You're reading: Malignaggi wins WBA welterweight title

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — American Paul Malignaggi stopped previously undefeated Ukrainian Vyacheslav Senchenko in the ninth round to take the WBA welterweight title on Sunday.

The referee stepped in to halt the fight at 1:10 in the ninth after 31-year-old Malignaggi had pounded the left side of the champion’s face until his eye closed.

Former IBF junior welterweight champion Malignaggi moved to 31-4 with only the seventh knockout of his career. Senchenko, 35, is now 32-1 after his first loss in front of a sparse home crowd at the Donbass Arena.

Senchenko, who hasn’t fought outside Ukraine for more than five years, struggled from the start with Malignaggi’s speed. The New Yorker was able to move in and out, firing off rapid punches while avoiding the slower, taller Ukrainian<s strikes.

Malignaggi started fast from the first bell, firing jabs and dodging quickly to stay away from the Ukrainian, who was making his fourth defense.

Senchenko snapped Malignaggi’s head back with two stiff jabs in the third, but the challenger continued to pepper him with punches.

The champion landed another big left jab in the fourth, but his face was already showing the marks from his opponent’s relentless work, particularly around his left eye.

Senchenko increased his work rate in the sixth and seventh as his eye began to close. But he couldn’t find anything to trouble Malignaggi, who continued to punish his opponent’s cut and bruised left cheek.

The champion’s eye was swollen shut by the end of the seventh. He pushed forward in the eighth and ninth, as referee Steve Smoger warned that the end was near.

Smoger finally ended the bout in the ninth when Malignaggi caught Senchenko with a right that the exasperated Ukrainian couldn’t see coming.