As Artem Dalakian continues his run as the WBA flyweight champion, he gets another title defense under his belt with an impressive stoppage victory.
In his second title defense since winning the belt back in February, Dalakian scored a sixth-round TKO victory over Gregorio Lebron in Kiev, Ukraine.
Dalakian dominated most of the fight, scoring three knockdowns in the sixth round alone, starting with a right had that dropped Lebron seconds into the round. The second knockdown came as Dalakian was moving forward and landing a sweeping left hook to the top of Lebron’s head.
With about 30 seconds remaining in the round, Dalakian dropped Lebron with a big overhand right that sent him to the canvas once more. Although Lebron was able to get back up, the referee decided that Lebron was not fit enough to continue and so the fight was stopped and Dalakian got the win.
The fight ends Dalakian’s banner year in which he started the year traveling to California to fight for his first world title. Dalakian defeated Brian Viloria by unanimous decision to win the vacant belt back in February and would go on to defend his title in Kiev against Sirichai Thaiyen back in June.
The title was previously held by Kazuto Ioka, but the title became vacant when Ioka retired from boxing in 2017. Ioka has since then come back to the sport and is fighting Donnie Nietes for the WBO super flyweight title on December 31.
This was Lebron’s first shot at a full world title after unsuccessfully challenging for the interim WBA title twice in 2015 and 2016. Lebron’s record now drops to 21-5.
