Bektemir Melikuziev walked away with the win on Saturday, April 20 when he faced Pierre Hubert Dibombe at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The super middleweight bout was featured on the card headlined by Devin Haney vs Ryan Garcia live on PPV.
The scheduled for 10 rounds contest ended prior to the final bell. After evaluating both fighters multiple times through eight rounds due to cuts, the ringside physician ultimately stopped the fight due to a big gash above Melikuziev’s left eye resulted from a head clash. The decision had to be made in accordance with the judges’ scorecards that read 78-74, 79-73 and 79-73 in favor of “Bek”.
With the victory via technical decision, Indio, California-based Bektemir Melikuziev made the second successful defense of his WBA Intercontinental title. In addition, the 28-year-old Uzbekistan native improved to 14-1, 10 KOs and secured his seventh win in a row.
Pierre Hubert Dibombe dropped to 22-1-1, 12 KOs. The 32-year-old Frenchman suffered his first career defeat.
“He was a good opponent. Unfortunately, the fight was stopped,” said Melikuziev. “During the fight he kept coming forward with his head. There was nothing I could do. I just needed another minute or two in the ring to finish the fight. I slowed down a bit because I felt that my opponent was getting tired.”
Get Haney vs Garcia full fight card results.