By Jake Donovan
Petr Petrov completed his career resurrection, knocking out Fernando Carcamo early in round eight of their Boxcino lightweight tournament finals Friday evening at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.
The official time was 0:40 into the 8th round of their ESPN2-televised main event.
Petrov made a subtle adjustment in the opening round to dominate the rail thin Carcamo, who was rumored to struggle to make weight and was manhandled over the course of the evening. The fight was never competitive, with Carcamo's energy draining through each passing round.
The bout was dangerously close to being stopped in round seven, which saw Petrov land at will. A pair of left hooks towards rounds end had Carcamo on rubber legs.
Trainer Joel Diaz, best known these days for his work with former two-division champion Tim Bradley, had warned Carcamo prior to the start of the round that he needed to see something or else would pull the plug. The trainer initially made that decision prior to the start of round eight, but - after an extensive visit from the ringside physician and the between-rounds rest period going well over a minute - allowed his charge to go out for one more round.
Carcamo did his best to summon up whatever he had left, but the southpaw was listless and nearly defenseless. Petrov picked off the carnage, scoring upstairs until the referee - witnessing a proverbial dead man walking - stepped in to stop the onslaught.
Petrov advances to 35-4-2 (17KO) with the win, the only fighter in either tournament (lightweight or middleweight) to claim two knockout wins over this three-month stretch.
Carcamo snaps a seven-fight win streak, as the 23-year old Mexican puncher falls to 17-6, 13KO).
Petrov came into the Boxcino lightweight tournament as the most experienced fighter, and the only fighter among the lightweight field to have previously challenged for a major title. The Russian boxer - who lives in Spain but trains out of Santa Fe Springs, Calif. - came up well short in his lone title bid, suffering a 4th round knockout at the hands of then 140 lb. titlist Marcos Maidana in Sept. 2011.
A modest three-fight win streak followed, but the 31-year old actually entered the tournament on the heels of a convincing 12-round loss and 10 months of inactivity.
Three wins crammed into a two-month span have helped cure all past ills, as Petrov quickly advanced from also-ran to a second-chance lightweight contender.
In the evening's televised co-feature, Willie Monroe Jr. claimed top honors among the middleweight portion of the Boxcino tournament, after brilliantly outboxing previously unbeaten Brandon Adams. A full report can be found
here
.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
