Solo Boxeo Tecate: Mercito Gesta vs. Ivan Valle RBR

Round 2

Franco is back to work and has a totally cavalier "day at the office" pokerface as he alternates between multiple jabs and multiple right leads, never punching wide enough or in long enough sequence to leave himself open to counters. Slow, steady, and accurate is Franco's game. Landeros tries again to make it rough, putting his forearms and elbows out and trying to drown Franco in a corner, but getting spun around and finding out the hard way that Franco can detonate some uppercuts on the inside himself. It's a very game effort from Landeros, trying the only stylistically viable option of pressuring and suffocating Franco, but the young prospect is simply too calm and his right hand too accurate and stinging (both as a cross counter, and an uppercut to the body up close).

20-18 Franco.

 

Round 3

Landeros leads with leaping right hands and jumps straight back out, probably trying to stun Franco and then tighten the vice on him. Franco continues to counterpunch effectively without betraying much defensively. Landeros finds himself on the ropes getting casually jabbed at and decides to take things back out to deep waters where he tries to peppers shots in while circling to his own left. All he accomplishes is getting timed with some incredibly hard right hands that eventually bloody half his face. Landeros changes tack and moves in to drill Franco with forearms and short punches but again Franco's uppercut buys him some quarter. The round ends with Landeros desperately trying to maul Franco in a corner but unable to get the better of any exchange.

 

Round 4

Landeros is regrouping this round, letting Franco poke him into a corner with his 1-2 and then tee off with body punches while Landeros tries to demand a modicum of respect with his hardest power punches (despite his feet not being planted in any position to generate any torque). Franco controls the ring and controls the round but doesn't force anything.

 

Round 5

Franco leading with the hook now and putting right crosses behind it. He's actually breaking a little bit of a sweat now trying to at least keep Landeros on the backfoot. Landeros is taking the cleaner and harder punches as usual but still fighting an inspired round, waiting for what he thinks are the ends of Franco's combos to step inside with blind double hooks on a prayer. Landeros walks Franco into a corner and swings underhand to the body as Franco pops him in the face.

 

Round 6

Franco is playing watch-the-birdie with the jab and driving rights to the body, but Landeros is not ready to be put away and keeps crabbing in to trade (throwing lots of uppercuts) and turn. Franco is able to pivot well and draw power from his knees and hips but is getting a bit neutered in terms of power by the sheer closeness and volume of Landeros. Franco has a slight mouse under his own right eye now, and seems a bit more eager to catch Landeros with something hard - throwing longer combos and leaving himself a bit more open to counters. Landeros is getting the worst of the exchanges but gaining confidence and seems eager to take shots to land them.

 

This has already gone longer than expected.

 

Round 7

The pattern from the end of Round 6 is resumed, with Adolfo Landeros on the ropes shrimping himself up as Michael Franco cautiously stabs his way in with the 1-2. Landeros waits for Franco's hands to either slow down or stop moving and scoots in to get a few shots off (still landing best with the step-through uppercut but slapping some short hooks around behind the ear as well). Franco is still relaxed but has been forced into a much busier workrate and looks less the ring general now.

 

Round 8

Franco, who seems as surprised as anyone to still be competing this late, tries to push some body hooks into place with sheer brute force while Landeros keeps tapping, slapping, moving and clinching when allowed. Landeros is really fired up for this round and barely stops moving his hand, regardless of ring position or range. Franco, for his part, is still economical and despite some nice bursts of punching is getting solidly outworked and maybe even outlanded for the first time. What a nice closing rally from the heavy underdog in Landeros. I'll give him that one (which still makes it 79-73 Franco...but my expectation was a KO win for the Lil' Warrior so it's about as disappointing as a clear and dominant win can be).

 

80-72 79-73 78-74 for Franco.

Landeros deserves loads of respect. He was supposed to be KTFO tonight (in fact, the main event was supposed to have swapped outcomes with this one) but he employed ring experience, an educated uppercut, and an ample dose of negativity to really make the favorite earn it.

 

There will be no live action on Solo Boxeo proximo viernes (next Friday).

In this time slot they will show replays of all the following:

Lucas Martin Matthysse TKO4 Vivian Harris
Vicente Escobedo TKO6 Dominic Salcido
Robert Guerrero TKO8 Roberto Arrieta