Kownacki uses power to stop Washington in Round 2

Featherweight Tugstsogt Nyambayar, a 2012 Olympic silver medalist for Mongolia, stepped up in opposition and won a hard-fought unanimous decision over former interim titlist Claudio Marrero to earn a world title shot.

Nyambayar won 116-111, 115-112 and 114-113 in the elimination bout to become the mandatory challenger for 126-pound titlist Gary Russell Jr. ESPN.com also had it 116-111 for Nyambayar.

“We had a really good camp so this is just me putting the pressure and pace that we worked on in camp and using it in the ring,” Nyambayar said. “This sets me up for big fights. Whatever big fights are presented to us, we’ll take it.”

Nyambayar (11-0, 9 KOs), 26, who fights out of Los Angeles, landed a right hand in the third round that badly wobbled Marrero. He took a few more shots right after the big one but managed to stay on his feet. Nyambayar landed a solid left just before the end of the round that hurt Marrero (23-3, 17 KOs), 29, a southpaw from the Dominican Republic, again.

Nyambayar stalked forward for most of the fight and Marrero tried to counter him so it made for a hefty dose of back-and-forth action though Nyambayar, who had some swelling on his left cheek, seemed to land the harder punches.

When Marrero nailed Nyambayar with a punch after referee Benjy Esteves had clearly ordered them to break during the 10th round, he penalized Marrero one point. When the action resumed Nyambayar unloaded a flurry of punches on Marrero, including catching him with a low blow that Esteves warned him for.

They embraced before the 12th round and immediately traded clean punches, both clearly thinking the fight was still up for grabs. Nyambayar continued to land and with 35 seconds left raised his hands as though he had already won the fight.

Also on the undercard

• Flashy and fast Brooklyn junior lightweight Chris Colbert (10-0, 3 KOs), 22, won a hard-fought but clear unanimous decision over Josh Hernandez (8-2, 7 KOs), 23, of Chicago.

  Colbert, who came to the ring with his hair dyed pink, won 79-73 on all three scorecards in a fight that featured a lot of holding and grappling. But when Colbert was able to find room to punch against Hernandez, he tattooed him with clean, quick shots.

  Colbert more than doubled Hernandez in punches landed, 160-72, according to CompuBox statistics.

  “He put up a great fight. Today I decided not to give the crowd a boxing lesson. I decided I wanted to show them that I can stand and fight with anybody if I choose to,” Colbert said. “We’re going to keep making these fights easier and easier. I have very high-quality fight and I’m getting better and better as we go.”

• Junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (8-0, 8 KOs), 22, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Capitol Heights, Maryland, and the younger brother of featherweight world titlist Gary Russell Jr., easily destroyed Roberto Almazan (7-9, 2 KOs), 20, of Brownsville, Texas, in the second round.

  Russell, with his older brother serving as his trainer, scored three knockdowns against the utterly overmatched Almazan. Russell dropped him to knee in the first round from an accumulation of punches and then decked him twice more in the second round with a right hook on top of the head and then another accumulation of punched moments later. After the third knockdown referee Shada Murdaugh waved off the fight at 59 seconds.

  “I listened to my corner’s directions and they told me that the hook was going to be there when he shot his left hand. I went to my hook position and I was ready to catch and fire,” Russell said. “This is nothing new to me. I just try to execute what I’m told and sharpen my craft.”

• Middleweight Chordale Booker (14-0, 7 KOs), 27, a southpaw from Stamford, Connecticut, dropped and easily outboxed Juan De Angel (21-10, 19 KOs), 31, of Colombia. De Angel was the best opponent of Booker’s career, though he had lost to Caleb Plant, who went on to win a super middleweight world title and former junior middleweight titlist Austin Trout, but Booker won handily. He dropped him late in seventh round with a left hand to the body and won 80-71, 79-72 and 79-72.

• Cruiserweight William Deets (7-12, 3 KOs), 33, of Kearney, Nebraska, scored an upset fourth-round knockout of Marsellos Wilder (3-1, 2 KOs), 29, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the younger brother of heavyweight world titlist Deontay Wilder, who watched at ringside. Marsellos Wilder appeared to be winning a sloppy, slow-paced fight going into the fourth and final round when Deets nailed him with a left hand and a right for a hard knockdown. Wilder beat the count but his legs were gone and when he fell into the ropes on the other side, referee Al LoBianco waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 35 seconds.

• Featherweight Stephen Fulton (15-0, 7 KOs), 24, of Philadelphia, dropped Marlon Olea (13-4, 12 KOs), 25, of Colombia, three times en route to a fifth-round knockout victory. Fulton knocked him down with a left hook in the second round, a left uppercut with a few seconds left in the fourth round and when he landed another left to floor him in the fifth round referee Murdaugh stopped the fight at 1 minute, 41 seconds.

• Middleweight Mark Duncan (3-0, 3 KOs), 31, of Clarksburg, Maryland, stopped a bloodied Daniel Flores (0-3), 26, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, on his feet at 1 minute, 15 seconds of the third round.

• Welterweight Tyrek Irby (6-0, 2 KOs), 25, of Landover, Maryland, won a hard-fought decision over Jonathan Figueroa (2-2, 1 KO), 27, of Hartford, Connecticut. One judge had it 40-36 and the other two had it 39-37.

• Super middleweight Mycheal Teal (2-0, 2 KO), 24, of St. Petersburg, Florida, knocked out Jacob Landin (0-3), of San Antonio, with a left hook to the body 30 seconds into the fight.