Vasquez stops Martinez on TKO
Sammy Vasquez, left, throws a punch at Aron Martinez, of Mexico, during their welterweight bout, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Sammy Vasquez, right, throws a punch at Aron Martinez, of Mexico, during their welterweight bout, Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Monessen’s Sammy Vasquez extended his perfect record to 21-0 with a technical knockout of fellow welterweight Aaron Martinez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Saturday night.
Vasquez, a southpaw, dominated the fight, winning all six rounds before Martinez could not answer the bell for the seventh round with what appeared to be an elbow injury.
Vasquez landed 28 percent (88 of 309) of his punches to Martinez’s 20 percent (35 of 176). Vasquez entered the bout ranked 26th in the world, while Martinez was ranked 24th.
The fight was shown live on WPGH.
Meanwhile, Washington’s Jason Bergman took unbeaten heavyweight Joseph Parker into the eighth round, just the second time the New Zealand native went that deep into a fight, before losing by TKO to the unbeaten heavyweight in Apia, Samoa, Saturday.
The 24-year-old Parker, now 18-0, has won 16 of his fights by knockout. He is ranked 11th in the world by Boxrec.com. The fight against Bergman, 31, was scheduled to go 12 rounds with the WBO Oriental and WBO Pan African titles on the line.
Parker used his height advantage to establish his jab early against Bergman (25-12-2), but the southpaw also hurt Parker a couple of times with some big overhand lefts.
Parker continually went to the body on Bergman, dropping him in the second, seventh and eighth rounds. The final knockdown, which came on a body shot 1:02 into the eighth round, left Bergman unable to continue.
“I saw the openings, I just couldn’t breathe,” Bergman told reporters after the fight. “The humidity affected me more than I thought it would.”
Bergman trained as a sparring partner with Deontay Wilder recently, helping the WBC heavyweight champion prepare for his successful title defense last week against Artur Szpilka.
Despite the loss, Bergman, ranked 78th in the world by Boxrec.com, has won 16 of his past 19 fights.