On tonight's Friday Night Fights, Glen Johnson staved off father time for yet another fight, knocking out ranked light heavyweight contender Yusaf Mack in the sixth round. As a reward for his efforts, Johnson is now the mandatory contender for hard charging titlist Tavoris Cloud in what is bound to be an entertaining fight.
The first several rounds of the fight were very close with a lot of back and forth action. At times, Mack was able to make Johnson look slow and land the much more flashy shots. However, stamina has been a persistent problem for Mack in the past, and much like when Mack was knocked out by Librado Andrade, Johnson's relentless pressure eventually forced Mack to use his energy reserves. As he slowed down, Johnson was able to catch up with him much more easily. Caught up against the ropes, Johnson landed a combo, knocking down Mack and didn't lay off of him after that, forcing the referee to step in.
Elsewhere on Friday night:
- Ed Paredes knocked out Joey "Twinkle Fingers" Hernandez in the second round with an early knockout of the year candidate. Paredes landed a perfectly placed short left hook during the middle of an exchange, and Hernandez just crumpled in a heap. Paredes now has a deceptive 23-3-1 record, but he holds a win over Antwone Smith and his only recent unavenged is to hard charging prospect (also with a deceptive record) Carlos Molina.
- Freddy Hernandez likely earned the best win of his career, knocking out DeMarcus Corley in the fourth round. At times, Corley was clearly dominating Hernandez, but Hernandez's punching power was just too big for Corley to withstand. In the fifth round, Hernandez landed a huge right hand to Corley's jaw (which, on replay, looked like it broke Corley's jaw), causing a delayed reaction knockout where Corley fell like a tree.
- Cuban two-time gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux and Cuban silver medalist Yudel Jhonson both scored fast first round knockouts over hapless opponents.
- Jason Booth retained his super bantamweight BBBoC title by stopping Matthew Marsh on cuts in the 11th round. Marsh started off strong, winning the early rounds and even knocking Booth down, but Booth charges back late to earn the stoppage victory.
- Silvio Branco won his first fight moving up to cruiserweight, knocking out Lazslo Hubert in Italy.