The broadcast began with a lead-in to Marquez-Diaz II, the rematch of a splendid scrap from February of last year. I'll have more on that later on.
First fight of the night saw highly-regarded prospect/contender Don George getting beaten down by an "opponent," Francisco Sierra, who improved to 22-3 (20).
Despite essentially being brought in to lose, Sierra reminded me of one of the many lanky, technique-deprived South American fighters that have scored upsets against the guys expected to win, like Breidis Prescott. Not so much in look, but record, stature and a dash of obscurity.
First round George, who fell to 20-1-1 (17), seemed to start well, but Sierra opened up and exposed George's lack of a solid guard. Both fighters are slow of hand and foot, and predictable, but George's defense is simply not very good. George seemed wobbled, but the replay showed it was actually a forearm that hurt him. The second round saw Sierra continue to land hard, looping shots from the outside, as a busted nose seemed to bother George. George also began holding more and more, drawing a warning from the ref for holding and hitting, as Sierra's confidence grew in the second.
George keeps blowing his nose - bad idea if it's broken.
George seemed to settle down a bit and land in the fifth round, but Sierra's punches were still harder and having more effect. Sierra just used more angles and a better variety of punches when George came forward, especially in the sixth. George fell from a combination of punches and exhaustion halfway through the round, and Sierra continued to bleed George slowly with thudding shots. Both men were covered in blood, literally. Teddy and Brian talking about the fight being stopped, and rightfully so. George fell once again at the end of the round, half punches, half no energy.
Interesting exchange in Don George's corner before the seventh round. George's trainer and father, Peter George, told his son "You need to start pressing this guy." Don replied "START pressing him? I've been!" True enough. He was just getting picked off by Sierra when he did come forward.
George was hurt early in the seventh once again, but clinched to stay upright. George's nose began gushing blood again less than a minute into the round, and he drew a second warning for hitting behind the head. Even Sierra's jab seemed to shake George at this point. George finally went down awkwardly with about 30 seconds left, and seemed to be hurt, off-balance and just plain done.
Just at or after the bell, Sierra landed a nasty one-two that literally collapsed George, which the referee Gary Ritter ruled as landing after the bell, thus giving George 5 minutes to continue. George couldn't continue, of course, so referee Ritter elected to have the round scored while taking 2 points from Sierra, reasoning that the final combination wasn't what actually ended the fight. Needless to say, Sierra won a technical decision with the scores 68-63, 69-62 and 69-62.
While the punches were indeed after the bell, it would have been unfortunate to see a guy with no clear way to win the fight actually get the nod due to a foul that didn't seem intentional. Gary Ritter made the right call, in my opinion, even though I don't agree that the combination in question didn't end the fight. Regardless, Sierra pounded through George for seven solid rounds and deserved something for his efforts.
The main event had Delvin Rodriguez losing a questionable majority decision to Ashley Theophane. Rodriguez' record dove to 25-5-2 (14) and 2-3 in his last 5, while Theophane's ledger improved to 27-4-1 (7).
The opening stanza began with Rodriguez landing a few chopping overhand rights, with some snappy jabs mixed in. Theophane's tricky movement had Rodriguez following a bit, but controlling the pace overall. Theophane challenged Rodriguez more in the second, jumping in and out with a jab, right hand, and holding and hitting the body inside. Rodriguez landed hard to the body in spots, but also missed a lot of hard throws upstairs.
Rodriguez opened up with a hard jab, a straighter right hand and sweeping hooks to the body and head in the third, adding an uppercut or two for good measure. Theophane again landed well to the body inside, but didn't get rolling until late in the round. In the fourth round, Rodriguez slowed the pace down a bit and relied on his jab to control distance, which seemed to give Theophane a chance to work and maneuver his way inside. Rodriguez received a warning for shots to the cup, before trading with Theophane late in the round.
Theophane showed a nice left hook and a few long, looping right hands over the first half of the fifth round. Rodriguez failed to land much more than some jabs and a few right hands to the body, and Theophane may have taken the round with effective shots from weird angles. Aggression and a hard jab was once again key for Rodriguez early in the sixth, as Theophane waited and took punches to the body. Delvin once again went hard to the body and stopped Theophane in his tracks with a wide right hand. Rodriguez resumed his dedication to the body in the seventh, as Theophane once again waited and was outworked early on. Halfway through the round, Theophane picked up the pace and landed another looping right, but missed a lot of punches and took a big right himself.
Both fighters exchanged a bit in the early goings of the eighth, with Rodriguez seeming to get the better of it, until oddly turning his back after missing a punch. Theophane was well served to throw a tight hook, once again, but Rodriguez went back to the body with hard hooks and a right hand inside. Theophane came forward and forced some give and take late in the round, largely taking the harder shots.
Theophane tried leading and backing Rodriguez up to begin the ninth, though Rodriguez didn't seem to have a big problem countering going backwards. Delvin went back to being the aggressor before too long, once again going hard to the body. The pace slowed considerably in the last minute, with Theophane stepping up the output very late.
Both fighters had success in the tenth, Rodriguez on the outside, Theophane inside. Rodriguez looked tired and weak about halfway through the round, wobbling a bit from glancing shots. Rodriguez worked hard, but had terrible balance and probably lost the round while looking worn.
The judges believed Ashley Theophane deserved the nod with scores of 95-95, 96-94 and 96-94. Punch stats suggested Rodriguez deserved the decision, throwing and landing significantly more.
I personally had Rodriguez winning 6 of the first 7 rounds.
While a few rounds were fairly close and may deserve a second look, Rodriguez simply worked more, landed harder shots and generally controlled the pace. Theophane's slightly awkward style was difficult to look good against, and he clearly showed to have a good chin, but I would find it difficult to find 4 clear rounds to give Theophane.
In off-TV action, regional trialhorse James "Brian" Cook was unlucky enough to be knocked out by an Andy Lee body punch twice in the same fight, the first being ruled a low blow by referee Gerald Ritter after a nice sell by Cook. A second legal left hand to the body put Cook down for the count in the fifth round.
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