Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas - In an IBF welterweight final eliminator, Yordenis Ugas (21-3, 10 KOs) stopped Ray Robinson (24-3, 12 KOs) in the seventh round.
Ugas will now move forward to a world title shot opportunity against current beltholder Errol Spence.
Spence is scheduled to make a voluntary defense of his belt in his hometown of Dallas, Texas on a Showtime televised date in June, against an opponent to be determined.
The fight started off at a very slow pace in the first round - at least for the first two minutes. The crowd came alive when Ugas landed a looping hook that dropped Robinson down. Once Robinson got up, he started trading big shots as they were brawling for the final thirty seconds.
They were far more aggressive in the second, pressuring each other and looking for openings. Each boxer had his moments during the action. Ugas started to press forward in the third, looking to land more of his winging hooks. Robinson was more than happy to stay on the back foot and looking for counters, There was no shortage of exchanges, as they were trading pinches often at close range.
The end of the fourth round was very heated, as they traded punches after the bell and Robinson dropped Ugas. Referee Robert Byrd deducted a point from Robinson for hitting after the bell. Ugas had the edge in the fifth, with the better punches connecting.
After an active sixth round where both boxers were throwing a lot of punches, Ugas closed the show when he dropped Robinson very hard during the seventh. Robinson made it to his feet, but he was in obvious trouble. Ugas jumped right on him, pinned him against the ropes and unloaded with dozens of landed punches to force referee Robert Byrd to jump in and wave off the bout.
