By Scott Gilfoid: Alex de Jesus (19-0, 13 KOs), a former 2004 Olympic representative for Puerto Rico, easily defeated Cuban Jose Antonio Izquierdo (17-4-1, 14 KOs) by an 8th round TKO on Saturday night at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot, in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. De Jesus, 25, knocked Izquierdo down three times in the fight, once in the 3rd, 6th and 8th, and after the final knockdown, the fight was stopped at 1:20 of the round by referee Ramon Pena. The fight perhaps should have been stopped in the 6th after Izquierdo got flatted by a big right hand at the end of the round, because he looked for the most part like he didn’t want to be there, as if he were frustrated and just going through the motions.
De Jesus, ranked # 6 in the WBO, looked good for a change, much better than he did in his last fight, a 12th round stoppage over Adrian Navarrete in August. In that fight, de Jesus fought in a listless, safety-first style for most of the fight, and was roundly booed by the Puerto Rican boxing fans in the Arena, who perhaps are more used to their stars engaging more and fighting with much more energy than de Jesus showed.
In the first two rounds against Izquierdo on Saturday night, it looked as if we were going to see the same type of fighting from de Jesus as he did last time out, as he fought mostly on the back foot, throwing jabs, flinching at the slightest threat of aggression from Izquierdo and throwing few meaningful punches.
However, this was the type of fight where de Jesus couldn’t help but look good, as Izquierdo, who had a record of 380-8 while fighting for the Cuban amateur National team, looked slow and lethargic, and nothing like a fighter with so many amateur wins. Izquierdo, 30, had zero hand speed and looked positively clumsy each time he’d attempt to throw a shot. In the 3rd round, de Jesus suddenly started showing some courage, as he let loose with some nice uppercuts.
A short time into the round, de Jesus landed a short left uppercut followed by a push that sent Izquierdo to the canvas. The referee, however, didn’t see the and mistakenly called it a knockdown. The call, bad as it was, seemed to energize de Jesus making him fight hard for a change. In the 4th round, the southpaw de Jesus began throwing many more combinations, hitting Izquierdo over and over with right-left shots to the head.
At the same time, de Jesus showed some nifty defensive moves to get out of the way of Izquierdo’s painfully slow punches. I suppose it wasn’t all that hard given the slowness of Izquierdo’s shots, but it looked good the way de Jesus was able to bend and maneuver out of the way of his wild shots. It’s too bad he didn’t do the same thing in his last fight against Naverrete, who had an easy time landing shots against de Jesus.
The 6th round was all de Jesus, who stalked Izquierdo around the ring hitting him nearly at will. At the end of the round, de Jesus tagged Izquierdo with a big right hand, knocking him to the canvas. The round ended, however, before he could add to it and try and finish Izquierdo off.
In the 7th round, Izquierdo was in big trouble for the most of the round, and at one point he was getting hit repeatedly while he was up against the ropes. The referee then moved in as if he were going to stop the fight after watching Izquierdo turn his back and walk away from the ropes looking as if he were quitting. However, Izquierdo continued to fight, if you want to call it that, and took nonstop punishment for the remainder of the round.
As far as I could tell, Izquierdo landed all of two punches in the round and looked positively awful. In the8th round, de Jesus trapped Izquierdo on the ropes where he battered him with shots. As Izquierdo was trying to get away, de Jesus nailed him with a big left hand and sending him to the canvas for the third and final time. The fight was then stopped, even though Izquierdo sprang to his feet and looked like he wanted to continue fighting.
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