By Chris Williams: Undefeated Polish middleweight prospect Patrick Majewski (8-0, 5 KOs) survived a 2nd round scare in which he was knocked down by a big right hand from his opponent Ariel Espinal (6-3-2, 2 KOs) to come back and win by a 4-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the Bally’s Hotel & Casino, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The final judges’ scores were 38-37, 38-37 and 38-37, all for Majewski. Aside from the 2nd round where Majewski, 28, briefly visited the canvas after being surprised by a big sweeping right hand from Espinal, most of the other action was dominated by Majewski, who showed an excellent jab and good skills despite his momentary lapse in the 2nd.
Fighting tall in the traditional European style of fighting, Majewski jabbed Espinal continuously in the first round, keeping the much shorter fighter at a distance. Espinal, only 5’6”, was giving up a huge six inches in height to Majewski and finding it tough trying to get in close enough to land a punch without taking a ton of jabs to the face in the process. Thankfully for Espinal, Majewski was making serious mistakes with his distancing, fighting too close to Espinal quite often and allowing him to get without punching room. At the same time, Majewski’s inability to keep Espinal on the outside had the effect of smothering Majewski’s good power. Still, he landed some good combinations in the 1st round and showed that he had excellent power in either hand.
In the 2nd round, Majewski continued to control the action, hitting Espinal with frequent left hands and quick combinations to the heads. About halfway through the round, however, Espinal got close enough to land a wild right hand that caught Majewski flush on the side of the head, sending him down to the canvas. Majewski immediately got up from the knockdown and seemed fine. However, it showed the kind of power that Espinal could muster up on rare occasions. I say ‘rare’ because he wasn’t throwing many punches and most of the punches he did throw were less powerful than right hand he nailed Majewski with. After knocking Majewski down, Espinal briefly attempted to go after him, and landed several more right hands moments after the knockdown. Majewski, though, turned the attack back on Espinal and finished the round landing good shots and seeming to be completely recovered from the knockdown.
In the 3rd round, Majewski opened the round with jabs, driving the shorter Espinal back to the round where he then pasted him with some powerful left hooks to the head. Ariel attacked back, hitting Majewski with two consecutive right hands. However, this seemed to get Majewski motivated, for he immediately attacked back with an extended series of combinations for the remainder of the round. At one point, with Espinal pinned in the corner, Majewski let out a yell as he pounded away at him with a flurry of shots.
In the 4th round, Espinal gamely tried to recreate the knockdown of Majewski, as he threw some wild right hands, but most of them missed badly. He did land a couple but this time Majewski saw them coming and took the shots without any problems whatsoever. As the round winded down, Majewski continued landing flurries while Espinal stood with his back against the ropes. For the last minute, it was all Majewski as he landed at will against the game but limited Espinal. Majewski did get hit with a big shot, which opened up a big cut under his right eye, but it didn’t matter much because there wasn’t very much time left in the round.