Murodjon Akhmadaliev destroys Ricardo Espinoza with left hands in round three

It didn’t take long for Murodjon Akhmadaliev to demonstrate his superiority over Ricardo Espinoza tonight in Monte Carlo, with several heavy left hands in round three doing the job and ultimately ending their super bantamweight fight.

Akhmadaliev, a southpaw, was in control from the outset and seemingly lining Espinoza up for his left cross in each of the first two rounds. He then found his range and connected on the target in round three, dropping Espinoza for the first time in the fight. Espinoza bravely beat the count only to find himself suffocated by Akhmadaliev’s pressure and was soon very much in survival mode. He nearly made it, too, at least to the end of the round, but Akhmadaliev caught him again with just seconds to go and this time the Mexican was prevented from trying to beat the count by the referee, who had clearly seen enough.

With the victory, Akhmadaliev, a former IBF champion from Uzbekistan, takes the WBA interim title and reaffirms his mandatory position to Naoya Inoue. He also moves his record to 13-1 (9), with Espinoza, the defeated man, falling to 30-5 (25).

Action was certainly expected in the European cruiserweight fight between Britain’s Cheavon Clarke and France’s Leonardo Mosquea, but few would have expected the pair to go the full 12 rounds. This seemed even less likely to happen when in round one Clarke, the pre-fight favourite, was hurt badly by a left hook and floored for the first time in his 11-fight professional career.

Almost as surprising as the pair going the distance was Mosquea, the underdog, leaving Monte Carlo with the vacant EBU title after 12 rounds completed rounds. But that is exactly what happened, with the three judges split in the end yet two of them of the opinion that Mosquea had done enough (scores read: 117-113 Clarke, 116-112 Mosquea, 115-112 Mosquea).

To his credit, Clarke responded well to the first-round crisis, but still he struggled to avoid a lot of what Mosquea threw his way and in the end it was these moments, the more eye-catching moments, which appeared to sway the judges.

The loss, Clarke’s first, leaves the Brit at 10-1 (7) as a pro, while Mosquea, still unbeaten, is now 16-0 (9).

In arguably the performance of the night, Rossington lightweight Maxi Hughes, a true technician, used every ounce of his ring intelligence and experience to dominate Ireland’s Gary Cully over the 10-round distance.

Now 34, Hughes started the calendar year coming up short in a big fight against William Zepeda in Las Vegas, but showed tonight he has plenty left to offer at 135 lbs. Calm and composed, he led Cully a merry dance for every second of every round, with each of the three ringside judges scoring the all-southpaw fight the same after 10 were completed: 100-90. With the win, Hughes moves to 28-7-2 (6), while Cully, cut badly above his right eye, falls to 18-2 (10).

In the night’s only world title action, Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira successfully defended her IBF women’s lightweight belt against France’s Beatriz Ferreira, winning a unanimous decision after 10 rounds.

All-action and aggressive, Ferreira was dominant from the outset and never once looked in danger of losing a round, let alone the fight. This dominance was then reflected on the scorecards, with each card showing a score of 100-90 in her favour.

Now 6-0 (2), Ferreira is being moved quickly as a pro and could end up fighting Britain’s Caroline Dubois, who fights for the WBC lightweight belt in January and has previously expressed an interest in the fight.