By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
Puerto Rican middleweight slugger Edgar Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs) had his hands full against a very tough Marcelo Coceres (30-3-1, 16 KOs) of Argentina. Berlanga stalked and attacked Coceres patiently early in the fight. Coceres fought off his back foot in the fourth Berlanga landed a hard left hook that momentarily staggered the Argentinian. Berlanga continue to stalk in the fifth but Coceres kept fighting on. Coceres landed a huge right in the sixth stopping Berlanga’s forward momentum. Late in the fight in the eighth, Coceres circled and jabbed connecting on Berlanga as he was straight forward. A chopping right hand by Berlanga to open the ninth got things started, as Coceres with a shut right eye kept his distance popping the jab, but Coceres landed an overhand right sending Berlanga to the canvas. The tenth and final round, Coceres boxed as Berlanga stalked and looked to land the right. All three judges scored the bout 96-93 for Berlanga.
Super welterweight Vladamir Hernandez (13-4, 6 KOs) of Durango, Mexico edged out former world champion Julian “J-Rock” Williams (27-2, 16 KOs) in winning a ten round split decision. Hernández was cut on the eye in the opening round as Williams landed some big shots. Williams continued to land heavy punches connecting Hernandez with the right in round two. Despite getting hit with big punches, Hernandez stood close to Williams in the third. It was an uphill battle for both fighters, as Hernandez began to close the gap the second half of the fight. Late in the fight, Hernandez appeared to have the momentum. The judges scored the bout 96-94, Hernandez, 96-94 Williams, and 97-93 for Hernandez.
Two-time Cuban gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez (8-1, 4 KOs) won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Orlando Gonzalez Ruiz (17-1, 10 KOs) of Puerto Rico. It was an entertaining scrap as Ramírez and Gonzalez exchanged early on but Ramírez was the more technical. González was tough and in the fifth pressed Ramirez in finishing the round strong.
The second half of the fight saw Ramírez boxing effectively, Gonzalez was the aggressor but the Cuba was too fast, countering and timing with precision. Late in the ninth, Ramírez attacked as Gonzalez’s face was swollen and bleeding. Credit to Gonzalez for looking for the fight and hanging in as Ramírez was displayed his superior skill in route to a decision win. The judges scored the bout 99-91, 99-91, and 97-93.
In the opening bout from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Ukrainian heavyweight Viktor Vykhryst who is also known as Viktor Faust (8-0, 6 KOs) scored a third round stoppage over Mike Marshall (6-1-1, 4 KO’s). The Ukrainian snapped the jab from the start as Marshall’s head snapped back. Vykhryst dropped Marshall in rounds two and three, Marshall did not continue after getting up from the second knockdown with referee Robert Hoyle stopped the fight at 1:49 of the third.
Brooklyn’s Bruce Carrington (1-0) made his professional debut impressively winning a dominant unanimous decision over Cesar Cantu (3-3) in a scheduled four round featherweight bout. Carrington mixed it up teeing off Cantu in route to a decision win. All three judges scored 40-36.
J rock got robbed..
Robbed?, No not quite.
First off J Rock is a bum for going split decision with a novice.
Williams looked terrible. He fell apart in the second half of that fight and if Hernandez had more pop, he would have been in serious trouble.
I agree with what you said. I just think J rock won at least 6 of the 10. No argument that Hernandez was coming on at the end and he seemed to have more pop
You know, the last score was 97-93 and I just assumed it was Williams’ because he won so much of the early part of the fight. But for me it was close enough to go either way. I don’t think either guy won 7 of those rounds and 6 rounds is just one away from a draw. It could have gone either way, but Hernandez definitely did more damage imo.
I only saw the second half of the fight and Williams was getting battered from pillar to post. Should have been docked points for holding.
Wow ! Didn’t think Williams would get edged out here….big setback for him
The Williams’ camp made a big mistake fighting tough Hernandez after a prior, early TKO loss. Williams was holding way too much because he lacked confidence. For the life of me, I do not know why Williams neglected his jab and body punching against Hernandez.
Hernandez showed more will, hustle, heart, grit and determination. Hernandez performed outstanding body punching on Williams. Hernandez deserved the victory because of his mental strength and effort.
I believe Williams should retire because he is not there mentally since his prior loss to Rosario. If Williams does not retire, then his camp must arrange a few confidence building fights before dealing with another sturdy competitor.
I was thinking maybe because they both lost their last fights now, maybe a Williams – Hurd rematch?
Berlanga looks like he might be in too deep of water right now.
Yep! Definitely looking like that now. WOW!
I got burned! I thought the Berlanga fight was on the PPV, didn’t realize it was on free TV so I missed it. Sounds like he was put to the test tonight. Too much fame and adulation before it’s actually earned in the ring is the kiss of death for a fighter. Fellow Brooklynite Shannon Briggs will tell you. Now that the Berlanga buzz is over, he can focus and becoming a champion rather than a celebrity. Although he denies it, I believe that KO streak was too much pressure for him. How could it not have been?
It was on FS1, you’ll catch it if you look for it, they replay everything several times. It’s on FS2 today actually.
As interesting as it was, I always thought that streak was doing Berlanga no favors as a fighter in the end. He should have gotten more out of those fights than he did. Not that he should have been fighting great fighters, but not even going 16 rounds in 16 fights gained him virtually no experience – just some popularity. When they look back at it, they may have wasted the first 4 years of his career.
I wouldn’t say it wasted the first 4 years of his career. He showed he has devastating power and it put him on the map as someone to watch. But yes, it was a double edged sword for him. I felt he should have been more active during that streak. Fighting once every 4, 5 months after 1st round KO’s doesn’t cut it. Mike Tyson used to turn around and fight in the same week when he was coming up. I’m still on board Team Berlanga , but now his career has come back down to earth.
That Argentine fighter got robbed by edgar berlanga
I’ve never saw a Russian look so clumsy as this one does now.
Holy BALLS!!! THERE IS FOR SURE A NORDIC NIGHTMARE BEING HAD!!
He needs to throw the job more and set up his punches and move more
Berlanga has been exposed yet another overhyped product of the one of many WWE style promotional groups
I disagree that he’s been exposed. Overhyped, yes, but not exposed. Different fighters, different era, but When Mike Tyson starting making major noise when he was coming up, he was briefly written off after he struggled with Quick Tillis, Blood Green, and Jose Ribalta, but he adjusted and returned to destroying guys at a higher level. It’s like a baseball player going from the minors to the majors. They may struggle a little with the big league curveball at first, then adjust and thrive! Very few fighers in the history of the sport have dominated from their first fight to the title, except maybe Tommy Hearns!
To the title but not after Ray Leonard, Mathew Hilton, Felix Trinidad, Ray Mancini, Mark Brevard Jaime Garza Roy Jones. Not sure what you mean by struggle but never in any real risk of losing. Even those Tyson fights he went rounds but never in real trouble like Berlanga. But maybe you just mean they struggled for a ko.
What I mean by struggle is turning in less than stellar performances on their way up, where they were exposed, and looked vulnerable, or just turned in a dissapointing performance, like Ali vs Henry Cooper. I’m not sure how all of the fighters you mentioned did in each of their fights on the way up, but I do not Felix Trinidad hit the canvas a few times early in his career, and Ray Mancini was anhilated by Alexis Arguello in his first bid for the title. What I meant in Tyson’s case is he did not look spectacular against Tillis or Green, back to back I believe, and Ribalta was able to stand up to Tyson and even trade and go toe to toe before he eventually succumbed to Tyson’s power. Even in one of Berlanga’s early fights, he was tagged pretty hard by an MMA fighter with like an 0-1 boxing record, so he has shown to be suspectible to the right hand. In his last fight, Nicholson hit him solidly a few times….it is boxing after all.
berlanga got banged back to the gym for the young fighter
Edgar has a great jab but he lost the fight. He had no set up, he was missing a ton of shots and he got put down. Someone he gets the win. That’s boxing for you.