By: William Holmes
Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions Series was broadcast from the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi as Edwin Rodriguez took on the undefeated Michael Seals in the light heavyweight division.
The opening bout of the night was between Thomas Williams Jr. (18-1) and Humberto Savigne (12-2) in the light heavyweight division.
Williams was eight years younger than Savigne but he was shorter in both height and reach. Williams was a southpaw and Savigne fought out of an orthodox stance.
Both boxers were coming off recent losses, as Savigne was stopped by Craig Baker and Williams lost to Gabriel Campillo two fights ago. Williams scored a quick knockdown in the first round with a right to the temple but Savigne was able to beat the count. Williams was showing good head movement after the first knockdown until Savigne landed a straight right hand that sent Williams to his back side for the second knockdown of the round. Williams was able to get up and survive the round, but he looked a little shaky as the round ended.
Williams came out aggressively in the second round but Savigne landed a hard straight right to his nose that momentarily slowed him down. Williams decided to slug it out and followed it up with a clean left hook to the chin followed by a combination that sent Savigne to the mat for the second time of the night. Savigne was met with several combinations by Williams upon returning to his feet and valiantly tried to hold on, but the referee stopped the fight.
Thomas Williams Jr. wins by knockout at 1:48 of the second round.
The next bout of the night was between Bryant Perrella (11-0) and Chaquib Fadli (13-5) in the welterweight division. Perrella is eight years younger than Fadl, who is from France and had to have been fighting with a heavy heart.
Perrella had won every fight by stoppage except for one.
Perrella was a southpaw and gave up some reach to the lanky Fadli. Perrella was crisp with his counter punches early on and had Fadli covering up by the ropes before going down to a body shot and sat on the ropes. Fadli was able to get back up but was met with several more hard combinations including two consecutive straight left hands that sent Fadli to the mat again.
Fadli was clearly overmatched and the referee rightly stopped the bout. Perrella wins by knockout at 1:30 of the first round.
The next bout of the night was another swing bout between Fernando Guerrero (27-3) and Daniel Souza Santos (13-8) in the middleweight division.
Fernando Guerrero was a former world title challenger and looked to be in much better shape than Santos. Guerrero was the sharper boxer in the first two rounds as Santos was wild with his punches but was keeping the fight in tight.
The first two rounds were close, but Guerrero’s skill level began to show in the third round as he was pressing the action more and Santos was tiring. Guerrero controlled the middle rounds and nearly had Santos down in an action packed sixth round as he pummeled Santos from corner to corner with hard uppercuts and short hooks.
Santos came out for the seventh round but looked exhausted and broken down. Guerrero kept up the pressure and banged hooks and uppercuts to the head and body of Santos before a left uppercut finally sent Santos to the mat. Santos got up before the count of ten but it was clear his fighting spirit had been sapped and the referee waived off the fight.
Fernando Guerrero wins by TKO at 1:45 of the seventh round.
The main event of the night was between Michael Seals (19-0) and Edwin Rodriguez (27-1) in the light heavyweight division. This was Seals first fight on a major network and three of his past five opponents had losing records.
Rodriguez was fighting for a possible future world title shot against Adonis Stevenson.
Rodriguez came out incredibly aggressive and was throwing bombs to the body and head of Seals. He was throwing wild punches and scored an early knockdown after Seals falls trying to run away from Rodriguez after getting hit with a shot. Seals got back up and wasn’t hurt and Rodriguez went after Seals wildly and overly aggressively and got tagged with a hard right hand that sent Rodriguez to the mat. Rodriguez was badly hurt when he got back to his feet and remained careless and got tagged with a brutal straight right hand that sent him to the mat for a second time. He barely beat the count and looked completely lost in the ring but the referee allowed him to continue after the first intense round ended.
Rodriguez came out aggressively in the second round and was aiming for the body of Seals, who looked very confident inside the ring. Rodriguez looked like his legs were back underneath him by the middle of the second round, Rodriguez had Seals backed up into the corner near the end of the second round and he landed a crushing overhand right that sent Seals to the mat. Seals was able to get back to his feet but he was dazed and able to somehow survive.
Rodriguez was fully recovered by the start of the third round and Seals was still hurt from the prior round and he went down early on from a straight right hand. Seals was flailing as he hit the mat and the referee wisely stopped the bout after three intense rounds.
Edwin Rodriguez survives a scare and wins by TKO at 0:24 of the third round.