By Manuel Perez: Unbeaten light welterweight prospect Rock Allen (14-0, 7 KOs) won a one-sided eight-round unanimous decision over Humberto Tapia (13-9-1, 7 KOs) last night at the Sovereign Center, in Reading, Pennsylvania. The final judges’ scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 80-72. Allen, 27, a former member of the 2004 United States Olympic Team, dominated the fight, using short combinations and superior hand speed to pound out a 8-round unanimous decision over the 22-year-old Tapia.
Allen, whose career has been going at a snail’s pace since turning pro in 2005, had few problems against Tapia, a fighter that came into the fight having lost three out of his last four fights. Allen only rarely had to worry about Tapia throwing anything back at him, and was able to use the fight as showcase for his offensive talent.
However, along the way, he also showed off his lack of power as he was unable to hurt or knockdown a fighter that he should have been able to given the wide gulf between two fighters’ talent levels. The fight was held at 140, five pounds less than the 145 that Allen fought at in his last fight three months ago against Gilbert Vera.
However, Allen looks too small to fight as a light welterweight and appears more suited as a lightweight where he could have more power. His frame appears to be carrying around too much muscle in his upper body, and he needs to consider getting rid of the useless muscle because it isn’t translating to more power for him.
The extra weight seems more like something that would be seen on a body builder, not a fighter and doesn’t seem to be serving Allen any purpose other than slowing him down.
In rounds one through three, Allen dominated the action with short combinations and occasional flurries. Tapia did little, fighting as if he were paralyzed, unable to get his punches off. He was mostly limited to counter punches here and there, loading up and hitting Allen with some nice shots at times.
It wasn’t nearly enough to win any of the rounds or come close to winning any of them unfortunately. In rounds four through eight, Allen continued to rain punches on Tapia, hitting him often and throwing fast shots.
In the 7th round, Allen started fighting more on the outside, using his jab, movement an occasional bursts of punches to control the rounds. He looked to be tiring out somewhat, but Tapia wasn’t in the position to take advantage of it due to his anemic offense.
In the 8th round, Allen let loose with a lot of punches, appearing to be giving it a try for a knockout. However, like in the other rounds, he was unable to come close to hurting Tapia with his fast shots. It isn’t that Allen doesn’t try to sit down on his punches, because he does appear to be loading up.
The problem appears to be that he’s somewhat muscle-bound and seems to lack the flexibility needed to throw big punches. He’d be much better off if he trimmed off the useless muscle and moved down a division or two.