IBO super-middleweight champion Carlos Gongora scored a fairly effortless eighth-round KO of a reticent Christopher Pearson in an all-southpaw clash that never really caught light as a competitive spectacle at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, on Saturday.
The Ecuadorian title holder won in cruise control with the outgunned Pearson choosing to stay down for the full count in the eighth after a Gongora right hand landed on his injured right eye.
From the early skirmishes, Gongora (20-0, 15 KOs) hit an immediate groove behind a smooth jab, effortlessly dictating on the front foot and teeing up solid left hands in the opener. Pearson was reluctant to get involved, a crisp right hook in the second proved a rare moment of offence.
The rangy champion seemed to be winning in second gear, peppering Pearson with his right lead and starting to unload on the inside by the fourth. Yet in the fifth, a right hook appeared to wobble Gongora slightly as Pearson (17-3, 12 KOs & 1 NC) upped his admittedly negligible work-rate and showed slow signs of improvement.
But in the sixth, Gongora unloaded and bullied Pearson on the ropes with thudding left hands. Pearson’s right eye was swelling in the following round. Then, in an odd finale, a Gongora right hook banged the damaged eye of Pearson and the challenger went down in distress. He jumped up for more then touched down again where he was counted out.
Main image: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA.