Staples Center, Carson, California - For the vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title, Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15KOs) had to survive some tough moments and his first career knockdown to stop Amir Mansour (22-2-1, 16KOs) in five action-packed rounds. Mansour suffered what is likely a broken jaw and was unable to continue at the end of the fifth.
Mansour came out aggressive and wasn't scared to trade big punches with Breazeale. The two fighters were tagging each other with good shots, taking turns being rattled in the first rounds.
At the start of the third, a big right hand bomb by Mansour sent Breazeale down very hard on his back. Mansour tried to finish him off, but Breazeale was holding on and swinging back to keep Mansour away. At the end of the round, Breazeale landed a very big uppercut that rocked the knees of Mansour.
Mansour continued to pour things on the fourth by going after the body of Breazeale, who was also landing some very good punches in return. During the fifth, Mansour was working Breazeale over against the ropes with shots to the head and body. Breazeale came back with some hard punches of his own to get Mansour in trouble. Mansour, with his mouth now bloody, was swinging like a wild-man to back Breazeale off.
Before the start of the sixth, the ringside doctor and referee waved off the fight. They felt Mansour was too hurt to continue forward and may have suffered a broken jaw when he started complaining "I can't close my mouth" to his trainer.
Breazeale is coming off a controversial ten round unanimous ten round decision win over Fred Kassi. Mansour is also coming off a controversial fight of his own, a ten round split draw with Gerald Washington last October.
