On Friday evening, a delirious crowd of more than 2,000 enjoyed eight exciting bouts on the undercard Pa ‘Bravo Yo, Coliseum Salvador Dijols of Ponce.
In the main event, WBC Youth champion, at 130 pounds, Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (7-0, 6KO’s), gave a recital of good boxing and looked stellar in his fight against Bahamian Anthony “Psycho” Woods (17-9, 3KO’s). A dominant Pedraza would get the TKO after Woods’ team threw in the towel at the 2:30 mark of the fourth round.
In total control throughout, Pedraza pressured, used excellent lateral movement, and connected with strong combinations to the face and liver area. Woods showed great heart and sporadically attacked the “Sniper”, but without success.
Pedraza, fighting at lightweight for the first time said afterward, “I feel good. This was a good fight for me as I faced an opponent with a lot of experience. Now, the next step is to return to the gym and keep working hard to become a future world champion. I’m thankful to my promoters, Gary Shaw Productions, Universal Promotions and DiBella Entertainment for giving me this opportunity.”
In an action-packed six-round co-feature, the “Pride of Ponce,” Josean Serra (7-1, 5KO’s) scored a first-round knockdown with a straight right hand, but lost a split decision to Julio “Tun Tun” Irrizarry (4-1, 1 KO). There were numerous two-way exchanges throughout between the willing. Irrizarry landed the crisper punches, however, and that may have been the differencet.
At the finish, the judges had “Tun Tun” winning by 58-56 card and 56-56 twice. In Puerto Rico, this score is ruled a split decision.
“Too bad I could not get the win that I wanted,” said Serra, a native of Ponce. “I trained harder than ever but I couldn’t do it. ‘Tun Tun’ was a strong opponent who worked hard. I want to have a rematch soon so I can prove that I won.”
In other undercard fights , undefeated junior welterweight and Team Puerto Rico member, Jorge “Machito” Maysonet Jr. (6-0, 5 KOs) knocked out Jacey Maldonado (0-2), at 2:16 of the first round.
“Maysonet Jr. is a great talent, said Javier Bustillo, who co-promotes Jorge with Gary Shaw and Warriors Boxing. “We have big plans for Maldonado and I see a future world champion in the years to come.”
In other results: super flyweight Carlos “Kid” Narvaez (4-0, 4 KOs) scored a 59-second, first-round TKO over Victor Montes (0-1); junior welterweight Joshua “Macho” Santiago (7-0, 6 KOs) registered a first-round TKO over William Lorenzo (2-8); junior lightweight Moises Velez (1-0, 1 KO) won his debut by knockout over Cuascot Louis (0-8); super bantamweights Edgar Laboy (1-0-1, 1 KO) drew with Jose Ruiz (0-0-1); and amateur champion Keith Tapia (3-0, 3 KOs) knocked out Ramon Adorno (0-1) in the opening round.
