In his second consecutive career trajectory altering stoppage victory on the eve of a big Canelo pay per view, Puerto Rico’s Jesus M Rojas won a secondary title from Claudio Marrero last night on ESPN2. With this win Rojas is now knocking on the door of major future fights at featherweight.
Last time out in May, Jesus M Rojas (26-1-2, 19 KOs) dominated and upset then unbeaten Golden Boy prospect Abraham Lopez on the night before appetizer card for Canelo Alvarez’s all-Mexican clash with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. That fight was a bolt of lightning for the Puerto Rican’s career, leading him to this opportunity with the WBA. This was not a world title, but it is a belt that will help Rojas keeping getting better quality fights. Presumably, if the WBA keeps unifying their messes, this could even lead Rojas to a fight with a Leo Santa Cruz or an Abner Mares down the line.
As for the fight itself, Claudio Marrero’s (22-2, 16 KOs) flashy style and far superior athleticism carried the first couple rounds. By the third, however, it was clear that Rojas’s blue collar approach of putting Marrero on the ropes with his head on the Dominican’s chest was beginning to have some success. Marrero was still fighting well and winning the majority of the rounds, but his loose, flashy, and defensively irresponsible style was a disaster waiting to happen.
That disaster occurred at the very end of the seventh round. With his back to the ropes and winging back, Marrero ate a decent left hook pretty well, but two punches later in the same combination the very same left hook ended up detonating his chin. Marrero went down hard. While he remained conscious and seemingly cognizant, Claudio Marrero knew better than to try to get up.
Golden Boy prospects Ryan Garcia (11-0, 10 KOs) and Damon Allen (13-0-1, 5 KOs) picked up wins on the undercard. Garcia, a 19 year old junior lightweight, looked pretty spectacular with a thirty second stoppage of a man who had never been stopped before. Allen, a 25 year old junior welterweight, put on a strange performance in which he got hit a bit and just couldn’t stop landing low, but he still won wide.
