By: Sean Crose
The bubble inside the MGM Grand in Los Vegas, Nevada hosted a Top Rank card on Friday which was presented by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions. The main event was a scheduled 12 round affair between the 31-1 Emanuel Navarrete and the 18-0 Ruben Villa. At stake was the vacant WBO featherweight title.
First off, however, the 8-0 southpaw Janibek Alimkhanuly faced off against the 16-3 Gonzalo Coria in a scheduled ten round middleweight scrap. Coria was a live competitor, but Alimkhanuly was able to use his height and head/upper body movement to his advantage. After dropping Coria in the first, the Kazakh fighter was able to dominate his man in the second.
In fact, a series of thunderous shots assured that Coria wouldn’t make it through the second round. Seeing the fighter face down on the mat after the second knockdown in as many rounds, the referee decided to spare Coria any more of a beating.