On the partially untelevised undercard of the Welterweight showdown between Amir Khan and Devon Alexander, three fighters came back from previous losses with stoppage wins tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Victor Ortiz (30-5-2, 23 KOs), who had had a three-fight loss-streak going into tonight’s fight, knocked out Manuel Perez (22-11-1, 4 KOs) in the third-round of a scheduled 10-round Welterweight fight.
Ortiz, 27, of Garden City, Kansas, made a successful return after losing to Luis Collazo in January and after joining forces with renowned trainer Joel Diaz.
Yoshihiro Kamegai (25-2-1), who lost via unanimous decision to Robert Guerrero in June, scored a fourth-round knockout over Oscar Godoy (13-4, 6 KOs) in a scheduled eight-round Welterweight fight.
Godoy was dropped by a hook to the body from which he could no longer recover.
Kamegai, 32, of Japan, is a powerful puncher with a good chin and serious defensive flaws, making him a tough fighter to beat for many in the Welterweight division.
Photo by Tom Casino
Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10 KOs), who had previously lost his WBA Light Heavyweight title to Bernard Hopkins in April, made his return in the first fight of the evening by stopping Bobby Thomas Jr. (14-3-1, 9 KOs) in the fifth round of a scheduled eight-round fight.
Shumenov weighed in at a stunning 200 pounds in the weigh-in the day before, but the extra weight did not prevent the 31-year-old Kazakhstani from stopping Thomas in Round 5.
*The Ortiz fight will be televised as the featured bout on Showtime Extreme, which begins at 7:00 PM EST.
