by Keith Idec

PHILADELPHIA – Manuel Gallegos changed his life Saturday night.

The Mexican veteran, who was a huge underdog, dropped heavily favored American light heavyweight contender Khalil Coe four times and upset him by ninth-round technical knockout on the Jaron Ennis-Karen Chukhadzhian undercard at Wells Fargo Center. Coe went down from a left to the body during the fifth round, again from an accumulation of punches late in the seventh round, yet again early in the eighth round after taking several more shots and for the last time as soon as the ninth round began, when it was clear Coe couldn’t continue.

Coe crumpled in his corner as soon as an aggressive Gallegos hit him at the start of the ninth round. Referee Eric Dali stopped the action eight seconds into the ninth round.

The 28-year-old Coe, of Jersey City, New Jersey, seemed more fatigued than hurt by Gallegos punches. Conditioning has been an issue at times during the decorated amateur’s career, which seemingly cost Coe (9-1-1, 7 KOs) in a fight FanDuel sportsbook listed him as a 24-1 favorite to win.

Gallegos (21-2-1, 18 KOs), of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, fought for the first time since super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) stopped him in the fourth round of their July 2023 fight in Monterrey, Mexico.

In the bout before Coe’s loss, middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams stopped Gian Garrido in the fifth round of their scheduled 10-rounder.

Williams won convincingly in his first fight since unbeaten British contender Hamzah Sheeraz beat him by 11^th-round technical knockout June 1 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Milwaukee’s Williams (17-1, 12 KOs) landed the harder punches throughout his bout with Garrido (11-2, 8 KOs), of Queens, New York, until Dock stepped between them to prevent Garrido from taking unnecessary punishment against the strong southpaw at 1:04 of the fifth round.