Lightweight prospect Vicente Escobedo (16-1, 11 KOs) won a tougher than expected 10-round unanimous decision over Pascali Adorno (10-7-2, 4 KOs ) on Friday night at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, Calinfornia. The final judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 100-90, all for the 26 year-old Escobedo. However, the fight was actually much closer than the scores would indicate, as Adorno pressed the attack all fight long, hitting Escobedo with scorching body shots and blistering shots to the head.
However, as good as Adorno was, he wasn’t able to match to combinations from the former 2004 Olympic lightweight Escobedo, who outlanded Adorno in every round of the fight. Escobedo’s shot were nearly as powerful as Adorno’s though, thus he was unable to slow him down much over the course of the fight, making the fight harder than it should have been.
In rounds 1-4, Escobedo used combinations to control the action, hitting the plodding Adorno with perfect left-right combos, and left hooks to the body. For every ten or so shots from Escobedo, Adorno would land a thudding body shot or hook to the head, that would get Escobedo’s attention. Going into the fight, Escobedo had a bruise under his left eye, something he’d gotten while training for the fight. The bruise got worse as the fight progressed, turning a dark shade of purple.
In round 5, Escobedo began to really light Adorno up with combinations, tagging with triple hooks and looking every bit like a former Olympian. However, in rounds 6-10, Escobedo began to fade, seeming as if he had tired out all of a sudden. Adorno came in at that point, and began to tag Escobedo with regularity. I gave Adorno the 6th and 7th rounds from his harder shots. In the 8-10th, Escobedo seemed to catch his second wind, and began to land frequent combinations like in the earlier rounds. His shots, however, were even weaker than the earlier rounds, but due to the sheer number he was throwing, he easily won the last three rounds of the fight.
Overall, it was a good victory for Escobedo, but it’s worrisome that he couldn’t easily dominate a fighter of Adorno’s ability, as he’s not in the same class, yet Escobedo had to struggle to beat him. Not a good sign. I see Escobedo having problems once he steps it up against the better lightweights, because without any real power in his shots, he’d going to be at a big disadvantage.
