Fortuna knocks out Zamudio, improves to 22-0

Fortuna was stripped of his WBA interim featherweight championship when he failed to make the 126-pound weight limit.

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Javier Fortuna stopped Miguel Zamudio with a devastating left hand in the first round at Tropicana Casino and Resort on Friday night, a day after losing his WBA interim featherweight championship when he failed to make the 126-pound weight limit.

Fortuna, from the Dominican Republic, improved to 22-0 with his 15th knockout.

WBA supervisor George Martinez stripped Fortuna of his crown after he weighed in at 126.8 pounds. He initially weighed 127, then stepped on the scale again after a 30-minute workout. He even peeled off all his clothes and stood on one leg on the scale.

"I was surprised when I didn't make the weight," Fortuna said Friday through a translator. "Once that happened, I wanted to get a knockout to impress everyone."

He wasted little time in getting it.

Fortuna swarmed Zamudio, from Mexico, in the opening seconds of the scheduled 12-rounder and dropped him with an overhand left. Zamudio scrambled to his feet, but wasn't upright for long. Fortuna capped another flurry with a left that left Zamudio unconscious on the canvas, prompting referee Eddie Cotton to stop the fight at 1:08 without a count. Zamudio dropped to 25-2-1.

"I was surprised he got up from the first knockdown because I hit him so hard," Fortuna said. "I knew he wasn't getting up the second time because he fell pretty awkwardly."

Ringside physicians Steve Oxler and Eric Wurmser quickly entered the ring and began to administer oxygen. After Zamudio regained consciousness, they applied a neck brace. Emergency medical technicians carried him out of the ring on a stretcher and transported him to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus for a CT Scan and other testing.

"I'd say he was unconscious for 2 or 3 minutes, but we gave him some oxygen and that seemed to help," Wurmser said. "That was a pretty incredible knockout."