David Morrell Jr. put a cap on his 2021 with a knockout performance this past weekend.
Morrell defended his WBA super middleweight title with a fourth round TKO over Alantez Fox.
The bout was the main event for the FOX PBC Fight Night event from The Armory in Minneapolis.
The 23-year-old Morrell (6-0, 5 KOs), a prolific Cuban amateur who found a home in Minneapolis after turning pro in 2019, scored his second-straight knockout victory in front of his hometown fans, following up a first-round destruction of Mario Cazares in June on FOX.
“I love fighting here in Minnesota,” said Morrell. “This is a great opportunity to fight in front of my fans here. It really motivates me.”
In round four, Morrell broke through with a left uppercut during another tie-up on the inside, landing flushly and putting Fox on the canvas. Morrell immediately upped his attack rate and stalked Fox around the ring, continuing to fling power punches and eventually prompting Fox’s corner to throw in the towel 2:06 into the round.
Morrell improved to 6-0 with five knockouts while Fox fell to 28-3-1 in his career with the loss.
In the co-main event, rising lightweight Jose Valenzuela (11-0, 7 KOs) scored a dominating fourth-round stoppage over Austin Dulay (14-3, 10 KOs).
In the opening bout on FOX, unbeaten super lightweight contender Alberto Puello (20-0, 10 KOs) cruised to a unanimous decision over VeShawn Owens (13-3, 12 KOs) after their 10-round contest.
Preceding the FOX broadcast, FS1 PBC Fight Night was topped by unbeaten super lightweight contender Richardson Hitchins (13-0, 5 KOs) winning a unanimous decision over Malik Hawkins (18-2, 11 KOs) after eight rounds. The judges’ scores were 100-90, 97-93 and 96-94.
The action on FS1 also featured unbeaten light heavyweights Suray Mahmutovic (3-0-1, 3 KOs) and Chino Hill (6-0-, 5 KOs) fighting to a majority draw after four rounds, with one judge scoring the bout 39-38 for Mahmutovic, overruled by two scores of 38-38, plus unbeaten super featherweight Hector Luis Garcia (14-0, 10 KOs) overcame a first-round knockdown to defeat Isaac Avelar (16-4, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight 78-73 after eight rounds.