Golden Boy Live!Series on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes showcased a number of up and coming prospects. The evening was capped with a main event light middleweight bout where Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo 22-0, 11 KO’s used a late fight surge to overwhelm and stop Jose Angel Rodriguez late in the final round of their televised bout. Charlo the WBC Continental Americas and the NABF light middleweight champion started the bout strong and rocked Jose Angel Rodriguez early in round one to set the tempo, however that tempo was slowed in the mid rounds where Rodriguez seemed to neutralize the attack of Charlo with slick counter punching and feints. The mid rounds were close chess match style rounds that slightly favored Charlo. At the end of Round 5 the action picked up when Charlo landed a few nice straight punches and caught Rodriguez against the ropes, Charlo failed to sustain the attack but the barrage did manage to slow a quickly bruising Rodriguez. Rodriguez answered the bell for round six with a noticeable mouse under his right eye compliments of a great left hook from Iron Man. As the fight wore on Charlo started landing frequent clean punches winning each round but not by an overwhelming margin. As the rounds wore on Rodriguez wore down and Charlo gradually turned the heat up and in the final round he blasted Rodriguez with neck snapping punches from close range. Charlo smelled the end and finished the show at 1:4 of the 10th and final round where referee Sam Burgos stepped in to save the tough but beaten Rodriguez. Where the fight was not overly exciting it was technical showcase and show of closing power by Charlo. Charlo was a bronze medalist at the 2005 Junior Olympics at the age of 15. He finished his amateur career with a record of 56-8. Charlo has been busy in 2013, winning both the WBC Continental Americas and USBA Junior Middleweight Titles with victories over Harry Joe Yorgey and Demetrius Hopkins.
Welterweight Martin Lagunas Jr. made a very successful pro debut with a dominant and strong performance. Lagunas, who was a former national amateur champion threw heavy punches from the opening bell catching Larry Yanez with meaningful punches early on. Yanez was able to establish an early jab, however Lagunas took that away with great heavy counter punching. As round two wore on Lagunas started landing bigger and bigger shots until a thunderous combo floored the game Yanez with the end coming at 1:56 of round number 2.
The second bout of the evening barely got on its way when Willie Jones landed a thunderous left uppercut to the body of Jose Segura Torres at just 56 seconds of the first round. Jones improved to 3-0(2KO),where Torres dropped literally to 1-5
Three time US Olympian Rau’Shee Warren improved to 8-0(3KO) with a quick win over tough, experienced and tested Jhon Alberto Molina 32-25(20KO). Warren, fighting for the sixth time in 2013 came out punching with power from the opening bell. A slick straight left dropped the Colombian Molina in round one while the former Olympian chased stalked Molina steady for 4 rounds landing shots one and two at a time. All three cards read 40-35 to finalize a unanimous decision.
In an interesting match-up of unbeaten southpaws Errol “The Truth” Spence 9-0(7K0) clashed with tough Ghanaian Emmanuel Lartei Lartey 15-1(7KO). Spence was the predator throughout the chess match of southpaws. Spence landed a heavy straight left in the opening round that established momentum while Ice Cold’s corner begged for their fighter to move forward instead of backwards. The only problem was Spence and his heavy shots that kept Lartey from taking a step forward. Spence controlled the fight by being first and keeping his s All three judges saw the bout 79-73 in favor of Spence.
Hard Hitting light welterweight Jeffrey Fontanez 13-0(10KO) looked impressive with a fourth round TKO over tough journeyman Gerardo Zayas.
Notable Boxers in attendance, Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver, Adrian Broner, Paulie Malignaggi, Bermane Stiverne, Daniel Edouard, Luis Ortiz, Micheal Moorer.
