Beltran Vs. Ao & Ponomarev Vs. Zewski Fights Draw Record Crowd At The Cosmopolitan

Beltran vs. Ao

World contender Sugar Ray Beltran of Los Mochis, Mexico, scored a stunning, staggering technical knockout of two-time world champion Takahari Ao of Japan live on truTV® and in front of a near sold-out crowd inside The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Friday, May 1.  The lively event served as the premiere of Top Rank’s new boxing series, Metro PCS Friday Night Knockout on truTV®.

Among the enthusiastic crowd were notable names in attendance including actors Liev Schreiber and Ben Schwartz, actress Gina Rodriguez, George Foreman Jr., Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and boxers Paul Malignaggi, Ruslan Provodnikov, Victor Ortiz, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Tim Bradley, Terence Crawford, Jessie Vargas and Diego Magdaleno.

Beltran was scheduled to fight for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) Lightweight title in the main bout against Takahiro Ao, who was looking to become only the third fighter from Japan to win a world championship in three weight divisions.  However, only Ao could win the title as Beltran was slightly over the weight limit.  Beltran prevented Ao from taking the title though, unleashing a brutal physical attack which sent Ao crashing down twice, the last time curled in a heap.

"I knew this was a tough fight going in as Ao was a former world champion," Beltran remarked. "But I hurt him with an overhand right punch, then took him out with hard combinations. This was a super-big win."

 

Ponomarev vs. Zewski

There were six bouts on the card, including Russian-born Konstantin Ponomarev, with new trainer Abel Sanchez, stunning Mikael Zewski of Quebec in a 99-91, 98-93, 97-93 decision in a 10-round light heavyweight bout; and hometown star Jessie Magdaleno, 20-0, of Las Vegas, scoring a dominating eight-round win over rugged Raul Hirales Jr., 22-4-1, of La Paz, Mexico in a featherweight bout.

 Photo credit: © Erik Kabik/ erikkabik.com