Espinoza Stops Khegai After Ten In Mexico

Rafael “El Divino” Espinosa (28-0, 24 KOs) retained his WBO featherweight title following a 10th-round stoppage of fringe contender Arnold Gejay (23-3-1, 14 KOs) on Saturday night in the main event at Arena Coliseo, San Luis Potosi, in Mexico.

Uppercuts do the heavy lifting

Khegai’s corner chose not to let him out for the 11th round due to his left eye being cut and badly swollen from the punishment he took from the lanky 6’1″ Espinosa. A clash of heads in the seventh round caused a cut over Khegai’s left eye as well as significant swelling.

Espinoza used a combination of punches and uppercuts from the inside to control the much shorter, 5’5″ Ukrainian-born Khigai. On the 7th and 10th, Espinosa went to break trying to score a knockdown of Khegai by attacking him with a flurry. It didn’t work.

Khegai’s hand speed, strength and maneuverability allowed him to last through the 10th round before he was pulled from his corner.

Early on, the referee warned Khiji not to throw rabbit punches, as he was repeating his shots to try to get to the top of Espinosa’s head. He was forced to do so because of Espinosa’s height advantage.

Khaji’s corner hits the panic button

Khaji’s coach warned him after the eighth round that he would stop the fight unless he showed him something. He responded well in the ninth and tenth periods, giving Espinoza big rights to the head which he took well. They were shots that would hurt a lot of fighters.

The fight was wisely stopped after ten by Khegai’s team as he was too beaten and too late in the contest to allow the match to continue.

Overall, Espinoza performed well. He showed the same great work rate that has worked for him in his recent fights. On the downside, he was hit hard by Khiji repeatedly in combat.

Fortunately for Espinoza, he didn’t get hit enough to stagger as we saw in his first fight against Robizzi Ramirez. However, tonight’s match showed that sooner or later, Espinosa will get knocked out when facing a big enough player because he’s too easy to hit.

Vargas survives a difficult night

In the co-fight, Emiliano Vargas (16-0, 12 KOs) defeated veteran light welterweight Jonathan Montrell (19-4, 15 KOs) by a tougher-than-expected unanimous decision in 10 rounds. Vargas landed a rabbit punch in the first round, giving Montrell, 35, a knee.

Although he complained to the referee about being punched behind the head, he allowed the knockdown to stand.

Montrel showed a lot of heart, doing his best to match Vargas with powerful shots to the body and head. In the final three rounds, Vargas gave up trying to take down Montreal and focused solely on winning the decision.

Dozens

Delgado shakes off controversy

Lindolfo Delgado (24-0, 16 KOs) had to come off the deck in the 12th to defeat Gabriel Gulas Valenzuela by a controversial 12-round decision in an eliminator for the IBF light welterweight title. The scores were 114-113, 114-113 for Delgado, and 114-113 for Golas.

Delgado was eating left hooks throughout the fight with the stronger Valenzuela, and looked like the clear loser.

With the win, DelGado, who was promoted to the top position, became the mandatory challenger to IBF 140-pound champion Richardson Hitchens.