Isroil Madrimov hammered Alejandro Barrera to the body and head throughout their brutally one-sided super welterweight fight Saturday night, boxingscene.com writes.
The unbeaten southpaw Madrimov battered Barrera with an array of lefts and rights downstairs and upstairs until referee Benjy Esteves mercifully called a halt to the action in the fifth round on the Gennadiy Golovkin-Sergiy Derevyanchenko undercard at Madison Square Garden. Madrimov dominated him for almost the entire fight, until Esteves stepped in while a backtracking Barrera was still on his feet.
Esteves stopped their scheduled 10-rounder at 2:36 of the fifth round.
Madrimov viciously connected with a left hand that snapped back Barrera’s head several seconds before Esteves stepped between them to spare Barrera from absorbing more punishment.
The 24-year-old Madrimov has won each of his four professional fights by knockout. Mexico’s Barrera (29-6, 18 KOs) has lost four of his past five fights, but he hadn’t been knocked out in 34 professional bouts before Madrimov stopped him.