By John DiSanto at ringside
Photos: Emily Harney

by fightnews.com

In the nationally televised (CBS) co-feature bout scheduled for twelve rounds, southpaw Eric Lublin, Orlando, 18-0, 13 KOs, remained undefeated with an impressive fourth round TKO of Mexican Jorge Cota, 23-2, 20 KOs. Lublin took the first three rounds, then knocked Cota down with an overhand left in round four. Referee Earl Brown stopped the bout at the 1:25 mark of the fourth. With the win, Lublin became the mandatory challenger for the WBC 154 pound title.

Chicago light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara, 29-4, 17 KOs, bounced back from his surprise loss to Joe Smith Jr. with a 10th round TKO of Chad Dawson, New Haven, CT, 34-5, 19 KOs, in the final round of their fight. Fonfara dropped Dawson in round nine and finished him early in the tenth. A hard right staggered Dawson and Fonfara poured it on until referee David Fields stopped the fight with Dawson hurt in a neutral corner. The time was 38 seconds of the 10th.

Beverly Hills-based junior welterweight Sergey Lipinets, 12-0, 10 KOs, stopped Clarence Booth, St. Petersburg, FL, 14-3, 7 KOs, in round seven of their scheduled eight rounder. Lipinets controlled most of the action through the first six rounds before knocking down Booth and finishing him at 1:33 of the seventh round. The referee was Gary Rosato.

Brooklyn welterweight Richardson Hitchins, 1-0, 1 KO, made a successful pro debut with a quick TKO of Mexican Mario Perez, 1-1, in their scheduled four rounder. Hitchins looked sharp, dropping Perez twice and winning the bout after just 1:33. The referee was Eric Dali.

In the opening bout at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, WBC International featherweight women’s champion, Heather Hardy, 19-0, 4 KOs, won an 8-round unanimous decision over Edina Kiss of Budapest, 13-3, 8 KOs, to retain her title. It was a work-woman-like performance by the Brooklyn fighter, and although she won by one-sided scores of 80-72 twice and 79-73, she had to fight with a swollen right eye in the second half. Inexplicably the popular Hardy fought the first bout of the night before a mostly empty arena.