Ayala beats down Apolinario for IBF flyweight title

Super flyweight Argi Cortes picked up a TKO in the co-feature

Angel Ayala Lardizabal escaped Felix Alvarado by the skin of his teeth to earn a shot at the IBF flyweight title, but there was nothing narrow about tonight’s championship over Dave Apolinario, whom Ayala hammered into submission in the sixth round.

Apolinario (20-1, 14 KO) got off to a hot start, landing a number of heavy lefts on the hometown fighter, but quickly found himself a step behind. Ayala’s (18-0, 8 KO) output gave him control of the fight by the halfway mark, at which point he sent “The Doberman” to the canvas with a nasty left hook to the liver.

Apolinario seemed more frustrated than hurt and beat the count with time to spare, but Ayala stayed on him, slugging it out for the next minute and a half before pinning him to the ropes and unloading to the body until he went down and stayed there.

It’s a terrific win for the 24-year-old Ayala, who now find himself near the top of the still-rebuilding flyweight division. After Kenshiro Teraji meets Cristofer Rosales for the vacant WBC title in October, we’ll have a full suite of champions again.

In other action, super flyweight contender Argi Cortes (27-4-2, 11 KO) got off the canvas to bust up Salvador Juarez’s (19-9-2, 4 KO) eye and force a doctor’s stoppage.