Khalid Yafai scored his 25th victory and 15th victory via stoppage as he stopped David Carmona via corner retirement before the eighth round began. With the victory Yafai retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) World Super Flyweight Title.
The WBA World Super Flyweight was only on the line for Yafai due to Carmona being nearly four pounds overweight at the weigh-in.
The fight looked like it was going to be a quick night for the champion in the first round as he dropped Carmona with a left hook to the temple only about a minute into the fight. Carmona rose, however, and hurt Yafai with a left hook of his own as Yafai was being a bit reckless in going for the kill. Yafai was clinching to make it through the first round.
In the coming rounds, Yafai came out very aggressive with a high work rate as he appeared to be fighting Carmona’s type of fight on the inside, sometimes opting to trading punches.
In the fourth round, it looked like Yafai had Carmona on his way out again as he was landing hard right hands but as soon as Carmona looked hurt he would land something in return to slow the aggression of Yafai due to the champion fighting a dangerous fight on the inside.
In the fifth round, once again, Yafai was really pouring on the punishment and scored a knockdown with a 1-2-1 combo. It looked like Carmona was ready to go, as Yafai knocked him down again but he was docked a point due to hitting Carmona when he was down. Carmona rose off the canvas and once again made it through the round.
Carmona continued to make it through the coming rounds but the damage was accumulating in both the sixth and seventh rounds as Yafai continued pressing forward with a high work rate.
Carmona would ultimately quit on his stool before coming out for the eighth round, giving Yafai the stoppage victory in his United States debut.