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Steve KimESPN
After losing his WBC super middleweight title on the scales Friday, David Benavidez salvaged his weekend with a one-sided 10th-round TKO victory over Roamer Alexis Angulo on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Because Benavidez was nearly three pounds over the 168-pound limit at the weigh-in, only Angulo had an opportunity to capture this title.
Benavidez was in complete control as he slowly built up momentum in the middle rounds and began to overwhelm Angulo with a powerful and varied attack. From right hands to left hooks to uppercuts, Benavidez began to wear down the high guard of Angulo, who if anything proved to be durable for much of this bout.
But late in Round 10, Benavidez started to land clean shots that visibly affected Angulo, who started to show signs that he was getting hurt by the punches that were now connecting with more and more frequency.
After the round, Angulo’s head trainer made the decision to call off the fight.
The offense barrage of Benavidez was relentless, as he threw 703 punches, landing 290 of them. Compared to Angulo who only landed 51 of 400 punches.
This is the second time Benavidez has relinquished this title without having lost a fight. Back in 2018, he was stripped of his title and suspended by the WBC for testing positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition drug test.
Romero wins interim title
Rolando Romero defeated Jackson Marinez by unanimous decision to become the new interim WBA lightweight champion.
The judges scored the fight 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110 for Romero.
But the victory did not come without controversy, as Marinez outlanded Romero and appeared to control the majority of the rounds.
The hard-hitting Romero (12-0, 10 KOs) came out fast, throwing punches with bad intentions from the very beginning, but the savvy Marinez (19-1, 7 KOs) was able to evade most of those attacks and soon he was controlling things with his jab.
There wasn’t much sustained action as the fight fell into a familiar pattern. Romero would throw punches with all his might, miss most of them, then Marinez would land a few jabs and the occasional right hand.
“I don’t think I had a bad performance,” said Romero. “I thought I won the fight. Regardless of everything, I’m the world champ now. I’m happy.
“He came out a little bit tougher and slicker than what I thought. But all he did was move around the entire fight. He didn’t even try to engage so it’s hard to knock out someone who doesn’t want to get knocked out or doesn’t try to engage. I hurt him multiple times, with body shots, with a few hooks. There was one moment I hurt him with a right hand and he pulled my head down. It was hard to finish him off because I hurt him a lot at the end of the rounds.”
Marinez outlanded Romero 103-86 in total punches and appeared to outbox him for much of the night.
“That was pure robbery,” said Marinez. “I won the fight. I outjabbed [him], outboxed him. You could tell he didn’t think he won the fight right afterwards. It’s a robbery.”
Wallin returns with TKO victory
Otto Wallin scored a fifth-round TKO victory after Travis Kauffman was unable to continue due to an injury in his left shoulder.
With Kauffman not able to use his left hand and after taking a steady barrage of punches, referee Michael Ortega was forced to call off the fight at 2:32 of the round.
Kauffman announced afterward that he would be retiring.
Before the stoppage, Wallin (21-114 KOs) was controlling the action out of his southpaw stance with a quick right jab and straight left hand, consistently beating Kauffman (32-4, 23 KOs) to the punch with a two-punch combination down the middle.
The fight was fought at Wallin’s pace and Kauffman was breathing heavily in the early rounds. At the time of the stoppage, Wallin was up on the scorecards 40-36, 40-36 and 39-37.
“I was breaking him down, I had a lot left,” said Wallin after the fight. “Too bad he hurt his shoulder in the end. But I was breaking him and hitting him with good clean shots.”
It was a solid performance by Wallin who in his previous fight cut Tyson Fury over the right eye and gave him a tougher than expected time in losing a 12-round decision.
Kauffman said he first tore his left labrum during training for the Luis Ortiz fight last year and that he hurt it again in the first round against Wallin.
“Like a dummy I waited like five months to have surgery on it after the Ortiz fight,” said Kauffman. “So I started feeling better and was going to do a tune-up fight in March, but then COVID happened. This opportunity came up and I didn’t want to pass it up and I felt good. In the first round I hurt it. I felt it, but then it went away and I thought maybe it’s just my mind and it went away. Then in the fifth round I heard it and that was it. It was torn again.”
Kauffman announced after the fight he was done with boxing.
“I’m done. I’m retiring,” said Kauffman. “I have kids. I’ve been doing this a long time.”