Ronald Gavril, Ladarius Miller Get Stoppage Wins in Las Vegas

By Ryan Burton

Las Vegas, Nevada - In the main event of the evening, rising super middleweight Ronald Gavril (16-1) closed out a close fight against Christopher Brooker (11-1) with a bang, by flooring him twice in the final round to secure the TKO victory.

Brooker started out well, outboxing Gavril the first two rounds. Gavril found his rhythm in the third and pinned Brooker on the ropes and landed several hard left hands to wobble his opponent as the momentum shifted.

The fourth round was fought on more even ground with both fighters enjoying moments of success. Brooker hurt Gavril with a punch early in the fifth round and appeared to push him down but it was ruled a knockdown by referee Tony Weeks. Gavril bounced back with a huge sixth round. He had Brooker hurt on several occasions as he turned up the pressure. The seventh was a much better round for Brooker who was able to recover between rounds.

The pace slowed somewhat in the eighth and ninth round and then both warriors laid it all on the line in the tenth and final round. Brooker came out very aggressive and rocked Gavril early in the stanza before Gavril scored his series of knockdowns to close the show. The time of the stoppage was 2:04.

Super lightweight prospect Ladarius "Memphis" Miller (12-1) made short work out of Ronald Rivas (5-5-1) who hails from Guatemala. A quick one-two combination at the :55 second mark of the second round finished off Rivas. He rose to his feet on wobbly legs and referee Russell Mora correctly waived the fight off.

Hard hitting Sanjarbek Rakhmanov (6-0-1) impressed with an unanimous decision victory over the previously unbeaten Jonathan Dinong (5-1) in their welterweight battle. Dindong tried to box and move but Rakhmanov cut off the ring well and landed several power shots throughout the fight. The final scores were 60-54 on all three scorecards. 

Bronx, NY native Josue Vargas (6-1) suffered his first career loss against Sammuel Santana (8-11-3) in their super lightweight bout. The intensity really heated up in the second when Santana went down midway through the round. He appeared badly hurt but was able to repay the favor seconds later and dropped Vargas - who sent Santana back to the canvas just before the round ended. In the third Vargas spun Santana around, and he had his back turned as Vargas floored him with a single punch. Santana was badly hurt and the ringside doctor deemed that he couldn't continue. Because the foul was ruled intentional by referee Tony Weeks, Santana was able to secure a major upset victory via disqualification.

The second fight of the Mayweather Promotions card pitted Xavier Martinez (4-0) of Sacramento, Calif. against Wilfredo Garriga (3-3-1) of Puerto Rico. Martinez dominated from the opening bell to secure the shutout victory. The final tallies read 60-54 on all three cards.

In the first bout of the evening, featherweight prospect Daniel Gonzalez improved to 2-0 with a majority decision victory. Gonzalez appeared to have won at least three of the rounds. The final scores were 38-38 40-36 39-37.