Broner halts Allakhverdiev to win vacant WBA light weltwerweight title
Adrien Broner (31-2, 22 KOs) claimed a 12th round stoppage victory over Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-2, 9 KOs) to win the vacant WBA light welterweight title on Saturday night at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.
Broner punished Allakhverdiev with hard shots throughout the one-sided bout.
The American dominated the action from the start, landing left jabs and overhand rights leaving Allakhverdiev visibly marked.
Broner continued to go on the attack in the second half of the fight, as the Russian was unable to deal with a series of body and head punches.
Allakhverdiev, who came into the fight after more than a year out of the ring, bravely battled on but took more punishment as the rounds wore on.
A barrage of unanswered punches from Broner with less than 39 seconds left in the final round was enough for referee Harvey Dock Jr to stop the fight.
Broner claimed a world title in a fourth weight division after previously winning world titles at super-featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
Also on the card, IBF super featherweight champion Jose Pedraza (21-0, 12 KOs) outpointed American challenger Edner Cherry (34-7-2, 19 KOs).
Pedraza got the better of the earlier rounds, scoring with straight shots and uppercuts. But Cherry came back with punches of his own in the middle rounds, causing swelling around the champion's right eye.
However, the Puerto Rican did enough in the later rounds to retain his belt and two of the judges scored the bout 117-111 in his favour, while the third judge had it 116-112 for Cherry.