Yoshihiro Kamegai stops Jesus Soto-Karass in 8th round of slugfest

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The second one was much like the first. Except this time there was a clear winner.

In a rematch of their April slugfest, Yoshihiro Kamegai made sure he goes back to Japan a winner as he used a relentless body attack and a wicked uppercut to stop Mexican warrior Jesus Soto-Karass with an eighth round TKO victory.

After a brutal eighth round, in which Soto-Karass took a knee to stop the attack following a right hook by Kamegai, the fighter told referee Jack Reiss he had had enough and Kamegai (27-3-2, 23 KOs) was declared the winner of the scheduled 12-round junior middleweight bout.

Their first fight, another slugfest at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, ended in a split decision draw, and is a 2016 fight of the year candidate. This one matched it, for the eight rounds that it lasted.

Soto Karass (28-11-4, 18 KOs) throws more punches than anyone in boxing. According to CompuBox statistics, the junior middleweight throws 96.2 punches per round. The only other fighter with more than 90 is Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, the headliner of Saturday's card.

There was precious little defense employed in this fight as both fighters teed off on each other for 24 minutes, just hoping to wear down the other. Kamegai attacked the body of Soto-Karass early and often, and used a right uppercut to keep Soto-Karass at bay.

Lightweight prospect Martin wins: Ryan Martin remained undefeated with a unanimous decision victory against former Colombian Olympian Cesar Villaraga in an eight-round lightweight bout. Martin knocked down Villaraga in the fourth round, and looked to have the Colombian on the ropes. But Villaraga fought on and finished the fight. Two judges scored it 79-72 and the third 78-74 for Martin, who improves to 16-0.