Ryan Rozicki Halts Gerardo Mellado In Two In Sydney Return

Second-round knockdowns and body punches end cruiserweight main event at Centre 200

Ryan Rozicki stopped Gerardo Mellado at 1:01 of the second round Saturday night in a cruiserweight main event at Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Two knockdowns in the second forced the referee to halt the scheduled ten-round fight.

The result puts Rozicki back in the cruiserweight title picture after a fifteen-month absence from the ring.

Rozicki started cautiously in the opening round after the long layoff. Mellado came forward and forced exchanges early, landing a right hand that clipped Rozicki near the ear and briefly staggered him. The shot served as a reminder that Mellado had come to fight.

“He was a lot tougher than I expected, and he hit very hard,” Rozicki said after the bout in comments to the Cape Breton Post. “He had a very hard right hand, and he actually caught me in the first round, I wasn’t really expecting a shot, and it landed around my ear, and it actually staggered me a little bit and it kind of woke me up. When I’m in that moment it’s killer or be killed so I guess I got it this time.”

Once Rozicki settled, the direction of the fight changed quickly. He began working his way inside and digging hooks to the body. In the second round he set his feet and let combinations go, driving Mellado back toward the ropes.

The first knockdown came when Rozicki landed heavy body shots that folded Mellado along the ropes. After the Chilean returned to his feet, Rozicki stepped forward again and continued attacking downstairs, forcing a second knockdown that prompted the referee to wave it off.

Rozicki later described the moment when he realized he had fully settled back into the rhythm of a professional fight.

“I felt really calm, but I didn’t really feel anything until he actually hit me and when he actually hit me, I realized I was back in a fight again,” Rozicki said. “It was 15 months since I had been hit with a solid punch with a real pro fight glove on with no head gear.”

Effective aggression ended the fight.

The stoppage marks Rozicki’s first fight since his majority draw with Yamil Peralta in December 2024 for the WBC interim cruiserweight title. Injuries had kept him out of the ring for more than a year, including a torn bicep tendon that forced him out of a planned WBC title fight with Badou Jack.

Rozicki improves to 21-1-1 with 20 knockouts. Mellado falls to 12-5 after suffering his second fight outside South America.

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