Rivera Stops Pinzon

By Boxing News - 02/11/2008 - Comments

rivera46433.jpgBy John Dower: Tough Mexican welterweight Cosme Rivera (31-11-2, 22 KOs) stopped Colombian Raul Pinzon (15-2, 14 KOs) in the 8th round on Friday night to win the World Boxing Association Fedecentro welterweight title at the Miccosukee Resort & Gaming, in Miami, Florida. Rivera, 31, known mostly for his losses to Andre Berto, Julio Joel, and Zab Judah, landed a perfect left-right combination in the 8th round of the fight, sending Pinzon to the canvas. Blood pouring from a cut over his left eye, Pinzon, badly hurt, attempted to get to his feet, but was counted out by the referee at 2:00 of the round.

In the first two rounds of the fight, Rivera used a constant jab to keep the hard-punching Pinzon at a distance. From the outside, River picked his spots to land right hand shots against the plodding Pinzon. For his part, despite his large percentage of knockout victories on his record, Pinzon had fought almost entirely fighters with losing records. Against Rivera, he was essentially overmatched from the first minute of the fight. Only rarely did Pinzon land anything in the first two rounds, mostly circling the ring and trying to prevent getting nailed by Rivera.

In the 3rd round, Pinzon had a much better round than the two previous rounds, as he landed a number of left hands to the head of Rivera. None, however, were big shots, and were easy to see due to his poor handspeed. I had expected a little more power from Pinzon based on his record, but he in fact appeared the weaker puncher than Rivera.

In rounds 4-6, Rivera continued to dominate the action with his right hand shots. Pinzon clearly didn’t like the effects of the punches, for he would move continuously to keep from getting hit. The movement helped him to a point, but it was also causing him to fall behind in the fight. Rivera was warned for using his shoulder in the 6th round by the referee.

the 7th round was fairly close with both fighters doing little. Pinzon continued to mostly throw jabs, circling the ring. As the round was nearing the end, it was up for grabs for both fighters. However, Rivera came on in the final 30 seconds and landed several good right hands to take the round.

In the opening minute of the 8th round, Pinzon came out strong, landing several right hands to the head of Rivera. To this, Rivera fired back with a left-right combination that sent Pinzon to the canvas. Pinzon looked badly hurt, blood pouring from a cut over his left eye brow, was counted out just as he made it to his feet. The combination didn’t see that powerful from Rivera, but of course, I wasn’t the one that took the shots.