MINNEAPOLIS – Aidos Yerbossynuly believed he was the contender capable of proving David Morrell Jr. isn’t everything Morrell’s promoters proclaim him to be.
Then the unbeaten Cuban southpaw spent much of their fight picking apart the brave but out-classed Kazakh boxer with a diverse offensive repertoire that Yerbossynuly had never before encountered. Morrell badly bloodied Yerbossynuly’s nose by the third round, remained mostly in complete control and finally dropped and stopped his bloodied, beaten opponent in the 12th round of their fight for Morrell’s secondary WBA super middleweight title, the main event of an 11-fight card at The Armory in Morrell’s adopted hometown.
The 24-year-old Morrell (8-0, 7 KOs) sent Yerbossynuly to the canvas twice in the final round. His vicious right uppercut caught Yerbossynuly perfectly and dumped him flat on his back the second time.
Referee Tony Weeks promptly stopped their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event at 2:34 of the 12th round.
“I told everyone at the press conference that the fight is mine,” said Morrell, who was ahead 110-99, 110-99 and 108-101 at the time of the stoppage. “I saw he was hurt at that moment and then the results came in, that knockdown came. A knockout is a knockout, so if it’s in the eighth [his prediction] or 12th round, it’s a knockout anyways.”
The 30-year-old Yerbossynuly, who was the mandatory challenger for Morrell’s title, lost for the first time as a pro (16-1, 11 KOs). Yerbossynuly was taken to nearby Hennepin County Medical Center for evaluation after taking a brutal beating.
By the time the 12th round started, the only question was whether Morrell would press the action enough to stop the brave but battered Yerbossynuly.
A straight left land by Morrell sent Yerbossynuly to the canvas less than 20 seconds into the final round. Yerbossynuly answered Weeks’ count pretty quickly and tried every trick he knew to survive to the final bell.
Weeks eventually took a point from Yerbossynuly for excessive holding with 49 seconds to go in their bout. Several seconds later, two left hands and then the aforementioned right uppercut by Morrell sent Yerbossynuly crashing to the canvas for the second time.
Weeks waved an end to the action as soon as Yerbossynuly went down again.
Morrell seemd to buzz Yerbossynuly more than once during the 11th round, but he couldn’t drop his game challenger.
A left uppercut by Morrell made Yerbossynuly back away from him with 1:15 on the clock in the 10th round. Morrell tried to finish off his battered, fatigued opponent, but a Yerbossynuly bravely remained upright and threw hard punches by the end of the 10th round.
A right-left combination by Morrell moved Yerbossynuly across the ring and into the ropes toward the end of the ninth round.
A seemingly fading Yerbossynuly stopped moving and tried to hold Morrell with approximately 35 seconds to go in the ninth round. A right hook to the body by Morrell landed with just under 1:40 on the clock in the ninth round.
Morrell blasted Yerbossynuly with a right to his body that forced Yerbossynuly to hold him with just over 10 seconds remaining in the eighth round. Morrell landed a straight left that drove Yerbossynuly backward earlier in the eighth round.
A right uppercut by Morrell caught Yerbossynuly with just under 50 seconds on the clock in the seventh round. Morrell complained to Weeks that Yerbossynuly head-butted him in the mouth with just over one minute to go in the seventh round.
Morrell mostly made Yerbossynuly miss or blocked his punches during the sixth round, when Morrell landed fewer punches than he had done in the previous five rounds. Yerbossynuly landed a right hand that made Morrell tie him up while backed against the ropes with 1:25 on the clock in the sixth round.
Yerbossynuly took several hard head shots toward the end of the fifth round, which made him turn around and move away from Morrell. By then, blood masked his face and he seemed incapable of dealing with Morrell’s power and speed.
Morrell landed a thudding left to the Yerbossynuly’s body less than 30 seconds into the fourth round, another three minutes in which he almost completely controlled the action.
Morrell made Yerbossynuly’s nose into a bloody mess in the third round, when he landed an array of straight lefts and uppercuts.
With just over 40 seconds on the clock in the second round, Morrell’s straight left landed directly to Yerbossynuly’s already bloodied nose.
A little less than a minute into the second round, Morrell began to slip several of Yerbossynuly’s punches thrown in combination. Yerbossynuly attacked Morrell’s body early in the second round, but Morrell protected himself well.
Morrell hit Yerbossynuly with a right to the body and then a right uppercut just after the midway mark of the first round. Less than 20 seconds later, Morrell’s left hand knocked Yerbossynuly off balance and made him reset his feet.