Junior welterweight Arthur Biyarslanov was methodical in breaking down Jimerr Espinosa, though it wasn’t without taking some bumps and bruises along the way.
Biyarslanov recorded a seventh-round technical knockout victory over Espinosa on Thursday at the Montreal Casino in Montreal. The time of the stoppage was 1:31.
Biyarslanov, 28, applied pressure, using a fencing-like jab that targeted Espinosa’s body. In the third round, Espinosa, of Mexico City, switched to southpaw after eating right hooks, and he managed to rock Biyarslanov with a left hook twice in the round, forcing him backward. But it didn’t keep Biyarslanov from knocking him down twice in the round, and Espinosa would be dropped again by a straight left hand in the fourth round.
Montreal’s Biyarslanov landed another straight left hand that wobbled Espinosa at the bell at the end of the sixth round. Espinosa walked to his corner, dazed. In the seventh, Biyarslanov’s corner urged him to apply pressure, and the fighter responded by trapping Espinosa in the corner and forcing the issue until the referee stepped in to stop the bout.
Biyarslanov moved to 21-0 (17 KOs), while Espinosa, 17-3-1 (16 KOs), saw his three-fight unbeaten streak vanish in the first stoppage loss of his career.
After the fight, Biyarslanov expressed interest in facing either WBC titleholder Dalton Smith or IBF beltholder Richardson Hitchins. He is ranked in the top five of those sanctioning bodies.
Earlier on the card, lightweight Luis Santana won a controversial 10-round split decision over Chann Thonson. Two judges scored the bout 95-94 for Santana, with one judge scoring it 96-93 for Thonson.
The bout rekindled an amateur rivalry, as Thonson is from Brossard, Quebec, Canada, while Santana is from Montreal. The two split the first two rounds, with Thonson dropping Santana with a right hand in Round 4. The fighters then engaged in a slugfest, with Santana rocking Thonson toward the end of the round. Thonson’s movement troubled Santana, who came forward but didn’t have an answer for what Thonson was doing. Despite Santana looking as though he had met his match, the judges favored his forward aggression and gave him the nod.
Santana, 28, is now 16-0 (7 KOs), while the 34-year-old Thonson suffered a heartbreaking loss, falling to 18-2 (15 KOs).
Junior lightweight Leila Beaudoin defeated Victoria Noelia Bustos via a 10-round unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight the same, 100-90.
Beaudoin, a 30-year-old from Levis, Quebec, Canada, lost a title fight in December to beltholder Alycia Baumgardner. She wasted no time showing her speed advantage against Bustos, a 37-year-old former titleholder. The fight was ugly and filled with clinches in the second half – most of them (if not all) initiated by Bustos – but Beaudoin cruised to a clear decision.
Beaudoin improved to 14-2 (2 KOs), while Bustos, from Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, dropped to 26-10-1, after marking her first fight since December 2024.
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
