Highlights
–Less than a minute into the first round, Gabriel Bracero’s followed up a casual long left by Danny O’Connor with a blistering right hand that connected flush on O’Connor’s jaw and knocked him out cold.
–With O’Connor lying motionless on the canvas, referee Arthur Merchant didn’t bother to count, immediately calling an end to the bout just 41 seconds after it began.
Gabriel Bracero is not known as a big puncher, as evidenced by the fact he entered Saturday night having knocked out just four of his first 25 opponents. But the undersized fighter took less than a minute to turn from boxer to devastating puncher in his rematch with southpaw Danny O’Connor.
The Brooklyn, New York, native knocked O’Connor out cold with a blistering counter right hand over a straight left, scoring a sensational 41-second knockout in Saturday’s 147-pound contest.
The sudden ending at Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts, stunned the crowd, most of whom had come to root for O’Connor, who hails from nearby Framingham, Massachusetts. Although O’Connor lay motionless on the canvas for more than a minute, he eventually made it to his feet, after which a concerned Bracero went over to check on his fallen opponent.
The victory was the second by the 34-year-old Bracero (24-2, 5 KOs) over O’Connor, having first defeated him by unanimous decision back in April 2011. It was also just Bracero’s second career first-round stoppage.
In suffering his third-career defeat, O’Connor (26-3, 10 KOs) saw an end to his three-fight winning streak, all of which came by knockout in his native Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, Bracero successfully rebound from his last fight, a 10-round, unanimous-decision loss to unbeaten former Olympic gold medalist Felix Diaz in April, during which Bracero was dropped twice.
Danny O'Connor throws a long left hand right before Gabriel Bracero follows with a counter right hand that resulted in a crushing first-round knockout Saturday in Lowell, Massachusetts. (Joey Sylvester/Premier Boxing Champions)
