HBO Boxing: Ortiz Takes out Thompson in Six; Vargas Knocks Out Ali

WATCH: @kingkongboxing KO's Thompson in round 6 https://t.co/fl4jijcs4G

— HBOboxing (@HBOboxing) March 6, 2016

HBO delivered a terrific night of action on Saturday as the doubleheader in the DC Armory in the nation’s capital delivered a double dose of knockouts.

In the main event, Luis Ortiz improved to 25-0 with his 22nd knockout when he took out Tony Thompson in the sixth. Ortiz was too much for “The Tiger” to handle and his power was far superior. “The Real King Kong” dropped his foe in the first and third rounds, but Thompson kept getting up and fighting back.

Finally, with Thompson (40-7, 27 KOs) reeling late in the sixth, Ortiz flattened him and Tony never beat the count. The official time of the knockout came at 2:29 of the frame, allowing the surging heavyweight contender to remain unbeaten.

In the co-feature, Jessie Vargas bounced back from the first loss of his career to conquer another promising young welterweight contender in Sadam Ali. Vargas and his foe traded serious leather throughout the contest and each took as good as he gave. But near the end of the eighth, a booming overhand right dropped Ali but he was able to survive the round.

Ali (22-1, 13 KOs) was still very groggy in the following stanza and Vargas didn’t let him recover. Sensing blood, Jessie pounced on his woozy foe and the Las Vegas fighter dropped him again. Finally, Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) pounded away until the fight was stopped; the TKO came at 2:09 of the ninth to win the vacant WBO championship.