Rosado, Kovalev and Smith Win at Sands in Bethlehem
Rosado, Kovalev and Smith Win at Sands in Bethlehem By Ken Hissner, Doghouse Boxing (Sept 24, 2012) Doghouse Boxing - Tweet
The No. 3 IBF junior middleweight contender “King” Gabriel Rosado, 21-5
(13), of Philadelphia stopped the No. 2 contender Charles “Killer”
Whittaker, 36-13-2 (21) at 1:50 of the 10th round in an eliminator for
Cornelius “K9” Bundrages’s IBF title.
This was the fight of the
night on a card of 7 fights aired over NBC Sports Network and promoted
by Main Events, Peltz Boxing and the Sands Casino.
This was a
Triple Header with local unbeaten boxer Ronald Cruz and Russian knockout
artist Sergey Kovalev in separate fights. They saved the most
interesting fight of the night for last and the fans were not
disappointed. Rosado has come of age winning his seventh straight and
fifth by stoppage earning a possible title fight before the year is
out. “Bundrage has 6 months to defend his title against me,” said
Rosado. Bundrage defended his title in June defeating Cory Spinks.
Whittaker
entered the ring in his nineteenth year as a professional at the age of
38. He looked “old school” and hadn’t lost a fight since 2004. The 26
year-old Rosado made a grand entrance decked out in leopard, pink and
gold colors. This writer was sitting next to George Hanson, a fellow
writer, Jamaican, and a friend of Whittaker’s from the Islands. It was
evident from the start that Whittaker would do his best to “school” the
younger Rosado with a solid jab and the ability to avoid punches even
with his back to the corner. The crowd seemed to appreciate him even if
the 3 judges gave him little credit.
In the first round Rosado
hardly landed a punch as he used his herky jerkey motion of up and down
hoping to get Whittaker on the ropes and blast away like he did in his
last pair of fights stopping Sechew Powell and Jesus Soto-Karass. “He
was not easy to hit and I take nothing away from him. I’ve paid my dues
and look forward to a title fight. My trainer Billy Briscoe and I have
been together a long time and have spent many nights going over films,”
said Rosado. Briscoe an almost unknown in the game outside of
Philadelphia gave credit to where credit was due. “I learned from the
great Wesley Mouzon,” said Briscoe. Along with George Benton, Mouzon
was one of two Philadelphia trainers known throughout the world.
It
took until the fourth round for Rosado to start finding the mark. In
the fifth he threw a long right hand that caught Whittaker’s chin on the
end of it and scored the first knockdown of the fight. At the end of
the sixth, Rosado had Whittaker against the ropes firing away with right
hands. Even though half of them missed the mark the one’s that did
were taking their toll on Whittaker. In the seventh Rosado missed with a
left and followed with a right for the second knockdown in the fight.
In
the eighth Whittaker made a short comeback once again putting that jab
in the face of Rosado landing a couple of left hooks but not scoring
with the right like he would have liked to. “I just couldn’t seem to
land my right flush,” said Whittaker. It seemed to this writer that
Whittaker would outfox his younger opponent until he got dropped. It
reminded me of the Steve Cunningham and Tomasz Adamek battle with
Cunningham taking most of the rounds that he didn’t find himself on the
canvas. “Three times in the fight I stopped to think about what Rosado
did and each time I found myself on the canvas,” said Whittaker.
“In
one of the middle rounds he caught me in the eye possibly with a thumb
and I saw stars for the rest of the round. I have a good poker face and
didn’t let on I was hurt,” said Rosado. In the tenth and final round
Rosado fired a straight right and down went Whittaker for the third time
in the fight. Upon rising he was hit with 3 straight right hands being
dropped for the fourth time in the fight as referee Steve “SS” Smoger
waved it off as Whittaker hit the canvas. “I was glad before the fight
knowing Steve Smoger would be the referee. When Steve Smoger stops a
fight you know it’s over. He gave me every chance to come back and I
have no complaints about the stoppage,” said Whittaker.
Rosado
had a little redness outside his left eye from all the jabs he was hit
with but he was able to overcome the crafty style of Whittaker. The
judges had scores from Dave Braslow of 89-80, Pierre Benoist 90-79 and
Kevin Morgan of 88-81 all for Rosado. The punch count I was told was
160-90 for Rosado. It was evident he threw a lot of punches but from
where we were sitting in front he also missed quite a bit thanks to the
defensive skills of Whittaker. Take nothing away from Rosado, he has
earned this title fight and it should be a good one.
For
Whittaker, a man who even promoted his own fights at times to keep busy,
it may be the end of the line. If it were not for Rosado getting the
title fight I’d love to see a rematch. Both fighters gave the Lord all
the glory immediately after the fight. In Rosado’s dressing room Dave
Price gave a prayer of thankfulness. He is part of D & D Management
along with Doc Nowicki who is an advisor for Rosado. Promoter J
Russell Peltz has brought Rosado along for the past 12 fights with only
one loss, that to fellow Philadelphian Derek “Pooh” Ennis for the USBA
title over 2 years ago. Peltz did a masterful job getting Mike “MJ”
Jones to the vacant welterweight shot recently but hopes this time with
Rosado he will have a champion.
The Sergey Kovalev, 19-0-1 (16),
of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and Lionell Thompson, 12-2 (8), of Buffalo, NY,
didn’t quite measure up as Kovalev proved to be much too strong for
Thompson who was filling in. Kovalev, minus a good jab, landed enough
rights to drop Thompson twice in the third round causing referee Gary
Rosato to call a halt at 0:14 of the third round. Thompson didn’t want
it stopped but he was no match for Kovalev in this 10 round light
heavyweight match. Former world champion John David Jackson was one of
the corner people for Kovalev as he was in the previous fight of the
night for Antwone “The Truth” Smith.
Speaking of Smith, 22-4-1
(12), he may have lost two of his last three fights but at 25 he still
has plenty left in the tank. Against the local favorite Cruz, 17-1
(12), he showed a sharp jab right from the beginning. Cruz who can be a
slow starter before overcoming his past opponents has an enormous
amount of determination but allowed Smith to take the first 3 rounds and
just couldn’t quite catch up to him on two of the three judges score
cards.
It was Smith, not Cruz going to the body at the
start. Cruz being known for his body work seemed desperate at times
trying to land punches until the fourth when he hurt Smith midway
through the round and again just prior to the bell. He repeated hurting
Smith in the fifth round. By the sixth Cruz had some blood coming from
his mouth from all the jabs he had taken. He wasn’t slipping enough
punches in trying to land an overhand right that when landing, hurt
Smith.
Cruz seemed to be wearing down Smith in the
eighth. Smith came in at 153 and lost 3 pounds but was still 3 over the
contracted 147 that Cruz came in at. In the ninth Smith rocked Cruz
with a 5 punch combination near the end of the round. In the tenth and
final round both fighters let it all hang out as referee Rosato had to
separate them at the bell. The local fans were very vocal for Cruz and
awaited the decision. Dave Greer had it 96-94 for Smith. Hill had it
96-94 for Cruz. Braslow had it 96-94 for the winner by split decision
Antwone Smith. DHB also had it 96-94 for Smith.
“I lost the
first 3 rounds but thought I did enough to earn a draw,” said Cruz. He
was obviously disappointed losing for the first time. “I would like a
rematch as soon as possible,” said Cruz. Absent for the first time was
cut-man Jim Williams from the Cruz corner. Trainer Indio Rodriguez made
that decision. Mike Jones did the same a couple of fights before
losing for the first time. Williams is more than a good luck charm and
cut-man.
“It was a learning decision for me,” said Cruz. When
questioned by this writer if he was “overconfident” going into this
fight, Cruz was quick to deny that. He was outworked overall. Cruz is a
very likeable hard worker and proved he can fight a main event in his
town and bring the fan base out! He will be back!
Jason Sosa,
5-1-3 (1), who was coming off an 8 round draw found his 6 round bout cut
to a 4 rounder at fight time. It benefitted his opponent Esteban
Rodriguez, 6-3-1 (1), who in losing the fourth and final round came
close to pulling out a draw. Sosa easily took the first round but
Rodriguez came back in the second with a good body attack. The third
was close and Sosa took the fourth by being busier in this lightweight
match. Braslow had it 38-38, while Hill and Greer had it 39-37 for
Sosa. Smoger was the referee and warned Rodriguez several times for low
blows.
In a heavyweight 6 rounder both Allentown’s Will “Big
Stuff” Miranda, 6-5-1 (0), and Philadelphia’s Pedro Martinez, 6-7 (3),
let their hand’s fly for the entire fight which is quite unusual for the
big boys. They were not ducking any but throwing punches. The fight
started off with Martinez running into a straight jab and going down
more in embarrassment that anything else. Martinez argued he
tripped. By the third round Martinez finally got started and Miranda
suffered a cut outside his left eye that troubled the local
favorite. But being the warrior he is he fought through the eye cut and
landed some hard chopping short rights. He did enough on the score
cards to win but neither fighter was willing to give an inch and could
have fought in a phone booth if they could have fit. All 3 judges
scored it for Miranda but differently with scores by Greer 59-54, Hill
59-55 and Benoist 39-37. DHB agreed with Greer. Rosato was the
referee. Martinez was 30# heavier than he was in his last fight just
two months ago.
Southpaw junior welterweight Jerome Rodriguez,
1-1, out of Trenton, NJ, but fighting out of near by Allentown,
displayed a body attack that they could make a training film about. He
never stopped throwing punches the entire 4 rounds. Give Kywane Hill,
1-10 (1) credit for hanging in there. He got some licks in but never
near enough to earn a round as all 3 judges and DHB had it 40-36 for
Rodriguez. He is certainly a prospect and managed by Jimmy
Deoria. Smoger was the referee.
In the opener Alex Sanchez, 2-1
(2), returned to the ring after a 4 year absence to stop Fitzgerald
Johnson, 3-7 (1), of Philadelphia at 2:14 of the second round. A right
hand to the side of Johnson’s head made him take a knee. A combination
followed as Johnson hit the canvas and was counted out by referee
Rosato. Sanchez is now with D & D Management.
It was a very
good crowd and a nice place to hold a show. Peltz and Brittany Rogers
did the matchmaking. With a triple header the fans saw plenty of
action.
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