With another stoppage win under his belt, Devin Haney moved one step closer towards fighting for a world title.
Fighting in his first main event bout at Madison Square Garden, Haney stopped Zaur Abdullaev after four rounds to win the interim WBC lightweight title. After four rounds that saw Haney dominate and drop Abdullaev, the unbeaten 20-year-old is now the mandatory challenger to unified champion Vasiliy Lomachenko’s WBC world title.
Throughout the fight, Haney controlled the pace with his jab and strong right hand, not allowing Abdullaev to get into a rhythm in the center of the ring. Haney landed several right hooks in the second half of the fourth round, nearly staggering Abdullaev. After the round ended, the fight was stopped as the referee was advised by Abdullaev may have suffered a fractured cheekbone, though no official diagnosis was given when the action was halted.
Haney dedicated the win to Lomachenko, sending a statement to the three-division champion as Haney and promoter Eddie Hearn will look to aggressively push for the WBC to order the two boxers to fight. Hearn previously told Fightful weeks before the fight that he will look to give Haney his title opportunity within the next six months as Lomachenko currently waits for Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez to have their IBF lightweight title bout. A fight between Lomachenko and the Commey-Lopez winner would crown boxing's next undisputed lightweight champion.
In the co-main event, Amanda Serrano won another world title as she moved up to featherweight and outboxed Heather Hardy throughout 10 rounds to win the WBO title. After nearly stopping Hardy in the first round, Serrano would go on to outwork the champion, winning a unanimous decision (98-91, 98-91, 98-92).
Serrano landed a series of right hooks towards the final minute of the first round that hurt Hardy, nearly ending the fight. Hardy was able to hang on and last the entire fight, going toe-to-toe with Serrano, but Serrano would end up winning most of the exchanges for the remainder of the title bout.
This was Serrano’s first fight since capturing the WBO super flyweight title in January with a first-round knockout victory over Eva Voraberger. Serrano has won world titles in seven different weight classes, more than any other female boxer in history.
Below are the full results for the September 13 Matchroom Boxing USA card from the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden:
- Devin Haney defeated Zaur Abdullaev by TKO, round 4, 3:00 to win the interim WBC lightweight title
- Amanda Serrano defeated Heather Hardy by unanimous decision (98-91, 98-91, 98-92) to win the WBO Female featherweight title
- Michael Hunter defeated Sergey Kuzmin by unanimous decision (117-110, 117-110, 117-110) to win the WBA Intercontinental heavyweight title
- Raymond Ford defeated Rafael Castillo by unanimous decision (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
- Christian Bermudez defeated Jonathan Conde by TKO, round 2, 1:56
- Daniyar Yeleussinov defeated Reshard Hicks by TKO, round 1, 2:38
- Murodjon Akhmadaliev defeated Wilner Soto by TKO, round 4, 1:56
- Wesley Ferrer defeated Lawrence James Fryers by unanimous decision (80-72, 79-73, 79-73)
- Mahammadrasul Majidov defeated Ed Fountain by TKO, round 4
- Darren Cunningham defeated Jonathan Lecona Ramos by decision
