Richard Commey sent a reminder to the lightweight division that there is still plenty of fight left in him as he defeated Dominican Republic boxer Jackson Marinez in a brutal technical knockout.
The 33-year old Ghana native enjoyed a celebrated return to the ring after a 14-month break, knocking out Jackson Marinez in the 6th round of their main event Saturday evening at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Commey scored two knockdowns, the latter of the two prompted an immediate stoppage at 2:35 of round six.
Gotdamn, Richard Commey just annihilated Jackson Marinez. #CommeyMarinez pic.twitter.com/C7xznIYwr8
— WG (@GuoBlue) February 14, 2021
Marinez looked to work his jab in round three, only to get clipped with right hands in back-to-back exchanges. Commey found his groove and began to outwork his foe for the first time in the fight. Marinez concentrated more on movement in the back half of the round, which Commey exploited with power shots once able to work his way inside.
Commey was ahead 49-46 and 48-47 on two scorecards and trailing 48-47 on the third at the time of the stoppage. His potent right hand made the cards moot, as he returns to the win column for the first time in 22 months in improving to 30-3 (27KOs). It took a couple of rounds to figure out how to get there, though the finish is all that will be remembered in the grand scheme of things.
Oh, the signature @RichardCommey celebration was back, too. 🕺 #CommeyMarinez pic.twitter.com/rssWQA36j3
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) February 14, 2021
“I didn’t get my rhythm right in the first two rounds,” admitted Commey. “I settled down and caught him.
Commey won the vacant IBF lightweight title following a 2nd round knockout of Isa Chaniev in Feb. 2019. His lone successful defence came four months later, stopping former champ Rey Beltran in the 8th round of their June 2019 clash before conceding the belt to Lopez by year’s end.
Saturday’s win keeps his name in the mix in what is now a lucrative lightweight division. There is a chance that he could fight for a title by year’s end, likely in a vacant title fight once Lopez moves up to junior welterweight.
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