Rene Tellez Giron keeps building back with TKO of Maliek Montgomery

Lightweight Rene Tellez Giron continued his comeback Saturday, stopping Maliek Montgomery in the co-feature at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California.

Giron won a sixth-round technical knockout over Montgomery when his corner stopped the bout before the seventh round. The time of the stoppage was 3 minutes.

Giron, of Queretaro, Mexico, threw a short left hook that dropped Montgomery at the end of the first round, and he continued the onslaught. Montgomery, of Macon, Georgia, had a reach advantage, but by the second round, the fight was being fought on the inside.

The pace slowed in the third round. Montgomery pressed Giron backwards in the following round and began to land more punches in a physical fight, but Giron landed the bigger, eye-catching power shots.

A Giron body shot in Round 6 sent Montgomery to the canvas at the end of the round, and Montgomery’s corner called the contest off before the start of the following round.

Giron, 27, is now 23-5 (14 KOs) and on a three-fight winning streak since suffering consecutive losses to Floyd Schofield Jnr (2024) and Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez.

The 30-year-old Montgomery dropped his third in a row to fall to 20-3 (18 KOs).

Junior welterweight Leonardo Rubalcava, of Jurupa Valley, California, won an eight-round unanimous decision over Juan Antonio Llanes, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. The three scores were 80-72. 

Rubalcava, 23, moved to 11-1-1 (4 KOs), while 26-year-old Llanes fell to 12-3-1 (7 KOs).

Junior middleweight KJ Waialae, of Waianae, Hawaii, won a six-round unanimous decision against Monray Marable, of Lancaster, California. Scores on all three cards were 59-55.

Waialae, 23, improved to 4-0 (2 KOs), and Marable slid to 2-1 (2 KOs).

In the opening bout, Junior welterweight Cooper O’Connell, of Logan City, Australia, knocked out Jorge Manrriquez, of Baja California, Mexico, in the third round. The time of the stoppage was 45 seconds.

O’Connell dropped Manrriquez with a straight left hand, then sent him back to the canvas with another left hand, after Manrriquez which referee Ray Corona called off the bout.

O’Connell, 19, has started his career with a perfect record of 4-0 (4 KOs), and the 26-year-old Manrriquez suffered his first loss, falling to 2-1 (2 KOs).

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.