Ortiz vs. Lawson Fight Results: Ortiz Scores a 1st Round KO From A Bad Stoppage

Golden Boy’s in-ring reporter Beto Duran did a great job in letting Ortiz know that the boos were for the referee and not him. He also told the broadcast that Weeks said he stopped the fight after seeing Lawson’s eyes roll back twice. Ortiz’s challenge is staying active, so we’ll see how long it takes to get back into the ring this year.

Ismael Barroso pulls off the first upset of the year

Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23 KOs) showed everyone that the Rolando Romero fight wasn’t a fluke. After some feinting, Barroso caught Ohara Davies (25-3, 18 KOs) with three consecutive left hooks, which sent him down for the fight’s first knockdown. Davies was in bad shape but beat the ten count, and the referee allowed him to continue. Barroso jumped on Davies and knocked him down again, but this time, when he got up, the referee asked him if he was okay three times, and after answering him, the referee felt Davies could not continue and waved off the fight.

After the fight, Barroso called for a rematch with Romero, who was in attendance. Whether that rematch happens or not will be one of the things to look out for this year.

Arnold Barboza Jr. gets a big stoppage

At the end of round eight, the corner of Xolisani Ndongeni (31-4, 18 KOs) felt he was taking too much punishment and signaled to the referee that they were done for the night. Arnold Barboza Jr. (29-0, 11 KOs)scores the ninth-round TKO victory, continuing his momentum when fighting under Top Rank.

The fight wasn’t a cakewalk for Barboza Jr., who brought a ton of pressure, but it was received by plenty of counterpunches from Ndongeni. Early on, it was Barboza leading with the left jab and then the straight right hand down the middle. Ndongeni would land a left uppercut after taking some of Barboza’s shots, which kept the top contender honest early. After Barboza started to dedicate his offense to the body, Ndongeni began to lose some steam on his punches, and this was when Barboza started to increase his punch output even more. After hurting Ndongeni in the fifth round, Barboza’s pressure forced the fight to be stopped at the end of the eighth round.

After the fight, Barboza made it clear what he wanted to do next. “I want Queen Ryan (Garcia). I want Teofimo (Lopez) bitcha%$. They just signed Jose Ramirez, so I want him too.”