Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Jose Zepeda knocked out Ivan Baranchyk in the fifth round of their junior welterweight instant classic Saturday evening at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Both men hit the canvas four times, but it was a left hand from Zepeda, a two-time world title challenger, that ended the fight.
Baranchyk (20-2, 13 KOs), a former IBF junior welterweight world champion, scored a pair of knockdowns in the opening round, and then the two traded knockdowns in the second. Zepeda used his counterpunching skills to knock down Baranchyk in the third and fourth rounds, but Baranchyk roared back and planted Zepeda (33-2, 26 KOs) on the canvas early in the fifth. Soon after Zepeda rose to this feet, the knockout hammer dropped.
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Photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
absolutely thrilling fight the ends with a frightening knockout . * on pin & needles that we will get a positive update for Baranchyk in the coming days .
Needs a rematch in front of a live crowd, awesome fight from start to finish.
Boxing is not the same without a live audience the same with any sport.
Boo hoo, we’re in the midst of a pandemic if you haven’t heard
What a fight! 2 guys with big hearts.
Zepeda’s composure ultimately won it for him, Baranchyk was wild and dangerous.. and too open.
Knock out was kind of scary, hope Baranchyk recovers fully, physically and psychologically.
Must be close to record # of knockdowns. Hope they both recuperate nicely so they can fight another day. Sure rhe fans loved it. Like they say “got their $$ worth”, and in Vegas, thats saying something !.
what a lame fight, this is scripted so it will look a very good fight. I am ariel magbanua, the best software developer the world ever produced and i am very good in boxing analysis
Almost choked on my popcorn! Excellent action from the get-go!
Great action photos!!
I think you forgot some great wars of the past; it’s for sure a great fight but Zepeda wasn’t in any kind of real trouble the entire fight, no blood, sweat and teers.. Gatti-Ward 1 surpasses this fight by a thousand mile in my eyes.. Tough it was only one kd in the ninth when Gatti crawled on the floor in pain after a fantastic liver punch from Ward.. That’s a war folks !! Some of you are probably too Young to know this fight but the drama, the respect and the love the fight was field with are very rare in the sport of boxing we love.. Watch it or watch from round 7 to 10 and reply my comment thereafter. NO DISRESPECT of any kind Zepeda and Baranchyk gave there all but half of the kd’s were due to wrong foot placement.. Castillo-Corrales 1 has more drama in it too.. Hagler-Hearns, Ali-Frazier, Robinson-LaMotta; are a good exemple of great fights too and what about Chacon vs Limon 4 here’s the link
Of course you can always find a past fight that may one up this fight, but it is the fact that you have a complete different dynamic in sports right now that these warriors were able to accomplish such an exciting fight without a live audience. I think what made the gatti n ward fights was the crowd energizing the fighters. Another aspect that can be viewed is that due to COVID, boxing has been hit hard in comparison to MMA sports, because they were not able to adapt as fast. So, this fight in itself will rank up there for the year. It was simply amazing!
What a war!!!!!!!!!
Very good fight. Too bad it was relegated to low saturation premium cable. It take Youtube viewers no time to eclipse the number of live action viewers.