By Steve Kim
Middleweight contender Hugo 'the Boss' Centeno scored one of the most eye-opening stoppages of 2017 with a lethal left hook that knocked Immanuwel Aleem out cold in the third round of their contest this past Friday night in Miami, Oklahoma.
Aleem was coming in with a lot of steam, after stopping previously undefeated Ukrainian Olympian Ievgen Khytrov in April. For Centeno it was a perfect punch.
"I had landed it a couple of times earlier in the fight and it's something I had prepared for a lot during training camp, so I was not surprised. I was a little more surprised he went down but I landed it pretty clean. I saw him go down but I thought he'd get back up," explained Centeno, who moved his record to 26-1 (14 KO's).
As for what's next, Centeno told BoxingScene.com on Wednesday afternoon at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California:
"I'd like to fight again in October and then again in December. I don't want to overlook any fight. I'm just looking for the best out there at 160. This puts us in a good situation to where we're up there amongst the best so I'll fight anyone at 160."
But for the 26-year old Centeno, just staying active is the number one goal. Prior to the Aleem fight, he had been sidelined since December.
"That's it," he confirmed, "I'm tired of being out of the ring. I don't want to develop any ring rust so I just want to be active, keep the ball rolling."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
