By Mike Smith: #6 WBO Maciej Sulecki (28-1, 11 KOs) had to overcome two knockdowns in the ninth round to go on to defeat Gabriel Rosado (24-12-1, 14 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision on Friday night to win the vacant World Boxing Organisation International Middleweight at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Sulecki, 29, won the fight by the scores 95-91, 95-93 and 95-91. Boxing News 24 scored it 95-91 for Sulecki. Rosado was knocked down in rounds one and eight by big shots from Sulecki. In the ninth round, Rosado badly hurt Sulecki in dropping him with a powerful left-right combination. After Sulecki got back to his feet, Rosado hit him with some shots while he was holding onto him. Sulecki then hit the deck from the accumulation of shots. The round ended shortly after Sulecki got back to his feet, which prevented Rosado from finishing him off. As badly hurt as Sulecki, he likely would have been stopped. One thing though. The punches that Rosado was hitting Sulecki with to produce the second knockdown of the round were mostly rabbit punches to the back of his head. The referee could have arguably waived off the knockdown due to the shots being rabbit punches instead of shots to the legal portion of Sulecki’s head.
“I don’t know why. It was stupid,” Sulecki said in explaining why he was knocked down twice in the ninth by Rosado. “I decided to fight instead of box. This was a very bad fight. I lost concentration. I’m ready for Demetrius Andrade. I’m ready,” Sulecki said.
The win for Sulecki most likely means he’ll be challenging World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (27-0, 17 KOs) in June on DAZN in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. Andrade was briefly commentary for DAZN tonight, and he stated that he would have an easy time landing his shots against Sulecki, as well as Rosado.
“I thought I turned it around in the middle rounds,” Rosado said. “I thought I closed it by the time I got into the ninth round. I thought I won. It’s hard to understand.”
Rosado seemed to be having a hard time coming to terms with his loss tonight. The reality he appeared to lose rounds 1 through 8 to Sulecki. Although Rosado did an excellent job of rallying to win the the 9th and 10th rounds, he didn’t do enough to win any of the first eight rounds. Sulecki was clearly the better fighter in rounds 1-8. Although Rosado showed a lot of heart in coming back to knock Sulecki down twice in round nine, one of the knockdowns probably should have been waived off by the referee due to Rosado landing a series of rabbit punches that helped him score the second knockdown. There appeared to be at least three if four rabbit shots from Rosado that led to Sulecki going down for the second time in the ninth.
Luke Campbell vs. Adrian Young – RESULTS
#1 WBC lightweight contender Luke Campbell (20-2, 16 KOs) defeated a game but limited journeyman Adrian Young (26-6-2, 20 KOs) by a fifth round knockout in a stay busy fight for him. Campbell dropped a bloody and battered the 26-year-old Young in the fourth round. In the fifth, Campbell continued to hit Young at will with shots, promoting referee Eric Dali to step in to halt the fight. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:37. Campbell’s win keeps him in position to challenge for a world title either against WBC champion Mikey Garcia or one of the top contenders if he elects to vacate his WBC title after Saturday night’s fight with Spence. With the big money that Mikey Garcia is expected to make against Spence, it might be hard for Mikey to go back down to lightweight so soon and fight for far less money against Campbell, who isn’t a star in the U.S. Garcia vs. Campbell wouldn’t be a big fight.
Raymond Ford vs. Weusi Johnson – RESULTS
Making his pro debut, featherweight Raymond Ford (1-0) used his blazing hand speed to defeat journeyman Weusi Johnson (3-11) by a four round unanimous decision. The scores were 39-36, 39-36 and 39-36. The southpaw Ford knocked Johnson down in the first round. However, Ford was unable to hurt Johnson again in the fight.
Daniyar Yeleussinov vs. Silverio Ortiz – RESULTS
2016 Olympic gold medalist and welterweight prospect Daniyar Yeleussinov (6-0, 3 KOs) won a tougher than expected eight round unanimous decision over journeyman Silverio Ortiz (37-24, 18 KOs). The score were 79-70, 79-71 and 79-71. Boxing News 24 scored it for the 28-year-old southpaw Yeleussinov by the score 79-71. Yeleussinov came close to being disqualified in the seventh round after knocking the 36-year-old Ortiz down with a left-right to the head when he was trapped against the ropes. Yeleussinov hit Ortiz on the back of his neck while he was down on the canvas on all fours. The shot hurt Ortiz badly, and he laid on the canvas holding the back of his neck for a long period of time while the ringside doctor and referee checked on him. Yeleussinov was penalized one point for hitting Ortiz while he was down on the canvas. Fortunately for Yeleussinov, Ortiz got back to his feet and resumed fighting. Had Ortiz been too injured to continue on, Yeleussinov would have been disqualified for his foul in hitting him while he was down. Ortiz landed the bigger, and cleaner landing shots the entire fight. He wasn’t as busy as Yeleussinov, and that prevented him from winning. The performance by Yeleussinov raises a lot of questions whether he has the punching power, defense and the punch resistance for him to compete at the highest levels of the welterweight division. Ortiz buzzed Yeleussinov on a couple of occasions with his shots. But more worrisome than that was how easily Ortiz was able to hit Yeleussinov. He was hitting the Kazakhstan fighter with almost everything he threw in the fight. Had this been a bigger puncher like Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr., Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia or Terence Crawford, Yeleussinov likely would have been knocked out. The welterweight division might not be a good fit for Yeleussinov. He would do better if he could move down to 140 to compete against weaker punchers than the guys he’ll be dealing with in the welterweight division. Yeleussinov was a good amateur, but it’s a lot tougher at the pro level than what he experienced as an amateur.
Avery Sparrow vs. Hank Lundy – RESULTS
Lightweight Avery Sparrow (10-1, 3 KOs) defeated journeyman Hank Lundy (29-8-1, 14 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 96-92, 95-93 for Sparrow, and 94-94. Boxing News 24 scored it 95-93.
D’Mitrius Ballard vs. Victor Fonseca – RESULTS
Unbeaten super middleweight D’Mitrius Ballard (20-0, 13 KOs) defeated journeyman Victor Fonseca (17-10-1, 14 KOs) by a fifth round knockout. The fight was halted by referee Eric Dali at 2:11 of round 5.