A loss of vision stemming from damage to his right eye led to Ellsworth bare-knuckle boxer Chris Sarro losing to Quentin Henry when the ringside doctor stopped their cruiserweight bout before the start of the third round on Saturday night at BKFC Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi.
The win in the battle of ranked fighters improved Henry to 4-1 in his BKFC professional bare-knuckle boxing career while Sarro fell to 2-3.
Each fighter had gone past the first round just once during their previous BKFC fights but came out for this clash in a more patient mode that featured considerable jabbing during the first round.
Henry, a West Monroe, Louisiana, fighter with a mixed martial arts background, finally scored the first knockdown late in the first round when both fighters threw overhand rights at the same time with Henry landing and Sarro just missing his target.
Sarro rose and withstood another flurry by Henry as the opening two-minute round concluded.
The 33-year-old former Northern New England boxing champion from Maine regrouped early in the second round, and while Henry continued to press the attack Sarro knocked him down while on the counterattack midway through the round.
This time Henry rose from the canvas.
After the second round ended with both fighters still exchanging punches briefly, the ringside physician checked Sarro’s damaged right eye and determined that the fight should not continue, awarding Henry the victory by technical knockout before the start of the third round.
Sarro finished the fight with the advantage in power punches, landing 14 of 29 attempts compared to 11 of 24 for Henry, but Henry had the edge in both total punches and jabs.
Henry landed 26 of his 57 total punches while Sarro connected on 15 of 59 attempted strikes. Henry’s jab connected on 15 of 33 attempts compared to just 1 of 30 for Sarro.