By George Sloan: Lightweight Rogers Mtagwa (25-12-2, 17 KOs) won a hard fought 10-round unanimous decision over Mexican fighter Aldo Valtierra (24-10, 13 KOs) at the New Alhambra, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Valtierra, 37, was easily the busier fighter for most of the fight, except that his aim was less than perfect most of the time. After building up a lead in the first five rounds of the bout, Valtierra faded from then on as Mtagwas, 28, began landing huge shots. The final judges’ scores were 97-92, 96-93 and 96-93, all for Mtagwa. Valtierra was deducted a point for rabbit punches in the 8th round.
In rounds one and two, Valteirra overwhelmed Mtagwa with shots, throwing them from every angle and keeping Mtagwa from getting his own shots off.
In the third round, Mtagwa landed several huge right rights that landed flush to the head of Valtierra. Though Mtagwa was still outworked in the round, his punches were much harder and the more telling shots in the round.
Both fighters traded shots in rounds four and five. The action, however, was noticeably dull, causing many of the fans to boo for lack of action in the round. Valtierra appeared to do just enough to win the rounds with his body work.
Mtagwas came out looking like a completely different fighter in round six, as he was immediately all over Valtierra landing shots at close range. Valtierra attempted to answer back but was quickly shut down after getting hit with several big right hands from Mtagwa.
In rounds seven through nine, the action was dominated by Mtagwa, who used his power punching and heavy pressure to dominate Valtierra. In round eight, Valterra was docked a point for rabbit punching. It seemed like a quick call by referee Wayne Hedgepeth, who previously hadn’t issued any warnings to Valtierra. Mtagwa landed huge right hand shots in each of these rounds, although Valtierra took them without any problem.
In the 10th, Mtagwa appeared to let up a little, allowing Valtierra to outwork him and win the round due to his superior work rate.