Rigondeaux retains title

Scoring knockdowns in the first and fourth round and twice in the second with his lethal left hand, the Cuban finished off the Pennsylvania native with his fifth in five which forced the referee to call off the bout.

Rigondeaux, an Olympic gold medallist in both 2000 and 2004, brought his professional record up to 10-0 with the comfortable victory.

Further misery for Philadelphia boxing fans came in the next fight on the card when Randall Bailey produced a comeback from out of nowhere to knock out prospect Mike Jones in the 11th round to win the vacant IBF welterweight strap.

A tepid encounter was controlled by Jones for nine and a half rounds, but the ‘Machine Gun’ failed to capitalise on his opponent’s lack of a fight and go in for the kill, allowing the 37-year-old to produce a dramatic late rally.

The ‘Knockout King’ lived up to his billing after stern pep talks from his corner, dropping Jones with a solid straight right at the end of the 10th before ending his undefeated record with a crunching short uppercut in the dying embers of the 11th.

The stunning win marked the very first time that Bailey had managed to win a contest in the final three ‘championship rounds’ and took the veteran’s career to 44-7.

And a promising encounter between Mexico’s Jorge Arce and Jesus Rojas of Puerto Rico went to a no decision after little over one round.

The contest, a non-title bout fought just over the super bantamweight limit, saw Arce drop Rojas with less than 30 seconds on the clock in a fantastic opening round, only for El Travieso to catch a low blow and a kidney shot early in the second followed by a thumping shot to the left ear.

After being left open by the illegal punches, Arce was not counted down and instead given five minutes to try and regain his bearings, only to opt out of the fight citing problems with his equilibrium from the ear shot.

The low blow from Rojas was ruled as inadvertent which thus ruled the withdrawal of the Mexican as resulting in the no contest - though that did not stop the Puerto Rican from branding Arce a ‘coward’ for not continuing in a post-match interview.