IBF titleholder Commey batters Beltran with eighth-round knockout

SAN DIEGO: Richard Commey knocked down Ray Beltran four times en route to a dominant eighth round technical knockout victory in an IBF lightweight fight on Friday.

The pair were to fight for Commey’s 135-pound title but that was scuttled after Beltran couldn’t make the weight at Thursday’s weigh-in.

The 32-year-old Commey, of Ghana, ended the fight when Beltran walked into a crushing left hook to the chin that sent the Mexican flying backwards across the ring.

A dazed Beltran got up but the referee stopped the fight, putting an end to the lopsided bout at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula, California.

Commey knocked Beltran down twice in the first round — first with a right hand halfway through the round, and then again moments later while he had him pinned on the ropes.

In the fifth, Commey hit Beltran with a short left hook on the nose that sent him to the canvas for the third time. It looked like the referee might step in and stop the fight, but Beltran worked his way off the ropes and was able to continue.

This was the fifth straight win for Commey after back to back losses.

The planned title fight was thrown into chaos when Beltran missed weight on Thursday, coming in at 136.8 pounds.

Organisers fined Beltran $40,000 with $20,000 going to the boxing commission and $20,000 being added to Commey’s purse of $350,000.

Commey, who improved to 29-2, with 26 knockouts, won a vacant world title by second-round knockout of Isa Chaniev on February 2.

However during that fight he suffered a right hand injury that ended a title unification bout with pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko in April.

Lomachenko ultimately faced WBA mandatory challenger Anthony Crolla, knocking him out in the fourth round.

Beltran dropped to 36-9-1 as he was seeking to win a world title for the second time after having won a vacant belt by decision over Paulus Moses in February 2018.