PHILADELPHIA–Jeison Rosario won the IBF/WBA Junior Middleweight titles with a shocking 5th round stoppage over reigning champion and hometowner Julian Williams at The Liacouras Center.
It was an action filled fight that had Williams boxing and countering well early. He was cut over his right eye in round two. Rosario started walking in and getting to Williams in that 2nd round, and that was a foreshadowing of things to come. Rosario started being the bully and hurt Williams in round four. Williams was hurt again in round five from a flurry of punches that had him holding. Rosario capped that off by hurting Williams with a hard uppercut and right that sent him prone into the ropes that forced referee Benjy Esteves to stop the fight at 1:37.
Rosario of the Dominican Republic is 19-1 with 17 knockouts.
“As soon as I stepped into the ring, I knew he could not hurt me,” said Rosario. “I knew that my power was affecting him right away. This is a big victory for me and for the whole Dominican Republic.” “Rosario was the better man tonight,” said Williams. “It was a great homecoming for my fans and I’m sorry I let them down. What went wrong tonight needs to and will be fixed. We’re going to an immediate rematch and we look forward to returning the favor.”
“I’m so emotional in this moment right now,” said Rosario. “When I lost my last fight I said I will never lose again until I become champion of the world and that’s what happened tonight. I came prepared. I knew before the fight that I was going to win it.”
“I have to give a lot of credit to my team,” said Rosario. “I had a 16-week training camp and that prepared me for this. My life is changed forever and I can support my family in a whole new way. I realized that I was going to win, once I was offered the fight. I knew that if I made the sacrifice, that I would do what I did tonight. I knew it 16 weeks ago.”
“I wasn’t surprised he was so good,” said Williams. “I told everybody he’s a real fighter. I have to accept it. The cut blurred my vision a little bit but it wasn’t the reason why I lost. He was the better fighter tonight. We’ve got a rematch clause. I’ll see him again soon. I’ll be back.”
Chris Colbert won the WBA Interim Junior Lightweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over former champion Jezreel Corrales
In round 10, Colbert landed a little left that sent Corrales to the canvas.
Colbert, 129.8 lbs of Brooklyn won by scores of 117-110 twice and 116-111 to stay perfect at 14-0. Corrales, 129.4 lbs of Panama is now 25-4.
CHRIS COLBERT
“He was a great fighter. People don’t realize that, because he had a bad decision against Ladarius Miller. But he’s a great fighter. He’s very awkward. He’s slick and fast. It was hard to catch him because he was running, but he came to fight. I take my hat off to him.
“I had confidence coming into the fight. I knew I was going to dominate the fight and I told you all that before the fight happened. He was running and I was trying to catch him, so I told my corner, let’s have a dog fight. We got 12 rounds. I’m in shape. You see, I didn’t sit down one round. I’m in shape and I came to fight. I wasn’t going to leave without this title.
“I’m not ducking nobody and not dodging nobody. I’m here to fight and I’m here to stay.
“The strategy was to use my jab like I did and try to set up my punches. But he’s very awkward and has good distance. Slowly but surely I decided to stop boxing, close the distance and get on him. I knew he couldn’t out throw me, I’m from Brooklyn.”
JEZREEL CORRALES
“I did my job in there. My strategy was to hit and not get hit. I felt like I made him struggle for a lot of the fight.
“The knockdown wasnt from being hurt, it was my balance. Our feet got tangled and I lost my balance.
“I came in here to win. We both did our jobs, but the judges scored his pushing more than his punching.
Joey Spencer remained undefeated with an easy six-round unanimous decision over Erik Spring in a super welterweight bout.
Spencer, 153.9 lbs of Linden, MI won by shutout margins of 60-54 on all cards, and is now 10-0. Spring, 155 lbs of Reading, PA is 13-4-2.
JOEY SPENCER
“SI was in there with a cagey, long southpaw. And to be honest, when a guy is fighting as cagey as he was, it’s really hard for a guy with my style to just pull something out of nothing. He was a real defensive guy.
“At the end I really just pressed him, said I’m going to finish strong, and hit him with some good shots and if I had done that in the first or second round, I would have ended it early.
“I’m glad to get the six rounds in. Experience is everything. You’re only as good as your next fight. I’m happy to get in there and get some good experience and I did my thing and got the shutout.
“I’m going to stay busy this year. I’m going to have a four-fight year. This is one of four. We’re looking to bring some excitement and have some fun.
ERIK SPRING
“I was waiting too much. I thought he would come in and engage more and I was looking counter him but he stayed on the outside.
“I was more impressed by his speed then his power. He’s a talented fighter but I could have been more effective.”
Jorge Cota stopped Thomas LaManna in round five of their scheduled 10-round super welterweight bout.
Cota was active with his hands, and was able to get inside and land some crisp shots on LaManna. LaManna would get home with a right from distance, but it was few and far between the hard shots that Cota was landing that eventually bloodied the nose of LaManna.
The bout was stopped at 1:22 of round five after another hard flurry forced the corner of LaManna to call a halt to the fight.
Cota, 153.2 lbs of Sinaloa, MX is 30-4 with 27 knockouts. LaManna, 153.3 lbs of Milville, NJ is 28-3-1.
Vito Mielnicki Jr. remained undefeated by winning a four round unanimous decision over Preston Wilson in a welterweight bout.
Mielnicki, 146 lbs of Roseland, NJ won by scores of 40-36 on all cards, and is now 4-0. Wilson, 146.1 lbs of Parkersburg, WV is 6-4-1.
Romuel Cruz remained undefeated with a 1st round stoppage over Julio Garcia in a super bantamweight bout.
Cruz dropped Garcia twice, and the fight was stopped after the 2nd knockdown, and the time was 2:56.
Cruz, 122.2 lbs of Arecibo, PR is 4-0-1 with two knockouts. Garcia, 122.3 lbs of Madison, WI is 3-4.
Kyrone Davis stopped Antonio Todd in round four of a scheduled eight-round middleweight bout.
Davis landed some hard shots that had Todd reeling back. A big follow up flurry forced the stoppage.
Davis, 159.3 lbs of Monmouth, DE is 15-2 with six knockouts. Todd, 157.3 lbs of Atlanta is 7-3.
2016 U.S. Olympic Team Member, Paul Kroll took out Marcel Rivers in round four of their scheduled eight-round welterweight bout featuring Philadelphia natives.
In round three, Kroll dropped Rivers with a hard left hook. In round four, Kroll dropped Rivers twice with perfect right hands. The fight ended with Kroll battering Rivers on the ropes. The time was 49 seconds.
Kroll, 148.8 lbs is 7-0 with six knockouts. Rivers, 147.2 lbs is 7-3.
Norman Neely remained perfect by stopping ivermatched Larry Knight in the opening frame of their scheduled four-round heavyweight bout.
Neely landed about 10 unanswered punches that sent Knight to the canvas, and the fight was stopped at 1:21.
Neely, 241.8 lbs of Paterson, NJ is 5-0 with five knockouts. Knight, 250.1 lbs of Birmingham, GA is 4-23-1.
Miguel Angel Roman Jr. made a successful pro debut with a four-round unanimous decision over Antonio Lucanne in a bantamweight bout.
Roman dropped Lucanne in round three from a combination that was finished with a right hand.
Roman, 118.6 lbs of Philadelphia won by scores of 40-35 and 39-36 twice to go to 1-0. Lucanne, 119.7 lbs of Mount Vernon, NY is 0-3.
