Photos by Stephanie Trapp/Showtime
Jesus Cuellar stopped Ruben Tamayo in the fifth round of a scheduled 12-round Featherweight fight to successfully defend his interim WBA title at the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Washington.
The fight was the main event of a quadruple-header televised on Showtime in the U.S. and promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions.
Cuellar, 27, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, sought to continue the momentum gained after his recent KO win over Juan Manuel Lopez in September.
Tamayo, of Sonora, Mexico, came off an upset majority decision win over Efrain Esquivias in April but was clearly overmatched in his fight with Cuellar, who went forward relentlessly with an assault of body punches.
Tamayo was caught early in Rounds 2 and 3 during exchanges with Cuellar, who is trained by Robert Garcia.
In Round 4, Cuellar’s relentless body attack earned him two knockdowns and nearly put an end to the fight.
The fight was then stopped in Round 5 with yet another assault of body punches.
Cuellar is still the proud owner of a portion of the title held by Nicholas Walters who, along with Evgeny Gradovich, Vasyl Lomachenko, and Johnny Gonzalez, could make for an exciting potential opponent.
