Bivol too good for Castillo, easily retains WBA crown
CHICAGO: Russian boxer Dmitry Bivol overpowered Lenin Castillo with a dominating attack to retain his WBA light heavyweight belt on Saturday in Chicago.
Bivol cruised to a unanimous decision, winning almost every round and knocking the challenger down in the sixth round of a slow paced fight in front of a crowd of 9,073 at the Wintrust Arena.
He defended his title for the seventh time winning by scores of 120-107 and 119-108 twice.
In the final fight of the night, Oleksandr Usyk made his heavyweight division debut a successful one with a seventh round TKO victory over fill-in fighter Chazz Witherspoon.
Bivol had no problem with Castillo, using combination punches to the body and head to wear the challenger down and score a knockdown in the middle of the fight.
Bivol connected with a right hand to the chin that sent Castillo staggering backwards then smiling awkwardly as he hit the canvas in the middle of the sixth.
Castillo was able to continue and take the fight to the distance but he spent most of time on the defensive and wasn’t able to do much damage by counter-punching against Bivol.
“I saw his fights before. He is really good at counter attacking. All five rounds before that, I tried to land that punch,” Bivol said of the knockdown blow.
Bivol improved to 17-0 while Castillo dropped to 20-3-1 overall.
Bivol said he wants to fight another champion next.
“I kept my belt and I still have a chance to fight for my dream and get another title,” he said.
US FIGHTER DAY IN COMA
American Patrick Day was in a coma after suffering a serious head injury in an undercard bout on Saturday night following a vicious knockout by unbeaten Charles Conwell, US media reported.
The 27-year-old Day was unconscious when he was taken from the ring in a stretcher and loaded onto a waiting ambulance at the Wintrust Arena. Fight broadcaster DAZN said Day suffered a seizure in the ambulance and needed a breathing tube once he arrived at the hospital.
US sports broadcaster ESPN reported that Day had emergency brain surgery and went into a coma, but did not say whether he fell into the coma or it was induced by the doctors.
No details of the head injury were given and the promoter, Matchroom Boxing, did not issue a statement on Saturday night other than to say Day was transported to a local hospital.