Mike Plania (left) and Elijah Pierce (right) during the weigh-in in their bout held in Atlanta. | Photo from Pierce’s Facebook page.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — World-rated “Magic” Mike Plania suffered a devastating knockout defeat in the hands of American Elijah Pierce on Friday August 4 (August 5 Manila Time) at the Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
Pierce threw a lightning-fast counter left straight that perfectly planted on Plania’s face ending the bout in the third round of their scheduled eight-rounder bout in the super bantamweight division.
READ: Demecillo gets shot at WBA title in debut fight in US
Plania failed to beat count
Plania was too stunned to get back on his feet and ultimately failed to beat the referee’s count, resulting to his third professional career loss.
Still, Plania, rated No. 14 in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world rankings bantamweight division, has 28 wins and 15 knockouts.
READ: Nonito Donaire falls to Alexandro Santiago in world title fight
Pierce, No. 14 in WBC
Meanwhile, Pierce, also rated No. 14 in the World Boxing Council (WBC) improved to 18 wins with 15 knockouts and 2 defeats.
It was a heartbreaking loss for Plania, who, before the knockout was putting on an impressive show.
Plania started the bout aggressively, launching multiple combinations forcing Pierce to up his guard. He even managed to pin Pierce against the ropes, while throwing combinations.
Pierce, however, remained composed and countered Plania’s combinations.
Still, Plania threw more punches, with most of it landing on its targets.
READ: Terence Crawford stops Errol Spence to become undisputed welterweight champion
Pierce KOs Plania in third
In the second round, Pierce, who adjusted to Plania’s aggressiveness, started utilizing his jabs and threw his counter punches a lot better.
Meanwhile, Plania remained aggressive and pinned Pierce numerous times against the ropes.
In the third round, Plania maintained his relentless attacks to Pierce not knowing the latter was waiting for the perfect timing.
In the middle of the round, Pierce threw a counter left straight that knocked out Plania for good, that even the crowd and commentators were left shocked.
READ: Naoya Inoue draws comparisons to Manny Pacquiao
/dbs