David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) notched up another win on his resume with a sixth round stoppage over the tough Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs) in their entertaining fight on Showtime PPV at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
The 35-year-old Andrade had enough by the end of the sixth round, and his corner pulled him out. Benavidez knocked him down in the fourth round with a right to the head and beat the daylights out of him in the fifth and sixth rounds.
Benavidez will ratchet up the pressure on undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez for a fight next.
In the first three rounds, the slick southpaw Andrade landed many punches to the head and body of the much bigger WBC interim super middleweight champion Benavidez, but they had no effect. Benavidez was too big after rehydrating overnight.
He looked like he’d piled on 20+ lbs, putting him around 190 lbs in appearance, and it was too big for Andrade, who didn’t look like he had rehydrated much at all since last Friday’s weigh-in.
Jermall Charlo defeats Jose Benavidez Jr.
In another one-sided fight on tonight’s Showtime PPV card, unbeaten Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) successfully came back from his 2 1/2 year layoff to defeat the game but limited Jose Benavidez Jr. (28-3-1, 19 KOs) by a ten round unanimous decision.
The bigger, stronger, and more athletic Jermall hurt Benavidez Jr. several times in the fight and took the fight out of him by the seventh round. Benavidez Jr. went into the survival mode to last the full distance.
The judges’ scores were 98-92, 99-91, and 100-90.
Subriel Matias stops Shohjahon Ergashev
IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias (20-1, 20 KOs) proved to be too strong for previously unbeaten mandatory challenger Shohjahon Ergashev (23-1, 20 KOs) at the end of the fifth.
Matias beat up Ergashev in the fourth and fifth rounds, and it was clear at the end of the fifth that he was getting hit too much and needed to be pulled out. The fight was wisely halted at the end of the round.
Despite getting stopped, Ergashev fought well and landed a lot of hard left hands that would have given fighters like Devin Haney, Regis Prograis, and Teofimo Lopez huge problems.
However, Matias’ punch resistance is on another level, and he soaked up the shots from the 31-year-old Ergashev like they were cough drops, showing no sign of being hurt.
Ideally, Matias will now be in the picture to face the winner of the December 9th fight between WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis and Devin Haney. Unfortunately, Haney said this week that Matias isn’t someone he’s interested in fighting next.
Lamont Roach decisions Hector Luis Garcia
Lamont Roach (24-1-1, 9 KOs) put in an inspired effort, taking the fight to WBA super featherweight champion Hector Luis Garcia (16-2, 10 KOs) to win a twelve round unanimous decision.
Garcia fought well in the first eight rounds, landing a lot of hard shots. However, Roach came on late, knocking down Garcia in the twelve round to get the decision. The scores were 114-113, 116-111 for Roach, and 114-113 for Garcia.
The loss for Hector Garcia was his second straight this year. He’d been stopped in his previous fight by WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta Davis last January in an unsuccessful attempt to capture his secondary belt at 135.
