Melina Pizano / Matchroom Boxing
Michael Rosenthal
April 7, 2023 2:29 pm ET
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez defeated Cristian Gonzalez by a unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO 112-pound title and become a two-division champion at 23 years old.
The official scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 for Rodriguez, eight rounds to four.
Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs) didn’t have an easy time, as a fit, athletic Gonzalez (15-2, 5 KOs) did a good job of sticking and moving from beginning to end.
Plus, the new beltholder said afterward that his jaw was broken midway through the fight.
Still, Rodriguez maintained relentless pressure on his Mexican opponent and cornered him enough to land heavy, eye-catching punches to both the head and body consistently.
That was more than enough to win over the judges.
Rodriguez, who defeated Carlos Cuadras to win a 115-pound title and successfully defended twice last year, moved down in weight to face Gonzalez.
You can read a full report here.
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Marlon Tapales (right) stunned the boxing world. Melina Pizano / Matchroom Boxing
Marlon Tapales pulled off a major upset, defeating Murodjon Akhmadaliev by a split decision in a battle of southpaws to take the celebrated Ukbek fighter’s two 122-pound titles.
Tapales (37-3, 19 KOs) got off to a strong start, landing his jab and regular power shots from awkward angles that seemed to baffle Akhmadaliev in the early going.
Akhmadaliev (11-1, 8 KOs) began to fight with more urgency in the middle rounds and took charge down the stretch, clearly landing the more damaging shots and wearing his Filipino foe down.
However, it was too little, too late.
One judge gave the fight to the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist by a wide margin, 118-110. However, the other two scored it for the resilient Tapales 115-113, seven rounds to five.
Thus, Tapales, 31, became a unified world champion.
Akhmadaliev was coming off surgery to repair his injured left hand but that didn’t seem to be a factor in the fight.
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Raymond Ford (left) had no trouble with Jessie Magdaleno. Melina Pizano / Matchroom Boxing
Featherweight contender Raymond Ford dropped overmatched former junior featherweight champ Jessie Magdaleno of Las Vegas twice en route to winning a wide decision in their 12-round bout.
The official scores were 119-107, 119-107 and 116-110..
Ford (14-0-1, 8 KOs) outboxed and outworked Magdaleno (29-2, 18 KOs) to control the fight from the opening bell, using his ability, quickness and length to pick the loser apart from the outside.
The Camden, New Jersey, fighter put his counterpart down in the fourth and 11th rounds and hurt him on more occasions.
The shorter Magdaleno was able to work his way inside at times and land punches here and there but not nearly enough to make the fight competitive.
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Thomas Mattice (right) pulled out a victory in the final round. Melina Pizano / Matchroom Boxing
Thomas Mattice stopped Ramiro Cesena in the 10th and final round in a battle of 130-pound prospects that he was losing on the cards.
Cesena (16-1-1, 13 KOs) seemed to have outworked Mattice (21-3-1, 16 KOs) for nine-plus rounds and the latter lost a point in Round 8 for punching after a break, all of which seemed to indicate that Mattice needed a knockout or perhaps multiple knockdowns to win the fight.
Mattice fought with that kind of urgency in the final round, firing off one big right hand after another before finally shaking his Mexican opponent with one of them.
Cesena had his back to the ropes and was taking a series of follow up punches from Mattice when referee Rafael Ramos stopped the fight.
The official time of the stoppage was 1:35.
The ending will be seen as controversial, as many of Mattice’s blows in the final flurry landed on Cesena’s gloves. At the same time, Ramos could argue that the loser wasn’t throwing back at the time of the stoppage.
Cesena led on all three cards after nine rounds, 89-81, 86-84 and 86-84.
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The featured portion of the Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vs. Cristian Gonzalez card is about to begin on DAZN.
First up: 130-pound prospect Thomas Mattice of Cleveland will face Romiro Cesena of Mexico in a scheduled 10-rounder.
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Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) will attempt to win a world title in a second division when he faces Cristian Gonzalez (15-1, 5 KOs) of Mexico for a vacant 112-pound belt Saturday at Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Rodriguez’s hometown.
The show will be streamed on DAZN.
Also on the card, Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8 KOs) of Uzbekistan will defend his 122-pound titles against Marlon Tapales (36-3, 19 KOs) of the Philippines
The featured bouts on the card begin at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in show.
Boxing Junkie will post the results of the main event and the co-feature immediately after they end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – a fight story, photo gallery and analysis – will follow on separate posts the day of the fight and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
