Da’Mazion Vanhouter ended up on the winning side of a roller-coaster of a fight.
Moments after it looked like Vanhouter was compromised by an injury, “Mazi” landed a clubbing right hand that floored opponent Raphael Akpejiori to score a spectacular first-round knockout in their heavyweight bout on Saturday’s Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Watch the incredible sequence below.
Vanhouter controlled the majority of the short fight, walking down the towering Akpejiori and hurting him early. Akpejiori managed to clinch to survive an early onslaught, but Vanhouter continued to press the action until they became tangled up on one side of the ring.
With Akpejiori pushing down on him, Vanhouter suddenly went down to the canvas, prompting the referee to pause the action. After a brief break, Vanhouter was ready to continue and seconds later, he ended the fight with one powerful punch.
Afterwards, Vanhouter explained that his injury scare was nothing serious.
“No, it was up, and he was pushing down on my shoulder, so it just felt a little weird, a little tight, but other than that it was fine,” Vanhouter said. “I got back to normal.”
The 21-year-old Vanhouter remained undefeated at 13-0 with 10 wins coming by way of KO/TKO.
