Lionheart Wins Again

Art Hovhannisyan stopped Hensley Stratchan in the fifth round of a scheduled six-round bout.

Hovhannisyan dropped Stratchan with a counter right hand to the head in the first round. Stratchan recovered and tried to fight back, but had no answer in fighting the more polished Hovhannisyan.

As the bout progressed, Hovhannisyan landed the harder punches, slowly breaking Stratchan down. Stratchan’s punch output dropped with each passing round as Hovhannisyan’s increased.

Things went further south for Stratchan as a cut opened over the right eye from a Hovanessian punch in the fourth round. Stratchan only threw one punch at a time and those were few and far between.

In the fifth round, Hovhannisyan went on the attack, landing more hard shots to the head and body. After Hovhannisyan landed a combination, Stratchan motioned to referee Jack Reiss that he was not able to continue, prompting Reiss to stop the fight at 1:45.

Hovhannisyan, from Glendale, CA by way of Yerevan, Armenia, improves to 11-0-1, 6 KOs. Stratchan, Nassau, Bahamas, drops to 5-7-1, 3 KOs.