John Bauza, repping Puerto Rico and Jersey, took on Tony Luis, a tough out, a Canadian vet, in the first bout on ESPN’s “main card,” which ran on the ESPN platform.
The scores were 80-72, 79-73, 78-74, for the Jersey guy in this MSG Theater undercard battle. And some of the ESPN/Top Rank crew started to grumble, but luckily, commercials called, because Tim Bradley was wrong.
John Bauza (now 16-0) handled his junior welter business against a very solid and durable and in shape vet, in Tony Luis, and the judges said so.
I concur. I worked from the home office, and saw what Steve Weisfeld, and Waleska Roldan did.
The 15-0 Bauza, an energized lefty, had to handle some real solid Luis (29-4) body work at the round four mark. Bauza cracked some lefts that connected with solidity. Luis weathered early semi rough weather, and then it was a bit up for grabs. And so the 23 year old Bauza got busier. I think his beard got a shade darker, he started ripping harder shots. His mobility edge was now just harshly apparent. But, in round seven, the 34-year-old Canadian got a third wind. He was in the face of Bauza, and the PRuyican wasn’t able to potshot and slide so easily now. Luis kept staying in the picture, but Bauza kept using his feet, and potshotting. The judges handed in their last card.
Zander Xayas looked as good as the most enthused analysts and pundits have already labeled him o Saturday night. The 19 year old, on his third year as a pro, beat Quincy Lavallais, who entered 12-2 at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in NYC.
The cool and deliberate and destructive manner in which went at the Louisiana native, who did well evading, but not as well in incorporating a threatening offensive side of him. Lavallais show toughness of the type that makes me feel queasy. He rarely fired back, and showed that his chin is his best asset. Arguably, he slips punches well, as Zander can attest.
In his first eight rounder, the winner addressed his fans in Puerto Rico in Spanish, to Bernardo Osuna. He thanked all profusely for attending, and promised more conclusive finishes in the future.
The victor dedicated his win to trainer, Javier Centeno, who was ringside, but working in a wheelchair. The trainer was hospitalized Thursday night, with a pinched nerve situation in his back. He went from the hospital to ringside, in the Theater.
Lavallais’ lack of offense I found disturbing.
