Reigning WBC super featherweight world champion Diana Prazak 13-2 (9) retained her world title with a dominant display of power punching against former amateur standout Shannon O’Connell 8-3 (5) at the Melbourne Pavilion in Flemington, Australia on Saturday night, stopping her in 5 rounds.
The fight was contested on even terms in the first round, with Prazak boring forward and O’Connell obliging her on the inside exchanges.
In the second stanza Prazak found the range for her vaunted right hand, landing the punch with regularity and depositing O’Connell on the canvas twice.
O’Connell, who was fighting as a super bantamweight as recently as 2012, recovered well from the pair of knockdowns but had little answer to 34 year-old Prazak’s strength and power.
The valiant O’Connell willed her way back into the fight in the third and fourth rounds, but the heavier blows of Prazak were clearly taking their toll.
In the fifth round Prazak continued her relentless attack, backing O’Connell up and landing with both hands to the body and head.
The end came late in the round when O’Connell, still vertical and alert but not firing back, absorbed a fusillade of punches from a rampaging Prazak. Referee Frank Hadley decided he had seen enough, waving the fight off with just four seconds remaining in the round.
Sections of the capacity crowd were unhappy with the stoppage, but it was obvious Prazak had the ascendancy in the fight.
With the win Prazak solidifies her claim to being the best female 130 pound fighter in the world and surely deserves consideration in pound-for-pound rankings.
Undercard results: Jake Carr UD6 Lyndon Edney
Darren Askew TKO6 Matthew Lytwynenko
Ibrahim Balla KO2 Thongtaeng Muangsima
Daniel Smith KO1 Nigel Veloute
Joel Camilleri UD4 Michael Dan
Andrew Robertson TKO3 Paul Watson
