Absolute insanity.
How else can you describe a bout that delivered a ridiculous eight knockdowns until Jose Zepeda produced instant evisceration for the ages? Zepeda unleashed a hellacious right-left combo to knock Ivan Baranchyk out cold in the fifth round in what was an explosive Knockout of the Year and certain frontrunner for Fight of the Year at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Baranchyk's body collapsed with the knockout punch, as he laid motionless in the ring for a few scary minutes until making it up on his feet, as he was hauled off to the hospital in an ambulance.
The short, but all-action junior welterweight bout had a knockdown in every round, with Baranchyk unloading an overhand right that dropped Zepeda with a thud in the fifth round, before Zepeda clocked Baranchyk across the jaw with a right and followed up with a left on the chin that seemingly detached the Russian fighter's soul from his body in a flash.
Prior to that punctuation, Baranchyk opened the fight with a 10-7 round on the heels of lunging, violent left hooks that produced two knockdowns of Zepeda in the first. While it looked like Baranchyk would run away with the bout, Zepeda dug his boots into the mat and hit Baranchyk with a left that dropped the Russian in the second, although the ref incorrectly called it a slip. Zepeda brushed that off and dropped Baranchyk with a left hook, proving that the punch would be a weapon for him on the night as well.
Still, Baranchyk fired back with a right hook on the chin that made Zepeda taste the canvas before the second round was over. The third had more fireworks, as Zepeda unleashed a punishing left hook that dropped Baranchyk in a heap. He added a picture-perfect left hook across the jaw to put Baranchyk on the canvas yet again in the fourth, before the dramatic and decisive fifth closed out what was an instant classic and thriller that will not be forgotten any time soon.
Co-main event: Gabriel Flores Jr. vs. Ryan Kielczweski; Lightweight
Flores didn't waste time recovering from a big left hook that wobbled him in the opening round. During the third round, Flores firmly established his jab and repeatedly split Kielczweski's guard with left-right combinations. His confidence and punch output only increased from then, as the 20-year-old Stockton, Calif., product rode that wave all the way to a unanimous decision. Judges saw it 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92 all in favor of Flores after 10 rounds, as he continues to make a name for himself in the lightweight division.