SAN DIEGO (AFP) – Richard Commey knocked down Ray Beltran four times en route to a dominant eighth round technical knockout victory in an IBF lightweight fight on Friday.
The pair were supposed to fight for Commey’s 135-pound title but that was scuttled after Beltran couldn’t make the weight at Thursday’s weigh-in.
The 32-year-old Commey, of Ghana, ended the fight when Beltran walked into a crushing left hook to the chin that sent the Mexican flying backwards across the ring.
A dazed Beltran got up but the referee stopped the fight, putting an end to the lopsided bout at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula, California.
Commey knocked Beltran down twice in the first round -- first with a right hand halfway through the round, and then again moments later while he had him pinned on the ropes.