Antonio Williams threatened all through battle week to steal the present from his increased profile stablemate.
It stays to be seen if it holds true however the unbeaten Texan earned his newest win in fashion. Two early knockdowns paved the way in which for a first-round knockout of Dominican Republic’s Braulio Rodriguez of their Fite TV Pay-Per-View preliminary bout Friday night from On line casino Miami Jai Alai.
The latter of Rodriguez (20-7, 17KOs) profusely complained that each knockdowns got here from photographs behind the again of the pinnacle. Williams—skilled by Kevin Cunningham, whose star pupil Adrien Broner headlines the present—landed a chopping proper hand behind the ear to ship Rodriguez to the canvas. The ultimate knockdown appeared to land in the identical location, this time with the battle dropped at a halt at 2:22 of spherical one.
Adlay Rodriguez practically matched the quickest win of his younger profession. The 18-year-old Miami-based Cuban southpaw blasted out Raul Garcia Jr. within the opening spherical of their battle of unbeaten welterweights. Garcia was down 3 times, at which level referee Samuel Burgos stopped the competition at 1:48 of spherical one.
Rodriguez (5-0, 5KOs)—skilled by Ronnie Shields—drove Garcia (2-1, 1KOs) into the ropes for the primary knockdown after which dropped the Oklahoma Metropolis native with a physique shot. The ultimate blow of the evening was a straight left hand by Rodriguez to drive an instantaneous halt to the competition. The win was his third within two minutes, and got here simply six weeks after a 61-second blitzing of Izaiah Vargas at close by Miccosukee Indian Gaming Resort.
Antonio Perez posted the primary win of the evening for boxers from Pennsylvania. Not like the night’s most important occasion, Perez was favored to beat California’s Nigel Fennell (13-3, 8KOs) and had little problem as proven on the scorecards. All three judges scored the competition 80-72 for Perez (8-0, 5KOs) of their welterweight contest.
Joshua Clark opened the eight-fight Don King-promoted extravaganza with an upset win over beforehand unbeaten Dorian Bostic. Scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56 all went to Clark, who outworked Maryland’s Bostic (13-1, 12KOs) from the opening bell and rode out a tough fourth spherical to shut robust and protect the victory.
Headlining the present, Broner (34-4-1, 24KOs) ends a 28-month layoff as he faces Pittsburgh’s Invoice Hutchinson (20-2-4, 9KOs) in a ten-round welterweight contest. Cincinnati’s Broner—who turns 34 in July—has not fought since a February 2021 unanimous choice victory over Puerto Rico’s Jovanie Santiago.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox