Gary Russell Jr KOs Patrick Hyland

Jose Pedraza won a unanimous decision over Stephen Smith and Gary Russell Jr. stopped Patrick Hyland (above) in the second round to on Saturday night’s edition of Showtime Championship Boxing at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

In the co-feature bout, super featherweight contender Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (22-0, 12 KOs) of Cidras, Puerto Rico used a sniper-like right hand that he landed at will and a herky-jerky style of movement to befuddle Stephen “Swifty” Smith (23-2, 13 KOs) of Liverpool, England for much of the contest, winning a unanimous decision by scores of 117-110 and 116-11 (twice).

Pedraza’s win was much more convincing than his last fight, in which many people thought he was lucky to escape with a controversial split decision victory over Edner Cherry (34-7-2, 19 KOs) back on October 3, 2015 in Cincinnati, also on Showtime.

Smith, who is one of four brothers who all fight professionally, including super welterweight contender Liam Smith (22-0-1, 12 KOs), was the aggressor in the opening round and it looked like it was going to be another difficult defense for Pedraza. In the second and third rounds, Pedraza started to find a home with his right hand, and his constant feinting kept Smith from letting his hands go as much as he would have liked. Smith was the more accurate and harder puncher most of the evening.

Much like the first round, Smith did not let Pedraza’s movement throw him off and just let the punches fly in the fourth and fifth rounds. He wisely went to the body with quite a few digging left hooks to the liver, since he couldn’t find a home upstairs with his punches. Pedraza started timing Smith coming in and landed numerous stiff jabs and thudding right hands that once again made Smith’s volume attack slow down.

In the ninth round, Pedraza landed a huge right hand over the top to Smith’s jaw that sent him crashing to the canvas. Smith got up quickly, but had to hold on the rest of the round as Pedraza tried to end it with a barrage of punches. Smith recovered well in between rounds and landed some big shots of his own in the tenth round that certainly got Pedraza’s and the judges’ attention. In the final two rounds both men fought gamely and emptied the tank, but the action favored Pedraza due to his heavier hands and more accurate, telling blows.

In the main event of the evening, featherweight contender “Mr.” Gary Russell Jr. (27-1, 16 KOs) of Capitol Heights, Maryland returned from a 13-month layoff to due to an injury and dominated the over-matched Patrick “The Punisher” Hyland (31-2, 15 KOs) of Dublin, Ireland en route to a second round knockout.

In the first round, Russell reminded the boxing world of his blazing hands, arguably the fastest in the sport, as he was able to close the distance on the taller Hyland with blinding jabs to Hyland’s face and body and sharp left hands behind it. Less then a minute into round two, Russell landed a left to the body and a crushing right hook that put Hyland down. Russell followed it up with a flurry and another right hook that scored a second knockdown, as the ropes were the only thing holding Hyland up.

Russell ended the fight seconds later with another flurry that sent an already wobbly and badly hurt Hyland down again. Referee Danny Schiavone had seen enough and waved off the onslaught at 1:33 of the second round. After the fight, Russell called out fellow featherweight title holders Lee Selby, Leo Santa Cruz, and Vasyl Lomachenko. Russell is hoping to unify the division, but the only way for a real featherweight champion to be crowned is for Lomachenko to beat top-ranked Simpiwe Vetyeka of South Africa.