Spence keeps IBF title at home with quick knockout of Ocampo
Errol Spence Jr. knocks out Carlos Ocampo in the first round of a IBF Welterweight Championship bout at The Ford Center at The Star on June 16, 2018 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
FRISCO, Texas (AP) - Errol Spence Jr. stopped Carlos Ocampo in the first round Saturday night to retain the IBF welterweight crown.
Fighting in front of a home crowd at the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility, Spence improved to 24-0 with his 11th straight knockout and 21st overall.
Ocampo crumpled to the canvas after a right hand to the body just as the first round was ending. The Mexican challenger tried to get up but went down to his knees and was counted out in the battle of unbeaten fighters.
"I was a little disappointed," Spence said. "I wanted to give the crowd their money's worth. I wanted him to sustain a bit and give him some punishment, but the body shot got him and I dropped him."
Spence was fighting in front of a sellout crowd in the 12,000-seat football stadium that doubles as the indoor practice facility for the Cowboys at their headquarters about 30 miles north of Dallas.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined Spence in the ring after the quick victory, winking to the camera while congratulating the fighter who grew up in DeSoto, just south of Dallas. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and several teammates were in the crowd as well.
"This room was full of Dallas Cowboys football players supporting you," Jones said in the ring. "They share your passion. I saw a guy in this ring who knew what he wanted. When you knock a guy out by hitting him once on the side of his back, you're bad to the bone."
It was the second defense of the 147-pound title that Spence won last summer in Englishman Kell Brook's hometown.
Ocampo (22-1) was fighting professionally outside his home country for the first time.
"l got a lot of experience out of fighting Errol," Ocampo said. "It would have been a very difficult fight for me. I got overconfident at the end of the round and he caught me."
The buildup for the right was all the crowd got, with Spence taking the ring to big cheers with a big Cowboys star logo on the front of his robe. Earlier, Spence got a good roar when he was shown on camera alongside Jones near his locker room.
"This moment is a dream," Spence said. "I wanted to play for the Dallas Cowboys and now I'm fighting in front of the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones."
Spence beat Lamont Patterson in his first title defense in New York in January.