By Victor Salazar

WASHINGTON, D.C. - WBA Interim Heavyweight World Champion Luis 'King Kong' Ortiz (25-0, 22 KOs) continued his rapid descent up the heavyweight division, knocking Tony 'The Tiger' Thompson (40-7, 27 KOs) down twice before finishing him with a huge knockout in the sixth round.

The main event topped a massive night of boxing on HBO Boxing After Dark® at the D.C. Armory, in Washington D.C.in front crowd of 4,585.

Ortiz came out strong, knocking down Thompson with an overhand left in the first round, sending Thompson to the canvas again in the third round before putting him down for good mid-way through the sixth.

As the crowd swelled at the DC Armory ahead of the Ortiz-Thompson fight, Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) and Sadam "World Kid" Ali (22-1, 13 KOs) squared off in the co-main event for the WBO Welterweight world championship. Both fighters landed big power shots throughout the first half of the fight, but at the end of the eighth round, Vargas caught Ali with an overhand right that dropped the previously undefeated fighter. Ali made it out of the round but was still on shaky legs in the ninth, and Vargas continued to apply pressure until the referee jumped in and stopped the fight toward the end of the round.

With the WBC Interim Featherweight World Championshipon the line, Oscar Escandon (25-2, 17 KOs) and Robinson "Robin Hood" Castellanos (21-11, 13 KOs) waged a bloody, brutal war over seven rounds. In a back-and-forth battle, Castellanos knocked Escandon down with a sharp uppercut in the second, but Escandon beat the count, got off the deck and started breaking down Castellanos over the ensuing rounds. Escandon opened up a cut over Castellanos' eye in the fourth and an accidental head butt led to a river of blood pouring from Castellanos' nose. At the end of the seventh, Escandon landed a body shot that knocked out Castellanos.