David Morrell 5-0 (4) has an easy night at the office when he put away previously undefeated Mario Cazares 12-1 (5) to retain his WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight belt at The Armoury in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sunday night.
The 23-year-old Cuban southpaw who now fights out of Minneapolis hurt Mexican Cazares, 30, with a left hand and the follow-up left sent him directly to the canvas.
Cazares was never a chance to beat the count. Referee Mark Nelson waved off the contest at 2:32.
“I didn’t expect that to end so quickly,” Morrell said after the fight.
“I thought it would be more like a five or six round fight. However, once Cazares stepped in the ring, I noticed that he was not ready to fight on my level. He wasn’t ready for this kind of test or this level of fight.
“When I saw the opening, I took him out. When I hit him, I saw his legs wobble and I knew he was gone, completely out.”
On the undercard cruiserweight Brandon ‘Bulletproof’ Glanton 14-0 (11) defeated Efetobor ‘Pitbull’ Apochi 11-1 (11) by split decision in their 10-round bout in what must be considered one of the fights of the year.
The pair traded bombs at a fast pace and never let up throughout the bout. Glanton was able to successfully counter Apochi early on before the 33-year-old Houston resident by way of Nigeria settled in behind his jab.
At the end of the sixth Glanton, 29, almost decapitated Apochi on the ropes, forcing a count. The Atlanta native who boxes out of Riverside tried hard but couldn’t put Apochi away. CompuBox had Glanton landing 187 of 653 punches with Apochi connecting with 183 of 721 blows.
Two judges scored the bout 95-94 for Glanton while the third saw it for Apochi 96-93.
“I knew it was a close fight because at the very end he didn’t hurt me, but I staggered,” Glanton said post-fight.
“We always talk about balance in the gym, though. I got the split decision because balance is something that we constantly work on. He didn’t hurt me, that’s why I was able to keep fighting.
“Thank God the judges saw it the right way. That knockdown is something we worked on in the gym. I hope the boxing world sees what my coach is doing. The small details, the intricate things, make the difference in a fight like this. All the little details that he schools me on is what he told me would be the difference in this fight, and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t.”
Apochi called for a rematch after the close and highly entertaining fight.
“What can I say?” Apochi said. “I thought I won the fight. I used my jab, showed some heart, had some good movement in there, but I’m not the judges. I don’t know what they saw, but I thought that I did what I had to do.
“He’s a tough guy. I won’t take anything away from him. He took some tough shots and he was still there.
“Of course, I want a rematch with Glanton. I want a rematch with him right now!”
Glanton said he was down for that.
“If they want the rematch, then I’ll do it again,” he said. “I think I’ve proven what I needed to prove, but it’s easier the second time.”
