam controlled most of the round with his jab. In the last minute, Puma Martinez came on to land hard right hands and uppercuts to the head of Bam. It’s a better round for Rodriguez, but close.

Round 3: Early in the round, Rodriguez bloodies Puma Martinez’s nose with a straight left, causing him to rub it repeatedly. Martinez came back to land some strong right hands. However, late in the round, Bam hurt him with a body shot and dominated the last 20 seconds.

Round 4: A big round for ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, as he battered Martinez with shots early and often. Towards the end of the round, Martinez is looking exhausted.

Round 5: Bam effortlessly beats up Martinez, landing left hands to the head, rights to the body, and not letting him rest for a moment. It was another one-sided round.

Round 6: Martinez looks ragged on his feet in this round, stumbling from the combinations that Bam hits him with. It was target practice for Rodriguez in this round. It doesn’t look like the fight can go much longer.

Round 7: Jesse was forced to eat some big, looping homerum shots from Fernando. Still, mostly a Rodriguez round.

Round 8: A good comeback round for Puma Rodriguez. In the first two minutes, he repeatedly nailed Bam with looping power shots with both hands. In the late minute, Rodriguez came back to get the better of Puma.

Round 9: Despite being exhausted and stumbling around the ring, Puma lands some huge shots in the round, catching Bam clean. The Argentinian’s legs are gone, but he’s still landing with power.

Bam Rodriguez KOs Puma Martinez

Round 10: Martinez starts strong, landing a hard right hand. However, Bam fired back a huge left hand that flattened Martinez, sending him flat on his back. The referee then counted out Puma. The time of the stoppage was 1:25 of round 10.

Abdullah Mason (20-0, 17 KOs) stayed unbeaten, defeating Sam Noakes (17-1, 15 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision in a war to win the vacant WBO lightweight title. The scores were 117-111, 115-113, and 115-113. Tom Galm had it 7-5 for Mason. He won, but it was far from a dominant performance.

Many of the rounds were difficult to score because both fighters were landing hard shots.

What made the fight appear closer was Abdullah choosing to move and jab. It gave the appearance that he wasn’t willing to engage at times. Mason did a lot of holding as well. In the last 20 seconds of every round, Mason would come on to land hard punches.

Noakes was cut over his left eye from a clash of heads in round two. Later, he suffered a bloody nose in the tenth. In round 10, Mason hurt Noakes with a left to the head, backing him up against the ropes. He then unloaded with a storm of shots, but Noakes held firm to make it out of the round.

Despite winning, Abdullah looked far from unbeatable. He was vulnerable at times, and a better fighter with more skills and or power might have been too much for him tonight. Top Rank will have to be careful about who they match Mason against because he doesn’t look ready for fighters like Andy Cruz, Raymond Muratalla, Shakur Stevenson, or William Zepeda. He gets hit too much, and that’s not a good thing if he were to fight any of those four.

Vito Mielnicki Jr (22-1, 13 KOs) scored a ninth-round TKO over previously unbeaten Samuel Nmomah (21-1, 5 KOs) in a middleweight fight to capture the vacant WBO Global title in a scheduled 10-round bout. The 23-year-old Mielnicki Jr. hurt Nmomah with a short right to the head, causing him to retreat to the ropes.

Mielnick Jr. then nailed him with a left hand that caused him to spin around. He followed up with a right that dropped him. The badly hurt-looking Nmomah got back to his feet, and the referee promptly halted the fight after taking a good look at his condition.

The time of the stoppage was 2:09 of round nine. It was a good performance by Mielnicki Jr. He had Nmomah, 28, hurt in rounds 3, 4, and 8 before stopping him in round 9.