Rodriguez grinds out decision over Gonzalez, retains junior bantamweight title
Akhmedov routs Rosado; 'Ammo' outpoints Conway; Pacheco scores KO; more undercard results from Canelo-GGG III card
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LAS VEGAS — Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez continued his breakout year with a hard-fought unanimous decision over Israel Gonzalez to retain the WBC junior bantamweight title on Saturday night in the Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin III co-feature at T-Mobile Arena.
Rodriguez, who at 22 is the youngest active world titleholder in boxing, retained his 115-pound title for the second time and won his third fight of the year although he by no means had an easy time with Gonzalez.
The judges scored it 118-109, 117-110 and 114-113 for Rodriguez, who got hit quite a bit and did not have the kind of impressive performance he had in his two big wins earlier in the year. Fight Freaks Unite had Rodriguez winning 116-111.
Rodriguez was considered a top prospect when he burst on the world scene in February and won the vacant belt. He dropped and handily outpointed former titlist Carlos Cuadras in a fight that he took on six days’ notice — and moved up in weight for — as a replacement for the ill Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
Then in June, Rodriguez thrilled a San Antonio hometown crowd in his first defense by knocking out former two-time champion Sor Rungvisai in the eighth round of an even more impressive performance than his victory over Cuadras.
Next up was Gonzalez, who he went back and forth with for much of the fight.
There was plenty of two-way action in the fourth round when Gonzalez (28-5-1, 11 KOs), 25, of Mexico, found some success as he forced Rodriguez to the ropes put a tremendous amount of pressure him. But Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) also got his licks in as both men let their hands fly.
They threw plenty of body shots but also strayed low and referee Kenny Bayless warned them at the same time in the fifth round to keep their punches up.
In the eighth round, an accidental head butt caused a brief timeout while the ringside doctor examined Gonzalez. Right after the fight resumed, Rodriguez hit Gonzalez low and Bayless warned him again.
And then Rodriquez went low again. Gonzalez went to the canvas and Bayless docked Rodriguez one point while giving Gonzalez time to recover.
Rodriguez had a strong ninth round, perhaps looking to make up for the point deduction, and attacked Gonzalez all out and landed several clean punches. The 10th was more of the same as Rodriguez continued his late-fight surge, although he did hit Gonzalez low yet again in the 11th round, although he was not penalized.
With the win, Rodriguez may return on Dec. 3 to fight in the co-feature of the third fight between lineal champion Juan Francisco Estrada and legendary four-division champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. If Rodriguez wins on that card, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn would like to match him with the main event winner next year.
Israel Gonzalez dropped to 0-4 in a world title shots, having also lost Jerwin Ancajas by 10th-round knockout in 2018, by majority decision to Kal Yafai later in 2018 and by wide unanimous decision to Roman Gonzalez in 2020.
Akhmedov shuts out Rosado
Super middleweight Ali Akhmedov, a protégée of Golovkin, boxed and moved and thoroughly outpunched journeyman former world title challenger Gabriel Rosado en route to a shutout decision.
All three judges scored the fight 100-90 for Akhmedov, who handed Rosado his third consecutive decision loss following defeats to former junior middleweight titlist Jaime Munguia in November and Shane Mosley Jr. in April.
Akhmedov (19-1, 14 KOs), 27, of Kazakhstan, was quick with his punches and put together many combinations while Rosado (26-16-1 15 KOs), 36, of Philadelphia, never landed much of anything of note. A right hand in the fifth round rocked Rosado, who was cut in his hairline.
Williams outpoints Conway
Middleweight up-and-comer Austin “Ammo” Williams scored a knockdown en route to a convincing unanimous decision over Kieron Conway to win a vacant regional title.
Fighting on his second Alvarez undercard, Williams won 97-92, 97-92 and 96-93 in his first fight since returning to longtime trainer Dwight Pratchett for the fight after an amicable split with Kevin Cunningham, who he had worked with him his previous three fights.
As the more aggressive Williams, who threw a lot of right hands, began to tag Conway more regularly in the later rounds, Conway started to hold.
In the ninth round, Williams (12-0, 9 KOs), 26, of Houston, dropped him to his knees in a corner with a quick right uppercut. Conway (17-3-1, 3 KOs), 26, of England, got up quickly but his face was a smeared with blood.
Conway fell to 0-2 in fights in the United States, having dropped a 10-round split decision to Souleymane Cissokho on the Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders card in May 2021 in Arlington, Texas.
Pacheco stops Collazo in 5th
Super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco took his time before bringing the hammer down on Enrique Collazo.
After a slow-paced four rounds that Pacheco dominated, he dropped Collazo hard in the fifth round and finished him in the follow up attack to win a regional title in the final fight before the start of the pay-per-view.
Pacheco, in his first fight since his recently announced contract extension with Matchroom Boxing, landed a powerful right hand in the fifth round that sent Collazo (16-3-1, 11 KOs), 33, a 2012 Puerto Rican Olympian, to the mat. He was wobbly but beat the count and responded well enough to referee Celestino Ruiz that he was allowed to continue but Pacheco was all over him.
He forced a still shaky Collazo to the ropes and after Pacheco (16-0, 13 KOs), 21, of Los Angeles, landed a few more shots, Ruiz stepped in and waved it off at 2 minutes, 29 seconds.
Castro blasts Mendoza
Lightweight prospect Marc Castro dominated Kevin Montiel Mendoza en route to a highlight-reel fifth-round knockout.
Castro (8-0, 6 KOs), 22, of Fresno, California, who was appearing on his fifth Alvarez undercard, was in total control when, just before the bell ending the fourth round, he landed an overhand right that buckled Mendoza and sent him into the ropes.
Castro spent the fifth round nailing a retreating Mendoza (6-2-2 3 KOs), 23, of Mexico, with clean shots before landing a powerful right uppercut that dropped Mendoza hard, causing referee Tony Weeks to stop the fight without a count at 1 minute, 40 seconds.
Aponte-Molina a draw
Canelo Promotions prospect Fernando Molina and Aaron Aponte battled to a split draw in their junior welterweight bout in which they were each knocked down. One judges had it 75-75 and the other two judges each had it 76-74, one for Aponte and one for Molina.
Aponte (6-0-1, 2 KOs), 21, of Hialeah, Florida, scored a knockdown late in the second round when he landed a short left hand, although he also appeared to push Molina (8-0-1, 3 KOs), 20, of Mexico.
Molina rocked Aponte in the fourth and then dropped him late in the fifth round with a clean right uppercut followed by a right hand.
Herrera by tech. dec.
Bantamweight Anthony Herrera (3-0-1, 2 KOs), 21, of Los Angeles, notched a shutout fifth-round technical decision against Delvin McKinley (4-4-1, 4 KOs), 26, of New Orleans, in a scheduled six-rounder.
Herrera won 50-45 in a dominating performance but the fight halted at 19 seconds of the fifth round due after an accidental head butt left McKinley dazed with swelling around his right eye.
Photos: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing
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One of my top five fights of the years. Was fun to watch.