By Dave Spencer
Photography by Herby Whyne

The trash talk went on all week. The fight lasted barely a minute. Adonis Stevenson (17-1 14KO) destroyed Jesus Gonzales (27-2 14KO) of Phoenix Arizona at of the opening round with a vicious left-right combination that put the visiting fighter flat on his back for well beyond the count of ten with his legs twitching.

The powerful southpaw was making his first fight under the tutelage of world renowned trainer Emanuel Steward and didn’t wasting any time making an impression. It was the first combination that the fighter threw after landing a crunching left earlier in the round.

It was only the second loss from Gonzales who was stopped in the 8th in 2005 by Jose Luis Zertuche.

The victory was a defense of Stevenson’s IBF Intercontinental belt and moves the fighter into the vacant number two spot in the IBF. Stevenson once again called for IBF Champion Lucian Bute in the ring after the fight. Stevenson also holds the NABA and NABO super-middleweight belts.

Super-lightweight Dierry Jean (21-0 14KO) scored a total of five knockdowns, all on body shots to score a convincing TKO victory over Ryan Barrett (25-10-3 5KO) of London England at 1:22 of the third round. Barrett was down twice in the first, twice in the second and when he went down for a fifth time, referee Steve St. Germain steppedin and mercifully stopped the carnage.

Arash Usmanee (17-0 8KO) managed to survive a fifth round knockdown to comeback and defeat Innocent Anyanwu (21-4-2 13KO) by a unanimous 76-75, 77-74, 78-73 decision. A left uppercut put Usmanee down to his knees and down to the canvas for the first time in his career. Usmanee, the #10 ranked WBA super-featherweight bounced up and refused to let the knockdown be a turning point in the fight that he was dominating to that point with well executed and precise body attack. Usmanee followed up in the 6th with his best of the fight against a now more confident Anyanwu scoring tenacious blows to the body and following fluidly right back upstairs. The former NABA champ started the 7th with an all out assault on Anyanwu but the fighter who called the Netherlands home came back with another solid left that momentarily stopped Usmanee in his tracks. A fierce final round had Usmanee landing more shots but with the visitor doing damage each time he manage to throw his right hand. Usmanee seemed stunned a number of times over the course of the final three minutes but for each time he was caught, he came roaring back in an attempt to inflict damage of his own.

In a battle of undefeated fighters, super-featherweight Tyler Asselstine (9-0 5KO) dominated the action scoring a 80-72 decision across the board over Nicola Cipolletta (8-1 2KO) of Italy. Asselstine carried what action there was showing good movement but was able to land more than one punch at a time for much of the contest. The southpaw was definitely scoring significant blows as the fight progressed but Cipolletta did little to engage and was content to put his hands up and showboat as opposed to fight to try and preserve his undefeated mark.

The bell saved huge heavyweight Ivica Perkovic (25-24 22KO) of Croatia in the 2nd after going down twice, but undefeated Oscar Rivas (9-0 6KO) quickly finished the job at :51 of the third round. A left-right combination by the Colombian born fighter put down Perkovic for the third time in the fight and while the fighter managed to stumble to his feet, the fight was quickly called.

A left hook to the body put down opponent Csaba Toth down for the count at :52 seconds of the third round and kept lightweight Baha Laham undefeated moving to 8-0. Dubbed little “Little Tyson”, the Hungarian Toth seemed to bear zero resemblance to the iconic heavyweight except fr the fact that he was often tattooed by Laham’s punches throughout the fight. A glacial slow Toth was no match for Laham who staggered him to end the second and bloodying the fighter’s nose. Laham had little problem with finishing the job in the third with the left hook putting Toth (6-12 down to his knees for a count of ten.

Jeremy Abbott (3-3) protested the first knockdown with less than minute left in the first round, but Ghislain Maduma (6-0 3KO) quickly repeated the feat twice more to score his third career knockout by virtue of the three knockout rule, the official time coming at 3:00 of the opening stanza. A left hook that produced the second knockdown was the most telling of the three for the welterweight Maduma in what largely amounted to a mismatch.

Stevenson wastes no time

Usmanee-Anyanwu

Jean-Barrett

Jean-Barrett

Jean-Barrett

Perkovic-Rivas

Adonis Stevenson

Stevenson-Gonzales

Jesus Gonzales

Jesus Gonzales

Ghislain Maduma

Baha Laham

Laham-Toth

Anyanwu-Usmanee

Cipolletta-Asselstine

Ghislain Maduma-Jeremy Abbott