By: William Holmes
The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada was the host site for tonight’s middleweight showdown between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs on the DAZN Streaming network.
The main card started at 9pm, and the undercard before the main card featured a shocking 13-1 underdog upset by Anthony “Juice” Young of Pleasantville, New Jersey over former junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali by a third round stoppage.
The first fight of the main card was in the super featherweight division Jonathan Oquendo (30-5) and Lamont Roach Jr. (18-0-1).
Both boxers fought out of an orthodox stance and Oquendo was pressing forward early and able to land some shots that forced blood to come from Roach’s nose.
Roach was landing some solid hooks on Oquendo in the second round, but Oquendo was banging to the body and applying heavy pressure. Oquendo was warned in the third round for holding Roach and to keep his head up.
Oquendo had Roach hurt badly in the fourth round with some body shots that forced Roach to hold on for most of the round. However, Roach turned the tide back in his favor in the fifth round by landing some heavy shots, though he landed one at a time instead of throwing combinations.
Oquendo’s activity likely won him the sixth round, and he was the more active fighter in the seventh also though Roach did land some hard counters.
Oquendo lost a point in the eight round for an headbutt which was a little bit questionable. The final two rounds played out like most of the fight, with Oquendo pressing the pace but Roach landing the cleaner shots.
The judges scored it 97-92, 97-92, and 96-93 for Lamont Roach Jr.
The next bout of the night was Freddy Fonseca (26-2-1) and Joseph Diaz (28-1) in the super featherweight division.
Fonseca and Diaz both fought out of a southpaw stance, and this was Fonseca’s first fight in the United States.
Diaz looked strong and healthy at 130 pounds, and landed heavy body and head shots early on. By the third round it was clear that Diaz was clearly the superior fighter, and had landed 50% of his power shots by the fourth round.
Fonseca had a decent fifth round, though was still out struck and out landed by Diaz. Diaz brutalized Fonseca in the sixth round and out landed him 30-4 in punches and scored a late round knockdown when Fonseca was forced to take a knee.
Diaz continued to land power shots at will in the sixth round and forced Fonseca’s corner to step up and stop the fight.
Joseph Diaz wins by TKO at 2:07 of the seventh round.
The co-main event of the night was between Vergil Ortiz (12-0) and Mauricio Herrera (24-8) in the welterweight division.
Herrera looked a little soft going into the ring, but he was a rugged veteran who’s been in the ring with some tough fighters.
Ortiz showed off his power early by being patient and solving the jab of Herrera and hurting him with a left hook at the end of the round. Ortiz remained patient in the second round and badly hurt Herrera at the end of the round and forced a knockdown as the round came to an end. Herrera got back to his feet, but was badly hurt as he returned to his corner.
Ortiz came out blazing in the third round and landed a crushing straight right hand that sent Herrera to the mat and forced the referee to stop the bout.
Vergil Ortiz wins by TKO at 0:29 of the third round.
