RICHARD COMMEY SHINES IN FIRST WORLD TITLE DEFENSE WITH KNOCKOUT OF RAY BELTRAN
On Friday night at the Pechanga Resort and Casino and telecast live on ESPN, IBF Lightweight World Champion Richard Commey (29-2, 26 KOs), of Accra, Ghana, and now based out of The Bronx, NY, continued to put the division on notice with a dominant performance culminating in an eighth-round knockout of former world champion Ray Beltran (36-9-1, 22 KOs), of Avondale, AZ, via Sinaloa, Mexico.
Setting the tone early, Commey dropped Beltran twice in the opening stanza, once more in the fifth round and finally in the eighth round, as referee Edward Hernandez called a halt to the action at the 0:54 second mark of the frame.
“I feel great. It was my first defense and it was against a former world champion,” said Commey. “Beltran is a strong guy and not easy to stop.”
Beltran had missed the 135lb. weight limit at Thursday’s official weigh-in and was unable to win the world title.
“It looks like Teofimo Lopez is next, but he has a job to do first,” stated Commey. “That would be a great fight.”
“That was a dominant performance by Richard,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. “This was his first fight since winning the world title in February and he showed that he’s ready for anyone in the lightweight division. Beltran is a warrior and a former world champion, but Richard showed why he’s a class above.”
Commey is trained by Andre Rozier in Brooklyn, NY.
In a hotly contested 10-round co-feature, Freeport, New York’s Patrick Day (17-3-1, 6 KOs) lost a hard-fought decision to fellow junior middleweight contender Carlos Adames (18-0, 14 KOs), of the Dominican Republic. Scores were 98-91 and 97-93 (twice).
Starting fast, the 26-year-old Day appeared to bank the majority of the early rounds with his speed and boxing ability. However, Adames came on strong over the second half and his effective aggressiveness impressed the judges.
Also featured from the DiBella Entertainment stable, undefeated heavyweight contender Junior Fa(18-0, 10 KOs), of New Zealand, won a 10-round unanimous decision against veteran Dominick Guinn (37-13-1, 26 KOs), of Humble, TX. Fa survived a fourth-round knockdown to win by scores of 98-91 twice, and 97-92. Entering the contest, the 29-year-old Fa was ranked #7 by the WBO.
