By Mark Eisner: In an impressive performance by former two-division world champion Jose ‘Sniper’ Pedraza (29-3, 14 KOs), he stopped Julian Rodriguez (21-1, 14 KOs) by an eighth round stoppage on Saturday night at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Pedraza, 32, used his jab and single shots to hit the huge-looking Rodriguez at will, puffing his right eye. By the eighth round, Rodriguez was bad shape, getting hit and his eye looking bad. After the eighth round ended, Rodriguez opted not to continue fighting.
With the victory, Pedraza has a chance to possibly fight Teofimo Lopez in October if he decides to move up to 140.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said on Friday that Teofimo could face the winner of the Pedraza vs. Rodriguez fight if he chooses not to face Vasily Lomachenko in a rematch on PPV. Teofimo has already refused to fight Lomachenko, which leaves Pedraza as the man in the spotlight.
Arum said Teofimo won’t be fighting WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney because it’s too “complicated” to make the fight by October.
Undercard results:
- Super featherweight Tyler McCreary (16-2-1, 7 KOs) came off a long layoff to defeat Manuel Rey Rojas (21-5, 6 KOs) by an eight round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 79-73, 80-72, 80-72. McCreary hadn’t fought in a year and a half since losing to Carl Frampton by a 10 round decision in 2019.
- Undefeated light welterweight John Bauza (15-0, 6 KOs) blew away Christon Edwards (12-3, 6 KOs) by a second-round knockout. Bauza knocked Edwards down three times in the contest, once in the first and two more times in the second round before the bout was halted. The time of the stoppage was at :40 of round two.
- Undefeated welterweight prospect Xander Zayas (9-0, 7 KOs) looked impressive tonight with a third round knockout victory over Larry Fryers (11-4, 4 KOs). In the third, the 18-year-old Zayas hurt Fryers with a big shot, and then unloaded on him until the referee halted the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 1:02 of round three.
- Super featherweight Bryan Lua (8-0, 3 KOs) defeated Frevian Gonzalez (4-1, 1 KOs) by a six round unanimous decision. The scores were 58-56, 60-54, 60-54.
- Middleweight prospect Troy Isley (2-0, 1 KOs) stopped LaQuan Evans (4-2, 2 KOs) in the fourth round. The fight was halted after Isley landed some nice shots that resulted in the referee jumping in to halt the bout.
- Welterweight prospect Kasir Goldson (3-0, 1 KOs) beat Maurice Anthony (3-2, 3 KOs) by a four round unanimous decision The scores were 40-36, 40-36, 40-36.
- Jahi Tucker (4-0, 2 KOs) beat Ysrael Barboza (3-2-1, 3 KOs) by a four round unanimous decision in welterweight action. The scores were 40-36, 40-36, 40-36.