Zuffa Boxing 05 delivered two of the more extraordinary results and performances of the year so far, when Alexis de la Cerda demolished Ervin Fuller III in the third round, and Tony Hirsch overcame wild underdog odds to out-point red-hot American prospect Robert Meriwether III in a shocking upset, on the same night, Sunday, April 5 at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
Heading into the fight, de la Cerda relinquished an experience advantage to Fuller yet more than made up for it on the night with a brutal finish to cap the biggest result of his entire career, to advance his pro record to 8-0 (4 KOs).
The one-shot counter right hook separated Fuller from his senses before he even face-planted the canvas, having previously won both the first and second rounds, too.
During the sequence, Fuller, with his Philly Shell, took a half-step closer to de la Cerda, pawed with his jab, had the defensive werewithal to duck beneath a left hook, and as he looked to uncork a shot of his own, his opponent beat him to the punch with a strike he never saw coming. His lights were turned off in an instant. De la Cerda barely even celebrated.
Watch the one-punch knockout right here:
Fuller was motionless for a moment, and still seemed unconscious and in a significantly bad way as he slowly recovered.
This angle is even more haunting:
The thumping finish wasn’t the night’s only shocking moment, though, as Meriwether III — one of the finest blue-chip prospects in the United States — struggled in his bout against underdog Hirsch.
Though they were relatively even in the first four rounds, Hirsch swept the final four rounds according to two of the three ringside judges, and three of the four per the other, to take home a convincing eight-round win with scores of 78-74 and 76-75 offsetting a 76-76.
“I was confident I was going to get the win,” Hirsch told Zuffa Boxing backstage. “It’s my time now. My era.”
Zuffa Boxing returns with its sixth event of the year on May 10, again at Meta Apex, with a solid fight between Serhii Bohachuk and Shane Mosley Jr. Other bouts on that card include Julian Rodriguez against James Perella and Misael Rodriguez vs Andreas Katzdurakis.
