Middleweight Sergiy Derevyanchenko (6-0, 4KOs) from the Ukraine fighting out of Brooklyn shutout Elvin Ayala (28-7-1) through 8 rounds in the ShoBox main event at Bally’s Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
It was clear that Derevyanchenko was the better fighter in the first round. From the moment the bell rang, Sergiy was established as the better puncher and all around crisper talent. Ayala was a bit awkward with his offense, but it made no difference to Sergiy because there was never anything dangerous coming back at him.
Sergiy’s jab was outstanding. He used it in a real way from a variety of looks and usages. For example, the jab set up some high level combinations in the 2nd and 3rd round, but in the rounds before and after he used the jab to physically hurt Ayala and cause real damage.
In the third round, Sergiy picked up the tempo and made it a very rough round for his opponent. Ayala, to his credit, never fully submitted, but he was fairly ineffective. Derevyanchenko landed a picture perfect 1-2 combination on Ayala that stunned him. Ayala wasn’t in any real trouble, but he was at full attention.
The fourth round was even better for Derevyanchenko as he pummeled Ayala for the majority of the round. There wasn’t a lot of follow up and it appeared as though Derevyanchenko was really trying to get in rounds, at least to a degree.
That was no longer the case in the fifth round as Derevyanchenko was actively trying to get Ayala out of there. But Ayala was fighting back and it seemed like the more he was getting hit the harder he tried to stay active. Still, you could see Ayala’s will being beat out of him, whether he was willing to continue or not.
Derevyanchenko was pretty much landing at will, but he was still staying patient and taking his time. It really showed the Ukrainian’s maturity and specialness.
Ayala was battling with body shots in the final round and he was determined not to go anywhere. However, he was just outclassed and he was in serious trouble in the last round. The referee did him no favors by letting him continue to get beat up in a fight where he was being completely dominated.
The fight went the distance and it would be no surprise that the judges turned in a shutout unanimous decision for Derevyanchenko.
The final punch stats pointed to a lopsided victory for Derevyanchenko who landed 277 of 630 thrown (44%) to Ayala’s 81 of 506 (16%). Regardless of the numbers, Derevyanchenko looked every bit the highly touted fighter he was billed as and I’m anxious to see him again with better competition.
