reviewjournal.com -- Sports: Payne stops Abelyan in 10th round

Phillip Payne took everything William Abelyan had to offer for nine rounds Friday at the Gold Coast. Abelyan, a former featherweight title challenger, had won eight of the first nine rounds on one judge's card and seven of nine on the other two.

But all it took was a right hand from Payne about 40 seconds into the final round to change everything.

Payne, 128, floored Abelyan, 124, twice in the 10th round and was battering him in a neutral corner when referee Jay Nady dived in to save him.

Abelyan was so dazed when the fight was stopped that he began to punch while seated on a stool as doctors examined him.

Payne, who didn't know he would be fighting until Wednesday, said he wasn't concerned about the judges.

"I knew I could do this," said Payne, 17-13-1. "I wasn't worried about the cards. I wanted to come out in the 10th and prove who the man was. All that stuff he was hitting me with, none of it bothered me. I was ready to do some damage in that round."

Abelyan was kicking chairs and loudly wailing in his locker room minutes after the fight. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, the former light heavyweight champion who took over as Abelyan's trainer about a month ago, comforted him by praising his work in the first nine rounds.

Abelyan pulled straight back with his chin in the air and Payne caught him, Muhammad said.

"That's a bad habit he has. But we haven't had enough time to work on those kinds of things," Muhammad said.

Payne kept his hands high and Abelyan couldn't do much damage to the head. Most of his work was to the body, which Abelyan said he'd concentrated on in the gym.

Muhammad said he was sure Abelyan could rebound from the defeat.

"You're in this game for any length of time and that is going to happen," Muhammad said. "(Muhammad) Ali lost. I lost. It shows the character of a man about how he comes back. And I know this kid has a lot of character and he'll overcome this."

It wasn't the only devastating knockout of the night. Middleweight James Countryman landed a hook to Jonathan Ochoa's rib cage that stopped him at 2:45 of the fifth round. Ochoa was on the mat for five minutes but later said he was all right.