ANTONIO DeMARCO TKO end of 9 ALMAZBEK RAIYMKULOV

Tijuana's Antonio DeMarco came back from a debatable win over Jose Reyes by producing the best performance of his career to stop Almazbek Raiymkulov (aka Kid Diamond) in their lightweight bout on the big Darchinyan-Arce show.

The gruelling win over Reyes actually seems to have moulded DeMarco into a better fighter, something that I suggested might be the case in the preview. He showed some smart moves, withstood some heavy pressure and drilled Raiymkulov with some lovely right jabs and left jabs from his southpaw stance.

There were times when I thought that Raiymkulov was forcing his way into control of the bout, and he landed some good right hands through the middle. The younger, taller DeMarco showed a good chin, though. When DeMarco made little “OK, bring it on” gestures after getting hit I had the sense that he had Raiymkulov’s number.

The scheduled 12-rounder (for the vacant NABO title) was highly entertaining, with each man having moments of ascendancy. Each was cut but the corners staunched the blood flow. Raiymkulov’s nose was bloodied by the fifth but he looked dangerous at all times and, as noted by Al Bernstein in the Showtime commentary, he was deceptively clever at slipping and bobbing under punches. I was very impressed with DeMarco’s coolness and accuracy, though. When made to miss he simply let some more shots go, so that while Raiymkulov could avoid, say, three or four punches at a time, he would get hit by the following three or four shots.

In addition, DeMarco mixed up his punches skilfully, bringing up uppercuts from both hands as well as shooting straight blows through the middle, and there were some nice right hooks and left hands to the body, too, in a mature and technically solid showing.

By the eighth it seemed that DeMarco was in control but Raiymkulov still seemed to have a chance. Then DeMarco took over completely in the ninth, really hammering the veteran. The doctor was prepared to let Raiymkulov continue after checking his nose, which might have been broken, but the Las Vegas-based fighter from Kyrgzstan had had enough.

The scoring was interesting, with DeMarco dominating on two judges’ scorecards while the third judge had Raiymkulov narrowly in front. It was that sort of fight, with DeMarco’s sharp, textbook boxing against the more physical, pressure-fighting style of Raiymkulov, and differing interpretations are always likely in this sort of fight. When DeMarco unleashed his big attack in the ninth round, though, scoring immediately became academic.