ESPN: Mark DeLuca vs. Ramsés Agatón & Jason Quigley vs. Daniel Rosario Cruiz RBR

Round 5

Falcão is actually proving woefully ineffective when Gutiérrez simply grinds him into a corner, head pressed into his chest, working the body. Gutiérrez landing uppercuts on the bottom of the jaw. Yamaguchi looking uncomfortable with the pressure and the proximity. Ref warns Gutiérrez a few times for billy-goating. Falcão lands a 1-2 as he's turning Gutiérrez and drops him with moments left on the clock!

10-9 Falcão

48-45 Falcão (believe it or not until the knockdown I was about to score that for Gutiérrez 10-9 and have it level at 47 apiece...)

 

Round 6

Gutiérrez is staying close and wrestling Falcão, pushing his left arm turned horizontally out into the face. Falcão is jimmying him off with the right jab, using it to pry Gutiérrez off and hold him out at arm's length. Right hooks and looping lefts by Falcão, flashing hand speed darting in and pulling out to reset. Gutiérrez getting in some licks but largely outworked and outlanded.

10-9 Falcão

58-54 Falcão

 

Bernardo Osuna keeps pronouncing it Falc-ee-ão (like it rhymes with Pacquiao)

 

Round 7

Gutiérrez is landing short cuffing blows on the ribs in the clinch and headhunting with lasso right hand leads. Falcão is throwing a quick but lumpy jab, retracting it low to his breastplate, up on his toes, chin stuck forward a bit as he gets off his flurries - playing with fire. They slam together in clinches and Falcão gets hit in the body, then separate and he lands counters. He's lucky Gutiérrez isn't throwing as much up top when he's close enough to.

10-9 Falcão

68-63 Falcão

 

Round 8

Gutiérrez is looking for the KO, per his corner's instructions. This was always the plan; they said before the fight he could only win by knockout and probably late once Falcão tired (if Richard put in enough work to set it up in the previous 7 frames, which he probably didn't by the looks of things). Falcão is hit with a bunch of diving straight rights at range and then uppercuts beneath the guard as they slam repeatedly into clinches. Falcão's own body work much less effective, outside the illegal blows. Falcão sheathing his jab as he's pretty arm weary and has plenty of points in the bank.

10-9 Gutiérrez

77-73 Falcão

 

Final stats:

Falcão 95 of 393, 24%
Gutiérrez 56 of 227, 25%

 

Official cards:

79-73
78-72
78-71

UD for Yamaguchi F.

 

Yeah, hard to believe he was ever a prospect any of us were hyped about. He's just very ordinary, and doesn't seem to know how to protect against the southpaw-killer right hand.

A lot of those rounds were pretty competitive (like, ironically, the round in which he scored the knockdown - in a mirror-image of the 1st, the guy that scored the knockdown otherwise lost the round IMO)

 

Hey that's my friend Martha in Quigley's dressing room! (she's a former amateur regional champion, now a pro judge/supervisor...we used to work in a law firm together, and I was the substitute teacher for her boxing classes at our dingy old gym before they sold out and became an MMA place)

 

Jason needs to quit saying "Boston".

Yeah, blah-blah, "second home to any Irishman", were it really home you wouldn't sully its name by pretending Quincy was part of it.

 

Jason Quigley vs. Daniel Rosario Cruz, 8 rounds @ middleweight