By Manuel Perez: Super bantamweight Jonathan Oquendo (15-2, 9 KOs) defeated Jose Angel Beranza (30-14-2, 25 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the Coliseum Fransisco Deyda, in Hatillo, Puerto Rico. The final judges’ scores were 97-92, 97-92 and 97-92, all for Oquendo. Like the other fight on the card between Irving Garcia and Chris Smith, I thought the scores were way out of line with the actual fight that took place. I had the Beranza-Oquendo fight scored a draw, with Oquendo winning most of the earlier rounds, but then getting rocked by Beranza and losing the last five rounds.
Beranza, 32, from Mexico, looked incredibly good from the 6th round on, mounting a furious comeback powered by hard body shots and hooks to the head. Oquendo, only 25, looked uncomfortable with the body shots and seemed unable to fend off Beranza’s attacks with any kind of luck. Compared to the first five rounds, in which Oquendo dominated with his speed and heavy onslaught of punches, the fight looked like two completely different bouts. Beranza seemed over-matched in the early portion of the bout, as Oquendo went after him with both hands pounding him with heavy shots to the head, frequently driving Beranza to the ropes where he would cover up.
Oquendo seemed to be looking for an early knockout, and hence was emptying his toolbox in order to try and score one as fast as possible in front of his home crowd in Puerto Rico. However, Oquendo probably should have saved some of his firepower until later in the fight, because Beranza, a fighter with an excellent chin, was going nowhere, no matter how hard Oquendo tried to take him out. In the 2nd round, Oquendo landed a good right hand that snapped Beranza’s head back on impact.
For the remainder of the round, Oquendo chased him around at almost a run, throwing shots as if he thought that Beranza would soon collapse under the strain. The problem was, he wasn’t phased in the slightest and took Oquendo’s shots with little problem and seemed to be waiting for the young Puerto Rican fighter to foolishly tire himself out trying for a knockout. In the 4th round, Oquendo fought well in the opening moments of the round, but was hurt by a big left hand from Beranza, causing Oqeundo’s legs to sag for a moment.
Beranza went after him but was unable to knock him down, but he battered him for the remainder of the round. In the 5th round, Oquendo returned the favor, stunning Beranza with a big left hand that caused him to stumble backwards, losing his footing for a brief moment.
After winning the 6th round, Oquendo was shut out in the last four rounds, getting badly out-worked by Beranza in rounds seven though ten. None of the rounds were even close, as Beranza put enormous pressure on the now tired Oquendo, blasting him over and over again with big shots to the body and head and keeping him on the run until the end of the bout.