WBO champion Jesse “BAM” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) stopped IBF champion Sunny Edwards (20-1, 4 KOs) in round nine on Saturday night at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Rodriguez took away the advantages of Edwards with his better footwork as he broke down the IBF champ from the second round on. Edwards’ eye swelled from that moment on which hindered his vision as the divisions king dropped Edwards at the end of round nine before the fight was mercifully stopped.

“I brought something out of him tonight that he couldn’t handle,” said Rodriguez, ” … He was a lot quicker than I thought; a lot smarter than I thought . … I made him wanna fight … He got caught.”

“I couldn’t just keep moving, and moving and moving,” Edwards said afterwards “His feet are too good for that, his lead hand was too good for that. I had to make him miss and try to land…

“The better man won tonight, no excuses. It wasn’t my night tonight but I’ll definitely be back for sure.”

In a WBA super bantamweight eliminator, former unified champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs) annihilated previously unbeaten Kevin Gonzalez (26-1-1, 13 KOs) before the fight was stopped in the eighth. Akhmadaliev dropped Gonzalez twice in round six and two more times in round eight to end it.

Olympic gold medalist Galal Yafai (6-0, 4 KOs) scored a ten round unanimous decision over Rocco Santomauro (22-3, 6 KOs). Yafai controlled the contest throughout to win by scores of 99-91, 98-93, 97-93.

In an upset, Super bantamweight Ja’Rico O’Quinn (17-1-1, 9 KOs) scored a spectacular fifth round knockout over previously unbeaten Peter McGrail (8-1, 5 KOs). McGrail was on course for a decisive win until he was caught by a massive counter right. Time was 2:19.