Rodriguez Edges Alvarez in IBF Eliminator

In the featured main event for ESPN Friday Night Fights, welterweight Shamone Alvarez of Atlantic City NJ took on Danbury CT’s Delvin Rodriguez in an important crossroads fight for both fighters. At stake was the mandatory spot for Joshua Clottey’s IBF title but more importantly, a chance for one of the two men to again become relevant in the welterweight division. The fight started out with Alvarez displaying a good straight left that landed with regularity on the chin of Rodriguez. Rodriguez answered back in round 2 with some solid right hands behind the jab, despite again eating some straight lefts from Alvarez. Round 3 began what would become a trend with Rodriguez: he would land a few good punches, then stop punching with any authority or regularity until Alvarez cracked him with a solid shot.

The middle rounds continued in this fashion prompting those at ring side to wonder whether Rodriguez had broken his right hand. If he did, it must have healed by round 8 because Rodriguez began firing off right hands with authority, catching Alvarez flush and bothering him for the first time in the fight. Rodriguez oddly seemed to back off in rounds 9 and 10 so it looked as if Alvarez had built a pretty decent lead going into the championship rounds. Suddenly in round 11, Rodriguez landed a straight right out of nowhere that caught Alvarez off balance and dropped him to the seat of his pants. Perhaps realizing that he could win the fight, Rodriguez opened up like he wanted it for the first time since round 8. Alvarez threw back but it was clear the fight could be in jeopardy for Alvarez. The bell for round 12 was the start of what thus far could be a round of the year candidate. Rodriguez came out swinging and caught Alvarez with right hands that clearly hurt him and had him near out on his feet. Instead of clinching, Alvarez risked getting knocked out by launching left hand bombs, one of which caught Rodriguez and staggered him to the ropes. The two went back and forth until Alvarez connected with another left and Rodriguez finally backed off. Alvarez chased him around the ring but couldn’t get the knockout as Rodriguez hung on. Although it seemed Alvarez had done enough to win, Rodriguez was handed the decision by scores of 114-113 (twice) and 115-112. Alvarez looked good in losing but his record now falls to 20-2 11Kos which Rodriguez improves to 24-2-2 14Kos.

The co-featured bout of the evening was an entertaining welterweight scrap between Catskill, NY’s Jay Krupp and undefeated Philly fighter Raymond Serrano. The night looked like it was going to be a short one as Serrano dropped Krupp with a left hook right after the opening bell but Krupp showed his toughness, got up, and almost immediately continued to press forward. The two fighters exchanged to the end of the round, with Serrano getting the better of it. As the rounds progressed, Krupp pushed forward with intent, swinging wildly in an attempt to catch the better schooled Serrano. Most of the time Serrano kept his cool and counted Krupp with lead left hooks and straight rights off the jab, but at times he would get lured into exchanges to the delight of the crowd. During these exchanges Serrano would catch a few hard right hands but ultimately would back Krupp off with left hooks that snapped his head to the side in vicious fashion. At times it seemed Krupp would go down, most notably in the fourth round when Serrano came from a crouch and landed a full power left hook to the chin of Krupp. Krupp withstood the punishment though and came out gunning in the final round, clearly knowing he needed the knockout. Despite the effort, it was clear that Serrano had done more than enough to win the fight. Two of the judges gave him every round for total of 60-53 (twice) while the third gave Krupp two rounds for a 58-55 tally. Serrano kept his perfect record and improved to 9-0 5Kos while Krupp slipped to 12-2 5Kos.

Olympian Demetrius Andrade took care of business quickly as he rolled over Youngstown, Ohio’s Tom Joseph. Andrade (who hails from Providence RI) immediately displayed why he was selected for the Olympic team as he came out throwing blindingly fast combinations at the backpedaling Joseph. Only about a minute into the round, the southpaw Andrade connected with double right hook/right uppercut combo that spelled the beginning of the end for Joseph. About 20 seconds later, Andrade opened up with a two fisted assault that blasted Joseph to the ropes. Andrade didn’t stop firing until referee dick Flaherty stepped in and stopped the contest. The stoppage was booed loudly as Joseph wasn’t hurt so much as simply not fighting back. Despite the nature of the stoppage, it gave the Olympian another knockout victory in the pro ranks and brought his record to 3-0 3Kos. Joseph lost his second fight, dropping to 4-2-1.

In a one-sided lightweight bout, undefeated lightweight Frank Trader of Philadelphia put on a boxing clinic against the hopelessly outclassed Edwin Rosado. Rosado (of Worcester MA) looked like a statue as Trader moved deftly around the ring, stopping only to pepper Rosado with 3, 4 and 5 punch combinations. Trader mixed in both body and headshots which scored with alarming regularity. Rosado’s only answer was to try and bull Trader into the ropes; a strategy which 1 minute and 49 seconds into round two ended up putting Rosado on the wrong end of a hard jab/right hand combo. As Trader smashed home the right hand, Rosado literally froze and a second or two later dropped straight back to the canvas in almost comical fashion. Referee Dick Flaherty began a count but abandoned it somewhere around 8, handing the TKO victory to Trader who remains unbeaten at 4-0 2Kos. Rosado dropped his fifth straight, falling to 1-5 1Ko.

Cruiserweight Josh Harris (3-2-1 2Kos) of Youngstown Ohio needed only 21 seconds and one straight left hand to dispatch the still cold David Williams (6-3-1 2Kos) of Philadelphia PA. Harris used a quick, half hook half jab that set up a crushing straight left that dumped Williams to the canvas. Referee Mike Ortega was able to reach the full count of 10 as the dazed Williams struggled to get up, giving Harris an eye catching KO victory.

In the opening bout of the evening, Philadelphia native Tyrone Miles picked up his first win as a pro as he outpointed Ontario Canada’s Chris Aucoin in a four round junior middleweight contest. Miles won the fight on the strength of his lead left hook which scored often to the side of Aucoin’s head. Aucoin made the fight close by smothering Miles’ punches and trying to do his work inside but ultimately he came up just short. Scores were 38-38 and 39-37 (twice) in favor of Miles who is now 1-0. Aucoin drops to 1-2-1.