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At the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Flint, Michigan’s Anthony Dirrell (34-2-2, 25 KOs) scored a stunning, highlight-reel knockout of Marcos Hernandez (15-5-2, 3 KOs) just seconds into the fourth-round.
Dirrell wound up and unleashed a vicious right uppercut to send Hernandez flat on his back and score the one-punch KO. Hernandez beat the 10-count, but referee Celestino Ruiz called off the fight when the clearly injured and wobbly fighter rose to his feet.
“It was a spectacular knockout,” said Dirrell.
“It was a punch we were working on. It wasn’t that wide. I used to use that punch way back when. I came up with the shot and he never saw it coming. My brother [Andre] was yelling at me and I said, ‘I got it.’ I saw it and I had to take advantage of it. I had to take it away from him.”
Dirrell, the former super middleweight titleholder, successfully rebounded from the disappointing draw against Kyrone Davis in February, and did so stylishly.
The veteran is now hunting for a much bigger opportunity in 2022.
The 37-year-old even capped off the KO with a celebratory backflip. Prior to that pivotal punch, Hernandez held a slight 46-40 edge in punches landed.
“I expected to stop him, I did,” continued Dirrell, who is trained by SugarHill Steward. “I thought I was going to catch him with a right hand over the top, honestly. I knew he thought I was going to throw that so I just came up with the uppercut. I came out here and made a statement.”