Interim WBA Super Middleweight Champion David O. Morrell Jr. (4-0, 3 KOs) earned a dominant knockout victory over Mike Gavronski (26-4-1, 16 KOs) in three rounds.
The fight took place Saturday night in the main event of FOX PBC Fight Night and on FOX Deportes from the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles.
A former Cuban amateur star, the southpaw Morrell, now hailing from Minneapolis, came out throwing fast, accurate and powerful combinations from round one.
Almost immediately had Gavronski, from Bellevue, Washington, staggering groggily around the ring.
Morrell finally dropped the dazed Gavronski for a nine-count with a fearsome combination of shots at the end of the first round.
The relentless attack continued in rounds two and three, as Morrell delivered an array of power shots.
After a final clean uppercut sent Gavronski’s head snapping back, Referee Jack Reiss had seen enough and waved it over at 2:45 of round three.
Through the almost eight minutes of action, Morrell threw 208 punches and landed 102 of them, according to CompuBox.
Preceding FOX PBC Fight Night, FS1 PBC Fight Night was headlined by a battle between super middleweight contenders that saw Forestville, Maryland’s Alantez Fox (27-2-1, 12 KOs) score a 10-round unanimous decision over Marcos “Madman” Hernandez (14-4-1, 3 KOs) of Fresno, California.
The competitive fight ended with 96-94, 97-93, and 98-92, all for Fox.
More action on FS1 featured 18-year-old super bantamweight prospect Chávez “The Beast” Barrientes (5-0, 4 KOs), from Las Vegas via Honolulu, remaining undefeated with a third-round knockout over Columbia, South Carolina’s Paul Carroll (4-2, 4 KOs).
Barrientes sent the determined Carroll down with a right uppercut in the third and then battered him around the ring for the remainder of the round.
With cautionary guidance from Referee Eddie Hernandez Sr., Carroll’s corner elected to stop the fight.
Unbeaten welterweight Radzhab Butaev (13-0, 10 KOs) returned to action with an impressive third-round body-shot knockout over Terry Chatwood (9-1-1, 5 KOs).
After two competitive rounds, Butaev, from Indio, California via The Republic of Dagestan, Russia, upped the intensity in the third and saw immediate results.
From Littlerock, Arkansas, Chatwood was visibly hurt by the perfectly placed liver shot and did not attempt to rise. Referee Jerry Cantu reached the count of 10 at 1:01.
