Guillermo Rigondeaux quit after the sixth round Saturday night, ending the historic fight against Vasyl Lomachenko early as the Ukrainian champion retained his WBO super featherweight title on ESPN at the Theater at Madison Square Garden before a sold-out crowd.
This was the first professional title fight ever between two-time Olympic gold medalists.
Rigondeaux, who lost for the first time in his professional career and for the first time in any fight since 2003, claimed he hurt his left hand in the second round. His record fell to 17-1 (11 KOs).
Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) dominated from the opening bell, dancing around Rigondeaux and picking apart the 37-year-old Cuban with his lightning-quick hands and superb footwork, landing uppercuts and combinations at will. Lomachenko outlanded Rigondeaux 55-15 in total punches. Rigondeaux never landed more than three punches in any round.
Rigondeaux spent much of the fight bending down and holding. He was docked a point by referee Steve Willis in the sixth for holding.
Lomachenko, who fights under the Top Rank banner, said leading up to the fight that while he wouldn’t guarantee a knockout, he would “squash” Rigondeaux, who moved up two weight classes for the super featherweight fight.
On the televised undercard, two former Olympians won easily to remain undefeated. Shakur Stevenson, who won a silver medal for the USA in Rio in 2016, defeated Oscar Mendoza by second-round TKO to improve to 4-0 (2 KOs). Stevenson, a 20-year-old southpaw featherweight from Newark, N.J., outlanded Mendoza 52-4, landing combinations and body shots at will before referee Sparkle Lee stopped it at 1:38 of the second.
Mick Conlan, 26, from Ireland, improved to 5-0 (4 KOs) with a unanimous six-round decision against Luis Molina (7-3-1).
Also on the televised card, 23-year-old Christopher Diaz of Puerto Rico won by third-round stoppage against Bryant Cruz in a super featherweight fight. the victory kept Diaz undefeated at 22-0 (14 KOs).
