BOSTON, Agganis Arena - Framingham's Danny O'Connor (26-2, 10 KOs) was determined to put on a show close to home and he delivered in a big way, stopping Chris Gilbert (13-2, 10 KOs) in the fifth round. O'Connor knocked Gilbert down in rounds two and three before getting the stoppage in round five.
O'Connor was originally set to face former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi on next Saturday's Amir Khan-Chris Algieri undercard. After Malignaggi suffered a cut in sparring, that fight was pushed back.
"The game plan was to be intelligent and use my skills. We didn't think he was as skillful and I didn't want to fight down to him. Luckily the body shots really affected him. As soon as Paulie Malignaggi got injured I turned my focus towards this fight. That's all I thought about. I still want to fight Paulie," O'Connor said.
