By: William Holmes
Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions was televised on Fox Sports 1 live from the National Bank Center in Trenton, NJ and featured a super bantamweight main event between Juan Dominguez and Yenifel Vicente and a co main event in the cruiserweight division between unbeaten Keith Tapia and veteran Garrett Wilson. Middleweight prospect Immanuwel Aleem was also featured in a bout against Carlos Galvan.
The opening bout of the night was between Garrett Wilson(16-9-1) and Keith Tapia (16-0) in the cruiserweight division.
Tapia was eight years younger than Wilson, and had a six inch height advantage and a three inch reach advantage. Wilson, as usual, looked to be in good shape, but the height difference was readily apparent. It also didn’t help Wilson that he took the fight on three weeks notice.
Tapia was using his reach well in the first round and forced Wilson to be short with his punches with an effective jab. Tapia’s uppercuts were landing regularly in the first round, but Wilson did have some success when he went to the body.
The second round featured more crisp combinations from Tapia, especially with his jab and short uppercuts. Wilson was able to briefly wobble Tapia with a straight right hand, but Tapia fought back and landed hard shots that may have hurt Wilson. Tapia did receive a small cut near his left eye this round.
Wilson came out in the third round throwing bombs, but Tapia kept the fight at a safe distance and used his jab to keep Wilson at bay. There were some good exchanges in the third round, but Wilson was starting to land some of his bombs.
Wilson had a very strong fourth round and he staggered Tapia with right uppercuts and left hooks, and got the better of Tapia when the exchanged. Tapia however turned the tide of the fight back in his favor in the fifth and sixth round by using good movement and a sharp stiff jab.
Wilson was starting to show some desperation in the seventh round by missing with wild and out of control shots, while Tapia seemed content in wisely trying to outbox Wilson and avoid the hard exchanges.
By the final three rounds Wilson clearly needed a knockout to win the fight, and he was able to land his occasional hard shot, but Tapia showed a good chin and out boxed Wilson with an effective jab and slick movement.
The judges scored the bout 97-93, 99-91, and 99-91 for Keith Tapia.
The next bout of the night was between Immanuwel Aleem (14-0) and Carlos Galvan (11-3-1) in the middleweight division. Aleem had a three inch reach advantage and a one inch height advantage over Galvan.
Aleem came into this fight with seven straight stoppages, and Galvan had been stopped twice in his career.
Aleem was sharp with his jab in the first round and was sticking his jab to the body of Galvan. Galvan was applying hard pressure and did better in the second half of the opening stanza. Aleem’s lead left hook was landing in the second round and he was able to counter Galvan when he came forward, but Galvan was applying a lot of pressure and kept his face in the chest of Aleem.
Galvan slowed down a bit in the third round and Aleem was throwing crisp combinations to the body and head. They were exchanging in close quarters and Aleem appeared to be doing a better job at blocking Galvan’s punches.
Aleem came out extremely aggressive in the fourth round and jumped right on Galvan, but Galvan was able to turn the tide in the middle of the fourth by landing some hard uppercuts that caught Aleem off guard.
Aleem went back to his jab in the fifth round and was able to land some good body shots in the sixth round. Aleem’s jab continued to keep Galvan at bay in the sixth and his double left hooks were landing with increasing accuracy.
By the final round Aleem looked like the fresher fighter and throwing the crisper punches, while Galvan was still applying pressure but his punches didn’t have the snap of earlier rounds.
The judges scored the bout 78-74, 77-75, and 77-75 for Immanuwel Aleem.
The main event of the night was between Juan Dominguez (19-0) and Yenifel Vicente (27-3-2) in the super bantamweightt division.
Dominguez has the height advantage and Vicente pressed forward early in the first round and was able to land a good right cross that stunned Dominguez. Dominguez was able to recover, but received two warnings in the opening round to keep his punches up. Vicente was the slightly sharper boxer in the opening round.
Dominguez started off the second round by landing a sharp double jab that momentarily stopped Vicente’s forward momentum. Vicente was able to land a hard left hook followed by a right hook that got the attention of the crowd. Dominguez did lose a point in the second round for another low blow that forced Vicente to take a knee.
Vicente opened up the third round by a right uppercut to the body and quickly followed it with a brutal right hand to the head of Dominguez that sent him crashing violently to the mat and unable to get back up. The referee did not need to count and waived the fight off as Dominguez was out cold.
Yenifel Vicente wins by a shocking knockout at 0:20 of the third round.