By Mark Vester
In a sure top contender for "fight of the year" honors, WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel (35-2-1, 26 KOs) stopped Luis Melendez (25-3, 20 KOs) in the twelfth and final round of their all-out slugfest at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
It was brutal action from the early going with the underdog Melendez putting on a performance of a lifetime by taking it to the champ with hard power punches at the start.
Montiel hurt Melendez and sent him down in the sixth round. Melendez returned the favor by dropping Montiel in the seventh. Not taking any chances by letting the fight go to the judges, a bloody Montiel landed a crushing bodyshot that sent Melendez down in agony. He got up at the count of seven and Montiel began to land several punches to prompt referee Kenny Bayless to stop the action after seeing that Melendez was badly hurt.
Montiel fought with a sense of urgency, but he was up on all three official scorecards at the time of the stoppage. The fight was already in the bag as the judges had it 107-100, 107-100 and 107-101.
On the undercard, undefeated junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan (16-0, 11 KOs) won a six-round decision over Patrick Thompson (11-10, 4 KOs). All three judges scored it 60-54.
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