By Jake Donovan
Hugo Ruiz racked up his 22nd consecutive win with a highlight reel 9th round knockout of Jean Sampson (12-1, 7KO) in their bantamweight title fight Saturday evening in Baja California, Mexico.
Ruiz was in control from the opening bell, though Sampson enjoyed isolated moments of success in his just his second career fight outside of his native Nicaragua.
A distance fight appeared to be the case when Ruiz suddenly exploded with a check hook to put Sampson down and out in the ninth round of their scheduled twelve. The referee began to count but waved it off once it was clear that it was going to take a spatula to scrape Sampson off of the canvas.
Ruiz advances to 31-1 (28KO). The win marked the fourth defense of his interim bantamweight belt, as
the Mexican knockout artist continues to campaign for a crack at Koki Kameda.
Sampson falls to 12-2 (7KO) in defeat, as the Nicaraguan was in way over his head. H
is countryman fared much better in the televised co-feature asRene Gonzalez pulled off a considerable upset with a 2nd round knockout of previously unbeaten Abdiel Ramirez.
A left hook put Ramirez (14-1-1, 13KO) on queer street, with a follow-up right hand prompting the referee to rescue the fallen lightweight prospect.
Gonzalez had dropped four of his last six heading into the fight, but scores the biggest win of his career as he improves to 30-5-1 (23KO).
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
