By Vladimir Lik

Vaughn Alexander (12-0) scored a hard-fought ten round unanimous decision victory over Devaun Lee (10-3-1, 5 KOs) at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the Sergey Kovalev-Igor Mikhalkin undercard. The official scores at ringside were 97-93, 96-94, 98-92.

At the times the bout was more street fight than sweet science, but Alexander landed the harder shots and threw more combinations than the Queens, New York native Lee who was a last minute substitute when Alexander’s original opponent Jaime Solario dropped out days before the bout.

The 32-year-old Alexander had Lee fighting off the ropes throughout the bout and went to the body to slow down Lee’s movement. Lee was unable to muster together more than a two-punch combination at any time in the bout leaving an opening for Alexander to land his punches almost at will.

By the fifth round Lee seemed winded and Alexander went to work on the body in an effort to hurt Lee and send him home early. Lee gutted trough punishment and was resigned to just make Alexander miss rather than forge an offensive attack of his own.

Lee conserved his energy for the last round where he attempted to make his last stand by starting to let his hands go and actually land power punches that moved Alexander around the ring. Alexander, sensing the momentum of bout shifting at this late stage began moving side to side to make Lee miss the most dangerous of the punches thrown.

For Alexander, the older brother of former world champion Devon, this marked his seventh bout since his career was suddenly stalled by an eleven-year prison sentence. Alexander said the layoff helped preserve his body so he is not the average 32-year-old boxer who may be on the decline.

Brooklyn native Frank Galarza (19-2-2, 11 KOs) defeated Norberto Gonzalez (24-11, 14 KOs) in a lopsided eight-round unanimous decision. The official scores at ringside were 80-72, 79-73, 78-74.

The 32-year-old Galarza worked steadily behind a stiff jab that kept the tough Mexican Gonzalez off balance trying to look for an opening which never materialized. Galarza had Gonzalez buzzed several times in the bout starting in the third round where a stiff jab followed by a straight right hand sent Gonzalez into the ropes and forced him to cover up. There was a moment where both fighters traded huge power shots in the center of the ring eliciting a roar from the New York crowd. That would be the last competitive moment of the bout as Galarza took over from there.

Galarza was in a grove in round five raking Gonzalez with right hands and moving away before Gonzalez can land anything meaningful. Midway through the round Gonzalez’ face started to redden as Galarza kept mounting pressure on him sending Gonzalez into the ropes and into survival mode.

Gonzalez was content to go the distance after being stopped in previous outings by the likes of Jermall Charlo and Erickson Lubin.

This marks the second consecutive victory for Galarza, who proudly spends time as community philanthropist, since signing with Main Events after suffering back to back losses to Jarret Hurd and Ishe Smith which sent him on an extended 14-month layoff.

Bakhram Murtazaliev (12-0, 10 KOs) defeated Kenneth McNeil (11-4, 8 KOs) by a punishing fifth round TKO much to the delight of the large Russian crowd inside the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The official time of the stoppage was 1:08 of round five.

The ultra-aggressive 25-year-old Murtazaliev who throws punches in bunches now extends his knockout streak to eight in a row and make a successful defense of the IBA junior middleweight title he won at Madison Square Garden on his co-promoter Kovalev’s undercard last November. Murtazaliev is also the first fighter to stop McNeil in fifteen professional bouts.

Murtazaliev dropped McNeil with a straight right hand which shot out like a bazooka and caused McNeil to lose control of the lower part of his body. The 28-year-old McNeil from Alabama managed to get back to his feet before being trounced upon by Murtazaliev who peppered McNeil with a series of eight unanswered punches-all landing flush. Just as referee Danny Schiavone was about to step in to stop the bout McNeill’s body gave out and he dropped to the canvas again. Schiavone waived the bout off to the applause of the partisan Russian crowd. 

Murtazaliev like his friend Kovalev is now trained by Uzbekistan’s Abror Tursunpulatov in Oxnard, California.

In super middleweight action Meiirim Nursultanov (6-0, 5 KOs) defeated Alejandro Torres (9-4-2, 4 KOs) by sixth round TKO. The official time of the stoppage was 1:55 of the sixth round.

The Kazakhstan native Nursultanov had Torres hurt several times in the bout with referee Eddie Claudio peering in on the verge of stopping the bout. In the sixth round Nursultanov was landing hard right hands snapping the Mexican fighter’s head from side to side. Instead of moving away, Torres just lowered his head and became an easy target for the 25-year-old Nursultanov who started teeing off on the defenseless Torres prompting Claudio to finally jump in and waive the bout off.

Nursultanov was too strong and his punches very accurate for Torres to mount any kind of defense against. This is the fourth consecutive stoppage for Nursultanov who two bouts ago knocked his opponent Ismael Bueno out of the ring.

Heavyweight prospect Cassius Chaney (12-0, 6 KOs) scored a massive second round knockout of Tim Washington (6-6, 6 KOs) to get a rise out of crowd which has started to fill in the Theater inside Madison Square Garden. The official time of the stoppage was 1:28.

The 30-year-old Chaney hurt Washington with a powerful right hand upstairs sending the Toledo, Ohio native into the ropes and in trouble. Chaney was able to capitalize and unleashed a measured uppercut and another right hook to twist Washington’s body around and send him down. The referee didn’t even begin the count and called for paramedics to come check on the 37-year-old Washington.

“I needed to upstage Wilder,” a beaming Chaney declared immediately after his win referencing the heavyweight title bout between Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz occurring minutes away in Brooklyn tonight.

Alexey Evchenko (16-10-1, 7 KOs) defeated Khiary Gray-Pitts (15-4, 11 KOs) by unanimous decision after Gray-Pitts was unable to come out for the sixth round after suffering a laceration from an unintentional headbutt. The official scores at ringside were 48-47 X 3.

The 34-year-old Evchenko, who hails from Kovalev’s hometown Chelyabinsk, Russia had Gray-Pitts hurt several times in the second and third rounds, but was unable to put the Massachusetts native away and allowed Gray-Pitts to battle back to stun Evchenko with a big counter right hook of his own to punctuate the third round. Gray-Pitts had a strong fourth round as Evchenko seemed tentative at times trying to find some space to work on the inside.

In the fifth round a cut opened up on Gray-Pitts after a headutt when both fighter were jockeying for position. Evchenko may have sealed the victory with a huge right hand that stunned Gray-Pitts and sent him to wobbling to the corner form which he was not able to emerge. According to the rules of the New York State Athletic Commission if a bout is stopped after four rounds they go to the judge’s scorecards. 

Middleweight prospect LeShawn Rodriguez (9-0, 7 KOs) won a hard-fought six round unanimous decision victory over Martez Jackson (4-2-2, 2 KOs). The official scores at ringside were 58-56 x 3.

This was the first time the 24-year-old Rodriguez has seen the sixth round as his average per bout leading up to this bout has only ben 2 ½ rounds. The former two-time New York City Golden Gloves champion landed the harder punches but allowed Jackson to stay in the fight and land some clean counter shots.

After having his way for first two rounds the much taller Rodriguez got caught with several clean right hooks upstairs from the 34-year-old Jackson who traveled to New York from Georgia to try and upset Rodriguez. Rodriguez found his grove in the fifth round working behind his jab to keep Jackson off balance. Rodriguez landed the best punch of the bout in the fifth which was a left hook upstairs set up by a stinging body shot.

Jackson took his foot off the gas in the sixth round and Jackson did his best to take advantage landing a succession of uppercuts which sent Rodriguez to the ropes. Jackson, sensing he had his man hurt, tried to follow up with more combinations but Rodriguez did his best to evade more punishment to survives the round.

This was the second straight appearance at Madison Square Garden for Rodriguez, who was selected as an alternate for the 2016 United States Olympic Team. 

In Junior middleweight action Madiyar Ashkeyev (9-0, 4 KOs) scored an impressive first round TKO of Jose Antonio Abreu (13-4, 4 KOs). The official time of the stoppage was 1:52.

The 29-year-olf Ashkeyev from Merki, Kazakhstan landed a huge right hook which dropped Abreu down with a huge thud. Abreu did beat the count but referee Johnny Callas waived the bout off after not liking Abreu’s body language without any argument from the corner.

This is the second consecutive stoppage victory for former amateur standout Ashkeyev who now trains in Oxnard, California and is co-promoted by Kovalev.

In the opening bout of the eleven-bout card super middleweight prospect Ismael Villareal (2-0) defeated Anthony Woods (1-7) by unanimous decision in a scheduled four round bout. The official scores at ringside were 40-36 x 3.

The 20-year-old Villareal dominated Woods with blistering combinations which knocked Woods’ mouthpiece out in the second and fourth rounds. Villareal went to the body in the third round which opened Woods up for a left hook that raked across his chin. Villareal, the son of former professional boxer Oitilio, made his debut in the same building last November and is a two-time New York City Golden Gloves Champion.