https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDIu252-Ouk&feature=youtu.be

By Jim Dower: Jose Uzcategui (24-1, 20 KOs) badly exposed previously unbeaten #5 IBF Julius Jackson (19-1, 15 KOs) in stopping him in the 2nd round of a scheduled 12 round fight on Tuesday night on Premier Boxing champions at the Cowboys Dance Hall, in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Uzcategui put Jackson down four times en route to winning by an easy 2nd round knockout.

The finishing knockdown came from a left hook by Uzcategui in the 2nd round. Jackson never seemed to recover from the initial knockdown he suffered early in the 1st. Referee Ton Weeks halted the fight at 0:43 of the 2nd.

In the 1st round, Uzcategui nailed Jackson with a beautful right hand to the head that put him down. Moments later, Uzcategui connected on a left-right combination that put Jackson on the canvas for the second time in the round. A short while later, Uzcategui dropped Jackson with a left hook to the head. Surprisingly, Jackson was able to make it out of the round without getting stopped.

Jackson, 28, is the son of former two division world champion Julian Jackson (55-6, 49 KOs). Unfortunately for Julius Jackson, he didn’t inherit his father’s hand speed and devastating punching power. As bad as Julius looked tonight, I think his father Julian would have done a better job than him if he’s come out of his corner to start throwing bombs with Uzcategui.

This win made Uzcategui look a lot better than he actually is. He’s still the same fighter that was totally schooled last year by Matt Korobov in losing by a lopsided 10 round unanimous decision. Korobov knocked Uzcategui down twice in the fight and him looking afraid to throw punches. But tonight, Uzcategui was in with a very amateurish Julius Jackson, and it was easy for him to dominate the action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itij4EUGl30&feature=youtu.be

Jackson didn’t throw more than a small handful of punches tonight, and when he did his punches were really slow. He lacks hand speed, defense and a chin. Jackson might want to think about retiring because if he can’t beat a limited fighter like Uzcategui then there’s nowhere for him to go.

In hindsight, Jackson should have been holding after he was knocked down the first time. But instead of holding, he tried to cover up and ride out the storm. Jackson has done this in his other fights against 2nd and 3rd tier opposition when he’d start getting over by them. That was the wrong thing to do against Uzcategui, because he just teed off on Jackson once he had him hurt. Uzcategui is a B level fighter with good punching power, and better hand speed than Jackson. He totally abused Jackson after the 1st knockdown in the 1st round. Jackson looked like a fighter who had never laced up a pair of gloves before. Calling him a raw fighter is being kind. He was worse than a raw fighter.

***

In a surprise upset, Algenis Mendez (23-3-1, 12 KOs) defeated former IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez (35-5, 13 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 99-90, 97-92 and 95-94.

The scores were wider than you’d believe from watching the fight. Vazquez appeared to do enough to earn at least a draw out of the fight. He was the one pushing the fight to Mendez the entire 10 rounds, and it looked like he was getting the better of him much of the time.

Vazquez, 28, was the busier fighter in the first half of the contest. However, Mendez came on strong with the harder punchers in the second half of the fight to get the victory. Vazquez had a point deducted in the 7th round for holding. Vazquez had been warned previously by the referee to stop holding but he continued to do so until losing a point. Vazquez was also ramming Mendez with his head by charging forward and crashing into him frequently head first.

Mendez connected on 101 of 403 punches for a connect percentage of 22 percent. Vazquez landed 111 of 384 punches for a connect percentage of 29 percent.

For Vazquez, this loss has to really hurt his career because he’s now lost two out of his last three fights. He lost his IBF lightweight title to Mickey Bey last year in September in losing a 12 round split decision. Tonight’s loss hurts even worse because it was to an arguably lesser fighter than Bey.

***

Undefeated welterweight prospect Ryan Karl (10-0, 7 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a harder than expected 6 round unanimous decision win over Alfonso Leonel Olivera (4-2, 2 KOs). The final judges’ scores were 58-55, 59-54 and 59-54. Karl hurt Olivera in the 5th round with a big right hand that caused him to take a knee. Olivera lost his mouthpiece after getting nailed with that fight hand, which was the second time that he’d lost his mouthpiece in the fight. Fortunately for Olivera, he’s didn’t get docked a point for this.

Karl’s left eye was badly swollen after the 1st round, but it didn’t get worse in the following rounds.

Olivera fought well in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, as he landed a lot of uppercuts and nice rights to the head of Karl. However, from the 4th round on, Karl took command of the fight with his powerful right hand shots.

Karl landed 121 of 464 punches for a connect percentage of 26.