Austin Trout made a strong impression in his first fight for his new team.
Trout, the headliner on the Impact Network’s first boxing show, hadn’t been in the ring since last May. He weighed in at 149¼ pounds – the lowest of his career – as part of a plan to move down to welterweight.
Still, he put Rosbel Montoya down three times and stopped him at 1:09 of the second round Saturday night at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino in Ruidoso, New Mexico, Trout’s home state.
The fact Montoya (17-10-1, 13 KOs) is a tier or two below the former junior middleweight titleholder obviously played a role in Trout’s dominance. The Mexican had lost seven of his previous eight fights and hadn’t fought at all in more than a year and a half, after all.
But Trout did what he came to do, gauge his effectiveness at the lower weight and win impressively. His previous low weight was 152½ in 2008.
“It was good,” Trout said afterward. “I won. I got the knockout. That’s an A+. It can always be better but this is my first time coming in at 149. I wanted to see how I felt. So far so good. Let’s try it again, let’s come back at 149 and see what we got next.”
Trout said he felt a difference in his power compared to his fights at 154 pounds.
“I feels good to move these people with my punches instead of having to finesse the whole fight,” he said.
Trout was asked who he wanted to fight next. His answer was predictable given his ambitions to win a title at 147 pounds.
“Where do I start?” he said. “Dany Garcia, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter … who’s the boy? … Errol Spence, Terence “Bud” Crawford … Terence Crawford for sure.”
Trout, plagued by inactivity the past several years, said he plans to fight at least three times this year.
The victory was the first for him since he outpointed Juan De Angel in February 2018. After that, he lost a majority decision to Jermell Charlo and drew with Terrell Gausha.