Ghana's super featherweight world title prospect, Alfred Lamptey, edged closer to his career ambition when he earned a first round victory over Filipino fighter, Richard Pumicpic, at the Dubai Studio City on Saturday.
It was a 10-round scheduled super featherweight fight, and a co-main event for the Jazza Dicken versus Hector Andres Sosa International Boxing Organisation (IBO) super featherweight showdown staged by Disrupt Promotions.
With his experience in the sport spanning over 10 years, it promised to be a tough assignment for the young and budding Lamptey, who is critically shaping his path towards global stardom.
But on the night when it mattered most, the Ghana super featherweight champion gave his opponent little breathing space right from the first sound of the bell.The referee intervened with a Technical Knockout ruling after landing regularly his damaging blows to Pumicpic's mid-section.
As they jabbed around and each tried to stamp his authority on the fight, Lamptey landed a right-left combination to his opponent's rib area, forcing him to seek comfort on the canvass but failed to return.
The win extended Lamptey's unbeaten run to 13.
It was, however, a different tale in California in the USA where Ghana's former world title challenger, Patrick Allotey, was handed a round one stoppage by junior middleweight contender, Serhii Bohachuk, on Saturday at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.
The hard-hitting Bohachuk improved to 23-1, 23 knockouts, while Allotey, drops to 42-5, 32 KOs.
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Allotey had won his two previous fights that followed his loss by knockout to WBO world junior middleweight champion, Jaime Munguia, in September 2019.
On that trend, he was considered a worthy opponent for the Ukraine-born fighter who has set a world title agenda and was the aggressor from the start of the fight.
Both started cautiously and exchanged fierce punches.
Allotey, however, paid the price for momentarily dropping his guard as Bohachuk landed a straight right to the chin.
He attempted to fight back but lost his balance and fell to the canvas, and was waved off by the referee despite beating the nine counts of referee Jack Reiss.
Clearly, he was stunned by the decision, and took him some moments before leaving the ring.
