Donetsk, Ukraine – Ukraine's Viacheslav Senchenko retained his WBA welterweight title with a sixth-round stoppage of Venezuelan veteran Marco Antonio Avendano on Friday.
Senchenko maintained his undefeated record as the referee stepped in to stop the fight after the champion had sent Avendano sprawling to the canvas with a flurry of blows after 2:40 in round six.
The 33-year-old Ukrainian improved to 32-0 (21 KOs) in defending his title for the third time, while Avendano fell to 30-8-1 (20 KOs).
It was his third successful defence of a title he took with a decision against Yuriy Nuzhnenko in 2009.
Avendano, 38, started the fight the livelier, moving quickly in and out and using his sharp left jab. Both fighters were left with bloody cuts around their left eyes after what appeared to be a slight clash of heads in round one.
The Venezuelan pushed forward in round two, but was caught with a solid right as he advanced.
Senchenko then began to take control in the third, scoring with several shots to the head. In front of his home crowd, he began to step forward in the fourth after the challenger was on target with a left hook.
Avendano started to lose his accuracy, and Senchenko was able to pick his punches as his opponent threw wildly.
The champion seized his moment quickly in the sixth after stiffening Avendano with a straight right. Senchenko avoided the wobbling challenger's attempts to tie him up before landing two more blows to the head and a left to the body that sent him sprawling to the canvas. The referee stepped in without starting a count.
Earlier in the evening, Karoly Balzsay claimed the vacant WBA super middleweight title, handing Stas Kashtanov his first professional defeat by unanimous decision. – Sapa-AP