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Back in 2011, Gabriel "Tito" Bracero beat Danny O'Connor to hand the Massachusetts prospect his first pro loss. Over four years later, their rematch came with talk that both were drastically different fighters. And while it was Bracero again emerging victorious, the means of victory was certainly not the same.
Bracero (24-2, 5 KO) scored an absolutely vicious first round knockout this time around, smashing O'Connor (26-3, 10 KO) with a single right hand that sent the hometown fighter crashing to the canvas and flat out. Official time of the KO was 41 seconds of round one.
Bracero landed only two punches in the fight, but the one that ended the fight was plenty, and is an easy leading candidate for KO of the Year. O'Connor, 30, was caught off balance and leaning, and a shot came around wide and crushed his chin, something he just did not see coming. His head smashed into the canvas when he touched down, and referee Arthur Mercante Jr made the right call to waive the count and get the doctors in immediately.
O'Connor remained down for a short while, but was seen communicating with the medical officials while still on the deck. Moments after that, he was up on his feet and talking to his trainer, and it appeared as though he was doing alright, which was great news.
Bracero, 34, hadn't scored a stoppage win since 2012, and was coming into this fight off of a loss to Felix Diaz Jr in April.
Jonathan Guzman TKO-9 Danny Aquino
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Guzman (20-0, 20 KO) dropped the tough Aquino twice in the second round, but he showed a lot more than just shock power in there in this fight. Aquino (17-3, 10 KO) isn't more than a gatekeeper type of fighter, but he's solid in that role, and very game. He was mixing it up the whole way in this fight, giving it a go. Guzman, 26, showed patience, poise, and accuracy in this fight, and he never rushed into anything. He looked to finish in the second when he had Aquino hurt, and came close, but when it didn't come, he just went on about his business. He looked like a boxer first and a puncher second, which speaks well of his chances to move up the ladder. It's still up in the air how he'll fare against better super bantamweights, but this was a nice performance overall.
Ryan Kielczewski UD-10 Rafael Vazquez
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These two kicked off the broadcast in fine fashion with an entertaining 10-round featherweight battle. Kielczewski (24-1, 7 KO) is not likely to become a real world-level fighter, and he doesn't pack much of a punch, but he's a solid offensive fighter who is fun to watch, and throws a lot of punches. Vazquez (16-2, 13 KO) wasn't able to keep pace with Kielczewski's output for the most part, but he did some good work with power punches, and snaked enough rounds to make this interesting all the way. BLH had it a 95-95 draw, but the official scores were 96-94, 97-93, and 97-93 for Kielczewski, all of which were fair calls.