Armory, Minneapolis, USA. In an intriguing duel, two seasoned light heavyweight veterans (up to 79.4 kg) met: the American techie Andre Dirrell (29-3, 19 KOs) ahead of schedule beat the Cuban slugger Unieski Gonzalez (21-5, 17 KOs), whom Ukrainian fans remembered well – in 2017, he lost by knockout to Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Left-hander Dirrell started the fight strangely – at an average distance. Quickly realizing his mistake, the techie connected his legs and jab. Gonzalez tried to work on spurts, throwing punches in series. In the last seconds of the 2nd round, Dirrell even offered the slugger to cut himself in infighting and slapped him hard on the cockpit.
In the 3rd round, the American brightly shook the Cuban several times, using a colossal advantage in manual speed, and smashed the opponent’s face. Gonzalez began to save himself in the clinch and even recovered in the next three minutes. Before the equator, Dirrell looked very impressive and efficient, but then he began to become more and more passive.
Tired Gonzalez barely moved his legs. After the end of the 9th round, he almost collapsed onto the canvas. The referee in response to this counted the knockdown. Funny episode. In the decisive three-minute period, Dirrell pinned the Cuban against the ropes, struck several blows from below. When the American broke the distance, Gonzalez’s legs failed again. The third in the ring decided to play it safe and stopped the fight.
Dirrell TKO 10.