By Chris Thomas: In an especially impressive performance, light welterweight Henry Bruseles (21-3-1, 15 KOs) stopped Robert Frankel in the 4th round of a scheduled 10-round bout at the Coliseo Rafael G Amalbert, in Juncos, Puerto Rico, on Friday night. Brusele, dominated throughout, and eventually cut Frankel over both his left eye (from a headbutt) and then finally his right eye, leading to the referee Roberto Ramirez stopping the bout at 2:28 of the 4th round.
Bruseles, who looked horrible against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their bout in Janaury 2005, a bout in which Mayweather dominated every round until finally dispatching Bruseles in the 8th round after knocking down a couple of times. However, Bruseles, 27, looked noticeably improved since that time, tagged Frankel, 27, with combinations and piercing jabs throughout. In the opening seconds of the fight, Bruseles landed a left jab that knocked Frankel down. However, the referee ruled it a slip but it looked like a legitimate knock down.
In the 2nd round, Bruseles showed an excellent jab, at one point hitting Frankel with three power house jabs in a row. Of the light welterweight’s, I’ve got to say that Bruseles has the best jab I’ve seen by far. It lands almost like a power punch, and is thrown with perfect form. Near the end of the 2nd round, Bruseles hit Frankel with a monstrous right hand. He took well, but it was the kind of punch that generally takes the steam out of a fighter. In the third round, Frankel almost completely stopped fight, as Bruseles hit him with right hands, and more jabs. Bruseles didn’t need anything other than his jab, because it was snapping Frankel’s head back constantly, and keeping him stuck on the outside where he was helpless to mount an attack.
Late in the round, Frankel received a bad cut over his left eye during a clash of heads with Bruseles. The cut was the beginning of the end for Frankel, because blood was dripping into his eye and making it hard for him to see. In the 4th round, Bruseles picked his shots, landing whatever he wanted, as Frankel was just covering up and not fighting back. Finally, a second cut was opened, this one above his right eye, making it hard for Frankel to see at all because of blood dripping into both eyes. After noticing the 2nd cut, the referee Roberto Ramirez called a halt to the bout at 2:28 of the 4th round.