Vasyl Lomachenko forces Guillermo Rigondeaux to retire in sixth round to retain super-featherweight title
The 29-year-old heavy pre-fight favourite defended his title for a fourth time and improved his career record to 10-1 including seven knockouts
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Your support makes all the difference.Vasyl Lomachenko retained his WBO super-featherweight title after Guillermo Rigondeaux retired on his stool in the sixth round to fall to his first professional defeat.
The duel between a pair of double Olympic champions was highly-anticipated but resulted in an anti-climatic finish when the Cuban, citing a hand and wrist injury, told the referee that he did not want to continue prior to the seventh round.
All three judges had Rigondeaux, who moved up two weight divisions for the bout, behind when he quit in front of a disappointed Madison Square Garden crowd, making it the fourth consecutive Lomachenko fight in which his opponent has retired.
Lomachenko, the 29-year-old heavy pre-fight favourite, defended his title for a fourth time and improved his career record to 10-1 (eight TKOs), including seven knockouts.
The 37-year-old Rigondeaux (17-1), who was warned by the referee several times for foul play, began telling his trainer after the third round that his left hand and wrist hurt.
"This is not his weight so it's not a big win for me," Lomachenko, who won gold medals at the Beijing and London Olympics said. "But he's a good fighter, he's got great skills. I adjusted to his style, low blows and all."
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