By Rick Reeno
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas - Jesus Cuellar (25-1, 19KOs) likely ended the career of former two division world champion Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez (34-5, 31KOs) with a brutal second round knockout to retain the WBA interim-featherweight championship.
Cuellar started fast, taking the lead and applying pressure with hard combinations. Juanma's right eye was swelling up by the final minute. By the second minute the left eye was swelling up.
During the second, Cuellar backed Juanma into the ropes and landed a huge three punch combination that dropped the Puerto Rican boxer face first. Referee Kenny Bayless immediately waved off the fight.
Juanma was stopped badly back in three rounds back in July, when he moved up to super featherweight and faced Francisco Vargas. He was planning to retire from the sport if he once again suffered a bad loss.
