Robert Easter Jr. vs. Javier Fortuna – Results

By Boxing News - 01/20/2018 - Comments

Image: Robert Easter Jr. vs. Javier Fortuna – Results

By Stanley White: IBF World lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr. (21-0, 14 KOs) outworked former WBA World super featherweight champion Javier Fortuna (33-2-1, 23 Kos) by a close 12 round split decision on Saturday night in front of a large crowd in a televised fight on Showtime Championship Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The judges scored the fight 115-112, 114-113 for Easter Jr. and 114-113 for Fortuna. Boxing News 24 scored the fight for Easter Jr. by a 114-113 score. The fans at ringside booed the results of the fight, as they seemed to prefer the pot shot style of Fortuna, who clearly landed the better eye-catching punches in the fight.

Fortuna hurt Easter Jr. with a hard left hand to the head in round 6 when the two fighters were against the ropes. Easter Jr. retreated all across the ring after getting hurt, but the round ended before Fortuna could do any real damage. It was impressive round for Fortuna.

Much of the fight was conducted at close range with a ton of wrestling. Fortuna hurt his own cause in getting a point deducted in round 2 after hitting Easter Jr. with several punches to the back of the head. Fortuna had already been warned for fouling with him holding and hitting Easter Jr. When Fortuna opted to hit Easter Jr. with 3 straight rabbit punches in the 2nd, referee Ricky Gonzalez chose to take a point away.

Fortuna disappeared for the most part in rounds 7 to 11, as he allowed himself to be outworked by Easter Jr. Fortuna was backed against the ropes and taking short punches from Easter Jr. The punches were hard, but they were constant. It was a mistake on Fortuna’s part to let himself be backed up against the ropes, because he was landing the better shots when he was in the center of the ring.

”Of course I’m the champion. He was holding all fight. You’re a professional. Make the weight next time,” said Easter Jr.

There seemed to be bad blood after the fight during the post-fight interviews for Fortuna and Easter Jr. Initially, they had good things to say about each other, but things turned sour when Fortuna started saying that he should have won the fight. At that point, Easter Jr. stepped in and started to let Fortuna know that he hadn’t done enough to deserve a victory in the fight. Fortuna felt that the booing from the boxing fans after the decision was read aloud that it meant he should have won.

Fortuna came in 1 ½ pounds over the 135 lb. weigh-in limit last Friday at the weigh-in for the fight. As such, the IBF title wasn’t on the line for the fight. It’s unclear whether Easter Jr. will give Fortuna a rematch or not. It wasn’t a pretty fight to watch, and it’s not something that the boxing fans would be missing out on if the two of them fail to fight again.

”If he’s a man let’s do it again at 135,”Fortuna said. ”The fans know who won. I’ll definitely make the weight.”

It’s hard to Fortuna as the winner of this fight tonight because he didn’t do quite enough to win. He was too passive and too lazy during many of the rounds unfortunately. It was a winnable fight for Fortuna if he’d stayed in the center of the ring, but he made the same mistake against Easter Jr. that he made in his loss to Jason Sosa 2 years ago in June 2016. Fortuna spent most of the fight backed against the ropes by Sosa, and he ended up getting knocked out in the 11th round. Sosa did a much better job against Fortuna than Easter Jr. did, but that’s because Sosa is a bigger puncher.