LAS VEGAS – David Morrell Jr. capitalized on the publicity he acquired Saturday night time.
The unbeaten Cuban tremendous middleweight blew out late alternative Yamaguchi Falcao in Showtime Pay-Per-View’s co-feature earlier than Gervonta Davis fought Ryan Garcia in the primary occasion at T-Cellular Area. Morrell knocked Falcao stiff with a vicious proper hook within the first spherical of a scheduled 12-round battle for Morrell’s secondary WBA tremendous middleweight title.
Referee Celestino Ruiz waved an instantaneous finish to the motion, 2:22 into the primary spherical, as quickly as Falcao crashed to the canvas.
The 25-year-old Morrell, who lives in Minneapolis and trains in Houston, improved to 9-0 and recorded his eighth knockout. Morrell additionally ended Falcao’s eight-fight successful streak.
Previous to Saturday night time, Falcao, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, hadn’t misplaced since Christopher Pearson beat him by 10-round unanimous choice in Might 2019. Falcao (24-2-1, 10 KOs, 1 NC) settled for a 10-round majority draw with D’Mitrius Ballard in his battle after he misplaced to Pearson.
Morrell was imagined to battle Sena Agbeko on Saturday night time. Falcao changed Ghana’s Agbeko (27-2, 21 KOs) on barely one week’s discover as a result of the Nevada State Athletic Fee denied Agbeko a license because of an abnormality detected throughout one among his medical exams.
It was apparent nearly instantly that the 35-year-old Falcao was overmatched.
A left-right mixture by Morrell wobbled Falcao, who was weak, however nonetheless standing. Morrell waited for Ruiz to intervene, however he didn’t, which led to Morrell blasting him with one other proper hook that knocked Falcao into the ropes.
That counted as a knockdown as a result of the ropes prevented Falcao from falling. The battle didn’t final for much longer, as Morrell annihilated Falcao with the aforementioned proper hook.
Keith Idec is a senior author/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He may be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
