By Francisco Salazar

Emanuel Taylor scored the biggest victory of his career, stopping former world title challenger Victor Cayo in the eighth round at the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.

After Cayo controlled the first round, Taylor was at his best when he controlled the tempo by pressing the action, forcing Cayo to back up. He stunned Cayo at the end of the second with a left hook against the ropes.

Cayo was at his best working from the center of the ring, where he attacked Taylor with counter right crosses and with left hooks to the body.

In the fifth, Cayo switched to a southpaw stance and dropped Taylor with a counter right hook to the head. Taylor was able to get up and finish the round.

Taylor attempted to counter with hooks, at times loading up on his punches in the following rounds, at times finding success.

In the eighth round, Taylor hurt Cayo with a counter right hand to the head. Moments later, a barrage of punches dropped Cayo to the canvas. Cayo got up, but took more punishment from Taylor, prompting referee Benji Esteves to step in and stop the bout at 1:11.

Taylor, from Edgewood Arsenal, MD, improves to 17-1, 12 KOs. Cayo, from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, falls to 31-4, 22 KOs.

Abdusalamov knocks out another foe

In the opening bout of the ESPN2 telecast, heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov solidified his status as a contender with a fifth round stoppage victory over Victor Bisbal.

Although Abdusalamov was the more heavy-handed puncher, Bisbal was able to get off some shots while circling around the ring. Abdusalamov and Bisbal began to exchange more in the middle of the ring as the Russian-born fighter was able to press the action.

As the bout progressed, Abdusalamov’s punches began to take a toll, especially on the face of Bisbal.

In the fifth round, Abdusalamov landed a hard straight left hand to the head, dropping Bisbal down to the canvas. Referee Randy Newman saw enough and stopped the bout at 1:12.

Abdusalamov, who now resides in Oxnard and is trained by Danny Garcia, improves to 17-0, 17 KOs. Bisbal, a 2004 Olympian from Puerto Rico, drops to 21-2, 15 KOs.

Rogers wins decision

In the six round swing bout, light middleweight Samuel Rogers won a one-sided six round unanimous decision over Ivan Ziglar.

Rogers landed the more-telling blows throughout the fight. Ziglar had to deal with blood rolling down his face from the second round on from a cut suffered from an accidental headbutt.

There were instances when Ziglar was able to outland Rogers, but they were few and far between. All three judges agreed, as they rendered out a unanimous decision for Rogers by scores of 60-54, 59-55, and 58-56.

Rogers, who is originally from the United States Virgin Islands, goes to 13-0, 7 KOs. Ziglar, from Virginia Beach, VA, drops to 7-3-1 1NC, 4 KOs.

Francisco A. Salazar has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. His twitter handle is @Salazar_soccer and he could be reached at santio89@yahoo.com