ShoBox: Edwin Rodriguez vs. James McGirt Jr. TONIGHT @ 11pm - RBR here!!

These guys look ready to war!

 

Engel is 6'2 and looks to have a bit more lean muscle.

Johnson actually didn't make weight (he was 172 and I think Farhood just said he paid a fine). It doesn't really show. If anything, at 5'11" he looks much smaller.

 

Round 1

Johnson is very aggressive with his short left jab. It slams loudly into Engel's chest. Engel is trying to stay tall but having a hard time setting his feet while Johnson keeps harassing him with the jab. Engel gets off a few combos punctuated with strong hooks but is getting jabbed up as they circle, with Johnson planting his feet and getting off a little faster. Engel starts trying to time him with the 1-2 and has some success with that but keeps losing his balance when he throws it as they land together. Johnson is moving Engel a little bit with the reaching right crosses that are whizzing in behind his jab now. Johnson starts to hook as Engel covers up and turns. Engel is fighting backing up and isn't terribly effective, still looking a bit imbalanced.

10-9 Johnson

 

Round 2

Engel tries to strike first with his jab and Johnson lets him get it off his chest. Johnson isn't worried by the Engel jab, turns and waits for him to stop before jabbing back. Engel lands a nice sneaky uppercut. Good infighting now from Engel as he tries to grab Johnson around the waist and hold him still before letting his hands go. Johnson isn't trying to work much on the inside, waiting to put in his work after they break. Engel's face is getting marked up as his hands keep moving to block the punches but his head remains an immobile target. Engel's head rocked a little. Engel throws a big hook and loses his footing. Engel is leading now with his jab. Johnson waits on him, then charges forward with jabs and hooks when Engel sputters to a halt. One hook crashes into Engel's face and backs him into the ropes.

Better round for Engel but he still lost it, and might not last much longer. Oh yeah, he's hanging on to the top rope while waiting on his corner to bring in the stool.

20-18 Johnson

 

Round 3

Engel keeps trying to throw a blanket on Johnson and get back to the infighting that he did well with last round. Unfortunately he's getting bombarded with hard fast counters on the way in. Johnson nails him with a right that has him teetering in the air and slowly falling over backwards! He gets up!!! What heart!!! Engel slugs it out at point blank!!!! He's hurt bad!!!!! He takes a standing eight count after stumbling away from Johnson after getting thumped in the gut. Johnson is smacking the **** out of him!!! Hard overhand rights to the jaw! Hooks to the body! Engel keeps his hands up!! RIGHT CROSS TO THE JAW!!!!! ENGEL STAYS UP SOMEHOW!!! WHAT A GLADIATOR!! ENGEL MOVING HIS HANDS, DIGGING TO THE BODY BUT COPPING AN ABSOLUTE BEATING!! JOHNSON NOW SLOWING DOWN, MAYBE PUNCHED OUT!!

KEVIN ENGEL SURVIVES!!!!!

10-7 Johnson

 

Mark Nelson walks over to Engel's corner in between rounds and says "That's enough!"

WTF?

Why not just stop it during the round??? :huh

 

After Engel took a pair of right hands, Nelson said "That's it" while breaking them up as Engel fell forward and flopped onto Johnson. The commentators thought it was being stopped but then it continued, which was very weird.

Engel held on and escaped the round...and Nelson strolls over to his corner and says "That's enough!" again.

So officially it's a TKO3 at 3:00 of the third round.

 

OK. I just rewound it to watch the whole third round and especially that confusing moment, and Mark Nelson actually didn't do anything round.

When he applied the standing 8, it was after Engel reacted to a body shot by clutching his stomach and backing away from Johnson, holding his hands out in like someone saying "time out". It's up to the ref's discretion to interpret this behavior the same way as someone taking a knee...which for all practical purposes was the correct interpretation. Engel was hurt and wanted to recover for a moment...his instinct about what to do wasn't wrong (backing up instead of going down to one knee). He certainly wasn't upset to receive the count.

When Nelson said "That's it, that's it, that's it!" he was referring to the clean break out of the corner. The two were clinched up and Johnson kind of roughly shook Engel while he was holding on to him. Nelson kept feinting like he was going to move in to break them up but when they did it on their own he said "That's it, that's it, that's it" as they were doing what he had meant to instruct them to do (and it was kind of a sloppy break, where Engel kept trying to cling on to Johnson, so Nelson was probably just trying to convey in the heat of the moment "Yes, keep breaking clean and then restart" but didn't have the right words to communicate it clearly).