DAZN’s oddball show in Benghazi this afternoon produced two predictable outcomes and one major surprise.
In the main event, mandatory featherweight challenger Mirco Cuello (16-0, 13 KO) lived up to his -3000 odds by brutally stopping Sergio Rios (19-1, 7 KO) for the extremely unnecessary interim belt. Cuello had to lean on a literal last-minute finish to get past Christian Olivo in their February eliminator, but needed no such heroics here, flooring the overmatched Rios with a straight right in the first before putting him away with a switch straight left and liver shot in quick succession.
Champion Nick Ball is long overdue for a mandatory defense, but the WBA seems perfectly content to let him eat his fill of random super bantamweights. No telling when or if Cuello will get his opportunity.
Up at 175, Venezuelan standout Albert Ramirez (22-0, 19 KO) scored three knockdowns of his own en route to a seventh-round knockout of Jerome Pampellone (19-3, 12 KO). He’s clearly a real threat at 175, but with Dmitry Bivol apparently taking the rest of the year off there’s no clear schedule for when he’ll finally get to stop terrorizing various domestic scenes.
The aforementioned surprise saw Sofiane Oumiha (6-1, 3 KO), a three-time world amateur champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist, drop a decision to Francisco Fonseca (37-4-2, 29 KO). Fonseca, who is somehow still only 31 years old, sat Oumiha down in the third to turn what would have been a majority draw into a derailing UD.
This comes less than 24 hours after Oumiha signed a promotional deal with Agon Sports, who have to be kicking themselves.
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