Vasiliy Lomachenko viciously knocked out mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla in four rounds to retain his WBA/WBO/Ring Magazine lightweight titles in the main event from The Staples Center in Los Angeles, Ca, in front a little over 10,000 fans.

Crolla, the former WBA lightweight champion, tried his hardest, but it was clear from early on, Crolla could only try to survive and even that wasn’t fruitful.

Lomachenko (13-1, 10 KOs) scored a knockdown at the end of the third round when referee Pat Russell ruled the ropes held Crolla up.

In the fourth, Loma came out on the attack, knocking Crolla (34-7-3, 13 KOs) back to the ropes. Then, it happened. A right hook to the top of Crolla’s head put him down and out.

A ringside look of the knockout ?#LomaCrolla pic.twitter.com/r02x0udN3s

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) April 13, 2019

“I want to fight with Mikey Garcia, but we’ll see. I don’t know,” Lomachenko said. “I stay at 135 as long as it’s possible, and I want to unify all {the} titles.”

Ramirez debuts at light heavyweight

After a career spent at super middleweight, and five successful title defenses, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (40-0, 26 KOs) made a successful debut stopping former world title challenger Tommy Karpency (29-7-1, 18 KOs) in four rounds.

Karpency elected to stay on his stool after the fourth round, as he suffered a rib injury in the opening round.

Ramirez fought mostly on the inside, stalking Karpency and looking to come over Karpency’s jab with an overhand.

“I feel more comfortable at 175 pounds than 168,” Ramirez said. “I’m looking for all the champions at 175. I want to be a pound-for-pound fighter.” Ramirez said after the fight.

“I struggled making 168 lbs. for a very long time. We’ll see what’s next, but my body felt great at 175. My new head trainer, Julian Chua, did an excellent job preparing me for this fight. Karpency was a tough guy.”Ramirez furthered.

Barboza KOs Alvarado in 3

Arnold Barboza Jr., the local product from South El Monte, knocked out Mike Alvarado (40-5, 28 KOs) in the third round.

Barboza (21-0, 8 KOs) knocked Alvarado down with a right hand. Alvarado stumbled to his feet, but he rose on wobbly legs, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

“That was a good fight, and now I want Jose Ramirez.  I want Maurice Hooker,” Barboza said. “That’s what I want in my future. Alvarado is a tough guy, and I stopped him in three rounds. Hopefully, this performance will catapult me to a world title opportunity. To perform like I did in front of my hometown fans, it doesn’t get better than that.”
In other action:

USBA welterweight champion and WBA No 1 contender Alexander Besputin (13-0, 9 KOs) moved closer to a world title shot with a dominant 10-round decision over Alfredo Blanco (20-8, 11 KOs).

He said the contender stage of his career is over.

“He had a very uncomfortable, awkward style, which made it difficult for me to find my rhythm,” Besputin said. “Most importantly, I got the win, and we can move on to bigger fights. I am a top contender now, and I am ready to fight for a world title next. Bob Arum says I can beat the top welterweights, and I know I can.”

Janibek Alimkhanuly (6-0, 2 KOs), a former amateur standout for his native Kazakhstan, passed the toughest test of his career with a 10-round unanimous decision (100-90 2X and 99-91) over Cristian Olivas (16-5, 13 KOs).  Alimkhanuly picked up the WBC Continental Americas and WBO Global middleweight belt, as he outworked Olivas to cruise to victory.”I hurt my right shoulder in the fight, but I got valuable experience,” Alimkhanuly said. “It’s exactly what I needed.”

It was a short night at the office for Italian heavyweight Guido Vianello (3-0, 3 KOs), who knocked out Lawrence Gabriel (3-2-1, 2 KOs) at 49 seconds of the opening round. Vianello represented his homeland at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“I believe this was my strongest performance to date, and I’m only going to get better and better,” Vianello said. “My power is improving with every fight.”

Ruben Rodriguez (6-0, 2 KOs) maintained his unbeaten record with a four-round majority decision (38-38, 39-37 and 40-36) over the battle-tested veteran Ramel Snegur (3-4-1, 2 KOs).