By Michael Amakor 

Confirming his ranking as one of the best fighters in boxing today according to FightKings.Com, NBC reality TV series "The Contender" champion Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora brutalized a game but outgunned Archak TerMeliksetian forcing the referee to halt the bout at the 2.44 minute mark of the seventh round, at the Aladdin Resort, in Las Vegas on May 4th, 2006

This fight started at a furious pace with both guys landing vicious body shots, and Mora had to regroup after suffering a flash knockdown in the first round. He thereafter proceeded to launch a blistering attack that began to slowly break down Archak. By round six it was clear that it was a matter of time before Mora would land a combination to finish Archak off. That moment came in the seventh round after he had staggered Archak snapping his head back leaving him almost defenseless against the ropes. Mora then launched an assault that battered Archak against the ropes as he moved into position to land the killer head shot. But in the same controversial manner that the Corrales versus Castillo fight got stopped, referee Robert Byrd had seen enough and jumped in to stop the fight, driving Archak's wild with furious indignation, albeit, after the punches were not landing. A review of the clip shows that this may have been a premature stoppage, but it is my opinion that he would have been stopped later on down the fight because he was absorbing to many head shots, better to take a loss now than to become brain damaged after the fight. 

There is something about the way Mora rips his punches with reckless abandon that tells you he will become a champion one day, he has hands of stones and reminds me of a younger Oscar De La Hoya. If you had watched the contender series you will know he is real deal especially after the way he dismantled and battered the powerful Najai Turpin, the  experienced Ishe Smith, the crafty Jesse Brinkley and former  WBO NABO Light Middleweight champion Peter Manfredo. Jr, twice, and now this victory on ESPN. 

I also discovered that he had lost a spot to the 2000 Olympics to no other person but the indomitable Jermain Taylor, after engaging a lion like that, Mora can definitely handle any fighter in his weight class. 

He remains undefeated and his record now stands at a solid 18 wins. All hail the Latin Snake