Sunny Edwards fell to his first skilled defeat as he was overwhelmed by Jesse Rodriguez on the Desert Diamond Area in Glendale, Arizona.
The 27-year-old, who had an ideal 20-0 file heading into the ring for his American debut, was stopped late on as Rodriguez claimed the IBF and WBO unified flyweight belts.
The battle was stopped on the finish of the ninth spherical after Rodriguez had dominated proceedings, placing Edwards down for the primary time in his profession earlier than time was known as on the bout.
The American, 23, took his file to 19-0 with the second defence of his WBO crown.
Edwards had defended his IBF crown 4 instances since successful the title in 2021, however was behind on all three scorecards (89-81, 87-87 and 87-83) earlier than the stoppage.
The Englishman additionally admitted he couldn’t see out of both eye by the point his nook known as an finish to the battle.
“I feel it was an amazing battle, however, yeah, the higher man gained as we speak,” mentioned Edwards, who misplaced the IBF belt he gained with a choice over South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane in 2021.
Rodriguez meticulously picked off Edwards earlier than he despatched the London fighter tumbling to the canvas, face-first, on the finish of Spherical 9 with a jab to the physique adopted by an overhand left.
“I introduced one thing out of him tonight that he could not deal with,” mentioned Rodriguez. “He was quite a bit faster than I believed; quite a bit smarter than I believed. I made him wish to battle. He received caught.
“I am simply happy that I received the win, interval. That was my predominant aim. However throughout camp, I knew I had what it took to knock him out or cease him and that is what I did, so (that) simply made the win that significantly better.”