Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas – In a super middleweight contest, Gabriel Rosado (26-13-1, 15 KOs) scored a dramatic one-punch knockout of previously undefeated Bektemir Melikuziev (7-1, 6 KOs) in the third round.
Melikuziev was scheduled to face former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev back in January. The fight was canceled when Kovalev tested positive for a banned substance.
Rosado was coming off a razor-thin twelve round split decision loss to Daniel Jacobs in November.
The contest began with a very close start. Rosado was trying to stay away and jab. At the end of the round, Melikuziev put Rosado down with a hard combination of shots to the head and body.
Melikuziev started the second by going back to the body with hard shots. Rosado was feeling those punches and was looking to take things slow against the stronger man. Rosado was mainly looking for counters, while Melikuziev was unloading with hard shots.
‘Bek The Bully’ was unleashing his big punches at the start of the third. Rosado was blocking most of them, but still being moved by the power. Then out of nowhere, Rosado caught Melikuziev walking in and knocked him out cold with a big right hand, which sent ‘Bek The Bully’ down face-first and the fight was quickly waved off by the referee.