Golovkin hammers Rubio, Walters destroys Donaire
World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) scored his 18th consecutive knockout when stopping Marco Antonio Rubio (59-7-1, 51 KOs) on Saturday night at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California.
The Kazakhstan-born fighter punished Rubio throughout landing 28 power punches in just over four minutes, ending the bout with a crushing left hand blow just 79 seconds into the second round.
In the first round, Golovkin began teeing off on Rubio with some really big punches, including a hard right hand near the end of the round.
Rubio took them punches well but in the second round Golovkin began to really open up and hurt the Mexican with a right hand and a left uppercut before a barrage of blows sent him crashing to the canvas.
Rubio eventually tried to get back up but failed to beat the count and referee Jack Reiss called a halt to the fight.
Golovkin made the 12th defence of his WBA title and added the WBC Interim middleweight belt to his collection.
Also on the card, Nicholas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) scored a spectacular 6th round KO over WBA featherweight champion Nonito Donaire (33-3, 21 KOs).
Walters nailed Donaire with a chopping right hand that sent him down face first on the canvas. Donaire got back up to his feet at the count of 8, but was too hurt to continue and referee Raul Caiz Jr halted the fight at 3:00 of the round.
After Donaire staggered Walters with a big left hook to the head in the final seconds of the second round, the Jamaican nicknamed 'The Axe Man' for his ability to chop down his rivals - came on strong and dropped the defending champion for the first time in the third round with a brutal uppercut. Donaire was cut on the side of his left eye in that round.
The man known as the 'Filipino Flash' battled on bravely, though his face was getting badly marked up as Walters dominated the action off his jab in round 4.
Donaire and Walters fought at close range in the 5th round with both guys tagging each other with good shots. But it seemed to be just a matter of time before Donaire would be finished and it was.
In the 6th, Walters eluded Donaire's attempt to land a big left hook and countered with an overhand right to end the fight.
Donaire, making his first title defence, has won titles in four weight classes -flyweight, bantamweight, junior featherweight and featherweight. But now retirement might beckon.
The new champion scored his 10th stoppage in his last 11 fights, continuing his rapid rise all the way to the top of the division.
Other results on the card: