Vasyl Lomachenko retains super-featherweight world title after Guillermo Rigondeaux quits on his stool at the end of round six
Cuban boxer said after the fight that he had 'injured the top of his hand' in the second round, but the crowd weren't buying it
CONTROVERSY reigned in New York tonight as Guillermo Rigondeaux quit on his stool against Vasyl Lomachenko.
What was a hugely anticipated fight with many finding it hard to split the pair turned into one-way traffic as Lomachenko proved he is the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet.
Rigondeaux told his corner to pull him out at the end of the sixth round, citing an "injury to the top of his hand".
But the crowd weren't buying it and the Cuban was roundly booed when giving his post fight interviews in the ring.
Lomachenko was easily winning boxing's first pro match between two-time Olympic gold medalists when Rigondeaux's trainers called for the match to be stopped.
Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) earned his seventh straight victory by stoppage and defended his WBO 130-pound title.
And for the fourth straight time, his match ended with his opponent quitting.
Speaking in the ring after his impressive win, the Ukrainian said: "I guess I should change my name now to 'NoMaschenko'."
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Rigondeaux lost for the first time in his 18 pro fights and was loudly booed afterward by a crowd that was supporting both fighters early in the match.
But it was quickly apparent that Lomachenko was too much for the 37-year-old Rigondeaux, the 122-pound champion who was moving up two weight classes for the historic match.
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Long one of boxing's best defensive fighters, even he couldn't find a way to defend himself against Lomachenko's onslaught.
"He frustrates them, he begins to come on, looks like he's going to knock them out, they quit because they can't answer back," promoter Bob Arum said of the Ukrainian.
Despite it being pretty obvious the crowd didn't accept his "hand injury" reason for calling it quits, Rigondeaux took to the microphone himself.
He said: “I lost but it was because of my hand, in the second round I injured the top of it and I could not continue.
“He [Lomachenko] is very technical, very explosive. I will come back and fight anybody, there are no excuses.
“It wasn’t about the weight, it was just about the hand injury. I give Vasyl credit though, he is an excellent boxer.”