The main event of Thursday night’s Golden Boy on ESPN card went as it was supposed to. Top Golden Boy promoted prospect Lamont Roach Jr mostly looked good in cruising to a ten round decision in the main event. There was a moderately significant upset in the co-main event, however.
Despite his mostly straight forward route to victory against a less talented fighter, Lamont Roach Jr (16-0, 6 KOs) did face some real drama in the second round when a series of body shots froze him completely. Filipino journeyman Rey Perez (21-9, 6 KOs) went aggressively on the attack at this point and did seem to have the 22 year old prospect in a small amount of trouble for about a minute.
Starting the third round, however, Roach took the fight over. Fighting with a heavy heart for only the second time following the loss of his uncle and trainer, the young prospect simply outclassed Perez with his speed, combination punching, and athleticism. Rey Perez was game and kept a couple rounds close, but I don’t think he won one other than the second. Of note, briefly in the fifth it appeared Roach had scored a knockdown, but it was correctly ruled a slip on replay.
Lamont Roach Jr is a pretty good, but not great prospect. He is definitely a plus athlete with some skills, real coordination, and an excellent amateur pedigree. I wouldn’t be shocked if he goes on to pick up a world title for Golden Boy. My concern, however, is that his complete lack of punching power. That is usually a glaring weakness when it is time to emerge to the world level of the sport. A fighter doesn’t need to be a knockout guy, but very few can keep world class fighters at bay without at least some.
Also in the junior lightweight division, Avery Sparrow (9-1, 3 KOs) scored a real upset over heavily favored Puerto Rican Jose Lopez (19-2, 14 KOs) in the co-main event. Lopez was coming off a big win over multiple time title challenger Orlando Cruz and had been picked up by Cotto Promotions, but he fell pretty easily here to his Philly foe. Sparrow actually used his significant size disadvantage here as a pro rather than a con by making himself even smaller and quite slippery. The rather stiff Puerto Rican just couldn’t find him and it became an increasingly dominant performance for Sparrow along the way. The scores were closer than they should have been, but the right man won anywya.
