LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – Later tonight, Sebastian Fundora will attempt to stay on track for rumored junior middleweight unification opportunities as he defends his WBC title against unbeaten mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribeaj in the TNT and DAZN broadcast main event from the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. First bell for the five-bout card began at 3 PM local time.
In the highly competitive opening televised bout, Jaime Osuna (12-0, 5 KOs) of Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico maintained his perfect record, claiming an eight-round majority decision over Cristian Cangelosi (13-1-1, 5 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York by way of Palermo, Sicilia, Italy.
Osuna, 161.2, took no time to feel out Cangelosi, 160.8, as the bout began. Osuna came out swinging with power shots and landed a great percentage of his attempts. Cangelosi tried to hold on the inside and get back at range to box, but struggled to keep Osuna at bay.
Cangelosi settled in a little better in round two as Osuna scaled back his output a bit. Cangelosi landed with a counter right midway through the round that got Osuna’s attention.
Cangelosi continued to keep range and box for much of round three, but Osuna landed the most telling blow – a clean right counter that snapped the Italian’s head back along the ropes.
Cangelosi controlled the action in the fourth, opening up on the inside early, before boxing well back at range over the second half.
Osuna came out for round five with renewed purpose and rocked Cangelosi in the opening moments. Cangelosi tried to push off to create space as often as possible, but Osuna carried the round.
With much of the steam off both of their punches in the sixth, Osuna outworked Cangelosi. The Brooklyn native bounced back in the seventh, landing eye-catching counters and evading some of Osuna’s forward-moving attack.
Cangelosi closed out the fight strong in the eighth, capping the fight with a stiff right that snapped Osuna’s head back in the final seconds.
In the end, Cangelosi’s late surge was not enough. Judge David Hudson scored the bout even, 76-76, but was overruled by judges Tim Cheatham and Max De Lucca, who both scored the bout for Osuna, 77-75.
In his Las Vegas debut, 17-year-old prospect David Garcia (8-0, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas scored a second-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Angel Carrillo (5-1-1, 2 KOs) of Oxnard, California.
The southpaw Garcia, 127.8, backed Carrillo, 126.8, up with the first left he landed in the early going of the round one. Garcia flashed some power, rocking Carrillo with a counter left to punctuate the opening round.
Garcia applied pressure in the early going of the second round, landing his shots and getting out of range before Carrillo could counter. Late in the round, with Carrillo retreating in a straight line, Lopez landed with two consecutive straight lefts to score a knockdown. Carrillo beat the count on wobbly legs and the referee waved off the contest at 2:59 of the second.
Photo by Cris Esqueda/Premier Boxing Champions
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com
