By Minnie Larry
On Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KOs) snapped his fingers and dusted mandatory challenger Dominic “Trouble” Breazeale (20-2, 18 KOs) in the first round. Wilder tied Muhammad Ali’s record by defending his title for the 9th consecutive time. Like Ali stated, on May 25, 1965, after the 2nd Liston fight, “[I hit] so hard, don’t ever bet against him no mo, I don’t know what he’s gonna do. He told us to get there early. I know a lot of people missed the fight.” The same can be said about this fight. Many fans, if they blinked missed the jab, right cross that sent Breazeale sprawling to the canvas for the ten count. The time was 2:17.
In other action:
WBC featherweight world champion “Mister” Gary Russell Jr. (30-1, 18 KOs) solidified his stake in the game with a crackling fifth round TKO over former world champ Kiko Martinez (39-9-2, 28 KOs) on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight was never in question. Russell treated Martinez as a sparring partner. He landed at will from every angle. As a result, the fight was stopped due a cut over Martinez’ left eye. Time was 2:52 in the fifth. Post-fight, Russell called out Leo Santa Cruz, and hopefully this fight can happen or perhaps we will not see Russell for another year.
Unbeaten super lightweight Juan Heraldez (16-0-1, 10 KOs) and former IBF super feather champ Argenis Mendez (25-5-3, 12 KOs) fought to a ten round draw. Scores were 95-95, 95-95, and 97-93 for Mendez.
Unbeaten heavyweight Robert Alfonso (18-0-1, 8 KOs) and Iago Kiladze (26-4-1, 18 KOs) fought to an eight round draw. Scores were 77-75 Alfonso, 77-75 Kiladze, 76-76.
