Sultan Ibragimov was frustrated. He had hoped to be facing Brooklyn’s Shannon Briggs for the WBO championship last night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Instead, it was Javier Mora in front of him. Poor Mora.
Ibragimov unleashed that frustration with a barrage of punches, dropping Mora early in the first round with a right cross and then finishing him a few moments later when referee Mike Ortega stopped the fight as Mora slumped helpless along the ropes. It took just 46 seconds for Ibragimov (20-0-1) to earn his 18th knockout. Mora, who took the fight on short notice, dropped to 21-4-2.
Mora made the mistake of trying to exchange with Ibragimov at the opening bell. The Russian caught him with a crisp left followed by a hard right on the chin that dropped Mora. The Mexican got up on wobbly legs, but was virtually helpless and Ibragimov battered him until Ortega stopped the fight.
“I was ready to go 10 rounds, but it ended a lot sooner,” Ibragimov said. “I wanted to box, but he kept coming forward, so I had to take advantage of that.”
Said Mora, “I didn’t have it. He punches hard. I cracked personally. I didn’t have my best stuff.”
On the under card, Spanish Harlem’s Edgar Santana won a split decision over Dario Jose Esalas of Columbia. It was a rugged welterweight fight with Esalas (30-7, 25 KOs) suffering a bad cut over his left eye early in the fight. Santana (21-2-0, 13 KOs) got caught along the ropes more than he would have liked, but scored enough with his jab and combinations to win the bout. “When I was boxing and jabbing him it was kind of easy,” Santana said. “But sometimes I’d rather be in there and mix it up.”
Super middleweight Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin of New York improved to 10-0 with his ninth knockout, stopping Nathan Martin of Iowa in the second round. “Whoever they put in front of me, it’s about me taking them out of there,” Quillin said.
Atlantic City welterweight Shamone Alvarez also stayed unbeaten (17-0, 11 KOs) with first round knockout of Travis Hartman of St. Joseph, Mo, and heavyweight Roman Greenberg of Israel improved to 25-0 with a unanimous decision over Michael Simms (l9-7) of Sacramento.