On a card featuring many highly regarded prospects, Michel Rivera turned in the most complete — and promising, — performance.
The 21-year-old Dominican lightweight stopped rugged veteran Fidel Maldonado Jr. in the 10th and final round on the undercard of the Yordenis Ugas-Mike Dallas Jr. card at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Rivera (18-0, 12 KOs), whose poise belies his youth, landed the cleaner, harder shots throughout the fight even though he was a tad too economical with his punches at times. His jab was nearly nonexistent, but his straight right and body punching were on point, and apparently more than enough on this night.
Early on, the shifty Maldonado (27-6-1, 20 KOs) had some success outworking Rivera, but as the rounds went on, Rivera began to tag Maldonado with eye-catching right hands.
Rivera turned it up late in Round 8, landing two straight hard rights that briefly buckled Maldonado. It appeared the fight would go the distance, but in Round 10, Rivera connected on right hand that downed Maldonado for the first time in the night. He got up on wobbly legs only for Rivera to unload a flurry, forcing the referee to stop the bout.
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Boxing has an early candidate for Round of the Year.
Rising prospect Raymond Guajardo was supposed to have an easy time against journeyman Clay Collard, but Collard didn’t get the memo. Collard dropped Guajardo twice in a hellacious Round 1, before stopping Guajardo in the next round behind a deluge of power punches.
“It was a war,” Collard (6-2-3, 2 KOs) said in a matter-of-fact tone. “We’re in there battling. I love it. It’s something that I love to do.”
Guajardo (5-1, 4 KOs) came out of his corner at the opening bell, gunning for a quick knockout. But Collard remained composed, stayed in the pocket and, a minute into the round, he countered with a hard left hook that immediately decked Guajardo. Collard then let his hands go, landing clean lefts and rights to Guajardo’s exposed chin, dropping him again with a straight right.
As Collard looked to finish the prospect off, the southpaw Guajardo countered with a right hook, followed by a left that put Collard down. It was a flash knockdown, however, as Collard would go on to hurt Guajardo some more, punctuating an unforgettable round with a series of clean, straight rights and two hooks.
In Round 2, Collard continued to batter his opponent with clubbing combinations, as blood continued to pour out of Guajardo’s nose. Collard landed a right to the body that caused Guajardo to nearly bowl over. With Guajardo on the ropes, Collard began teeing off, snapping back Guajardo’s head with several straight rights before the referee intervened.
The stoppage came at 1:42 of Round 2.
It may be the last time Collard enters a boxing ring. He said he plans to fight for the mixed-martial-arts outfit, Professional Fighters League, citing more lucrative opportunities.
Rising prospect Omar Juarez dominated a game Angel Martinez Hernandez over eight rounds, including scoring a knockdown, en route to a unanimous decision win.
The judges’ scores were 80-71, 80-71, 79-72 for Juarez, who hails from Brownsville, Texas.
With a minute remaining in Round 7, Juarez, 20, dropped Martinez hard with a left hook. Martinez would regroup to hear the final bell.
Eighteen-year-old prospect Jesus Ramos (12-0, 11KOs) had no trouble breaking down Ramal Amanov (16-2, 5 KOs), stopping the veteran inside six rounds of an eight-round welterweight bout. The southpaw Ramos was too skilled and too quick for Amanov, whose corner decided to throw in the towel at the end of Round 6.
Cruiserweight Deon Nicholson didn’t maintain his perfect knockout streak, but he remains unbeaten, outpointing Earl Newman over 10 rounds. Nicholson (13-0, 12 KOs) nearly pulled off an early stoppage in Round 1, when he had Newman (10-3-1, 7 KOs) dangerously dazed. Newman, however, would not only survive, but go on to give Nicholson a decent challenge.
The judges had it unanimously for Nicholson with scorecards of 97-93, 96-94, 96-94.