Israil Madrimov beats down Alejandro Barrera in five

The 24-year-old Uzbek junior middleweight with an array of lefts and rights downstairs and upstairs until referee Benjy Esteves mercifully called a halt to the action in the fifth round on the Gennadiy Golovkin-Sergiy Derevyanchenko undercard at Madison Square Garden.

Barrera (29-6, 18 KO) had some moments, particularly in the third round, landing some good uppercuts. But Madrimov’s power was too much very quickly, as the unbeaten southpaw from Uzbekistan dominated him for almost the entire fight, until Esteves stepped in while a backtracking Barrera was still on his feet.