T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, USA. The WBC super flyweight champion (up to 52.2 kg) American wunderkind Jesse Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KOs) held the second defense of the belt – with great difficulty he defeated the multiple challenger Mexican Israel Gonzalez (28-5-1, 11 KOs).
Rodriguez is the same ward Robert Garciawho was previously called the “American Lomachenko” by the local media, as it is stylistically similar to the Ukrainian ex-champion Vasily Lomachenko.
The applicant made a bet on the work as the second number – he countered Rodriguez, especially punched a lot in the body, tried not to invest in punches, worked “for points”, was very active. In the 2nd round, the favorite got used to the opponent a little. He scored a couple of uppercuts, countered beautifully and hard with a right hook. Gonzalez was not going to give up the initiative: he closely followed the champion’s shifts, worked ahead of the curve, punched a lot in the body. A very competitive fight.
In the 6th round, the fighters had a nice “phone booth fight”. Gonzalez keeps the pace and density of the fight. The fighters collided heads several times. In the 8th round, a cut formed on the applicant’s face. Rodriguez hit below the belt twice in a row, for which the referee was penalized.
By the 9th round, Gonzalez slowed down, the blows lost speed, there were a little less of them. The champion began to press on the challenger even more actively. I could get another penalty point – in the 11th three-minute period I hit below the belt. The referee did not understand the episode (he took a bad position), just in case he decided not to penalize the champion. Decisive round confidently recorded in his piggy bank Rodriguez.
The score of the judges: 118-109, 117-111 and 114-113 in favor of the champion. Terrible cards.
Rodriguez UD 12.
