Rugged super middleweight veteran Rogelio “Porky” Medina (33-6, 27 KOs) of Mexico scored an upset win over previously-unbeaten contender J’Leon Love (18-1, 10 KOs) of Michigan when he floored Love with a left hook in the third round Saturday night in Las Vegas.
“I knew in the beginning that he was going to box so I was focused on cutting off the ring and applying pressure at all time,’’ a jubilant Medina said afterward. “I was very surprised the fight ended like it did when it did. I expected to win but not in this kind of explosive fashion this early in the fight."
After Love missed with a left land, Medina countered with a combination of punches to the chin and head that dropped Love face-first to the canvas. The final shot was a perfectly placed left hook that arrived before Love's own left hook landed on Medina. Love attempted to beat the count, but referee Tony Weeks stepped in and stopped the fight at 39 seconds into the third round.
“This was a classic case of the fact that no tuneup is ever a fully safe tuneup," said boxing analyst Steve Farhood. "Love was on the verge of securing a shot at the world title and, on paper, Medina was the kind of opponent who figured to suit him well style-wise. But in a split second, Love hooked with the hooker and when he went down face-first you knew he wasn’t getting up. It was an incredible and unlikely win for Medina and an incredible and severely damaging loss for Love.”
It was the second time that a Mayweather Promotions fighter has been upset recently by knockout. The other fighter in the Mayweather stable, Badou Jack (17-1-1, 11 KOs) of Sweden, bounced back from a first-round KO defeat to pitch a near 10-round shutout against Jason Escalera (15-3-1, 12 KOs) of New Jersey.
Jack won by the scores 100-90 twice and 99-91. “I didn’t have any nerves going into this fight based off of what happened in my last fight,” he said. “I had a long training camp and we worked on all my mistakes from my last fight. I told everyone that it was just a lucky punch after my lazy jab and I was just caught, stuff happens it’s boxing.
In addition, talented Romanian 168-pounder Ronald “Thrill” Gavril (10-0, 8 KOs) scored one knockdown en route to an impressive seventh-round TKO over hard-trying Thomas Falowo (12-3, 8 KOs).
“I was very happy with my performance,’’ Gavril said. “I worked very hard for this, and I’m glad it showed. I am especially pleased because I knew I had some Romanian fans in the house. He was very tough and came to win. After I knocked him down in the third, he came back and won the fourth."
Mayweather discusses Maidana rematch
Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather was at ringside Saturday night to watch his young fighters in action. The look of disappointment on his face was obvious on camera when Love's fight was stopped, but that didn't deter his optimistic outlook for his September 13 showdown with Maidana.
“I’m making sure that my body is stretched the right way," said Mayweather. "Every camp is different, but I feel comfortable and I’m pretty sure my opponent is ready to fight because I am. All I try to do is to stay positive and get good work in."
“I am able to make adjustments and adapt very, very easily. I’ve made adjustments before, even with my last rematch almost 12 years ago against [Jose Luis] Castillo. I’m in tip top shape and am a lot stronger this fight than when I first fought Maidana. My conditioning is also exactly where it needs to be."
“If you look back at the fight, I think it was very exciting for the first three or four rounds and out of 12 rounds I would say he won three rounds, but I dominated for nine rounds. The fans, critics and people are so used to me winning 11, 12 rounds or knocking a guy out. To have an opponent actually put up a good fight for four rounds [is something that is unusual in a fight of mine]. All throughout the fight I was boxing and being sharp and Maidana was constantly being dirty."
As for his fighters, Mayweather offered the following:
“I was impressed with [Ronald] Gavril. He should’ve gone to the body a bit more, but he’s still in the learning stages of his career. I believe that he is a future world champion. Eddie [Mustafa] Muhammad is his trainer, who is one of the best trainers out there. Gavril is still working very hard in the gym so in the future there should be some very good results."
By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services
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