A pair of close, great fights highlighted the tournaments in Orlando.
Australian prospect Jason Moloney (17-1, 14 KOs) seemed a little shell shocked by the speed and overall skill set of world titleholder Emmanuel “Manny” Rodriguez (19-0, 12 KOs) in the first round of the main event, but he responded really well in the second by getting inside and working his thudding power. By the end of the third Jason was the more dynamic fighter with his lateral movement and big power shots. Manny Rodriguez was countering pretty well still though.
In fact, he went on to amplify the counter punching success in round four to clearly to the frame. The fifth belonged to him as well. Rodriguez had figured out Moloney’s twitchy, back and forth movement by this point. Jason was doing great body work in between Manny’s shots though.
The middle rounds basically fell into the pattern established in the fourth. The Australian challenger got his shots in, but not to the extent of the defending titleholder. Manny Rodriguez was just tatooing his moving target of a challenger whenever he leaped in to attack. Again, Jason was landing a lot too, especially downstairs, but almost all the bigger, more obvious shots were coming from the Puerto Rican. I didn’t think the challenger had much of an argument in rounds five through seven on fundamentals alone. He turned up his volume in the eighth and ninth, however, but the crisper blows were still coming from Manny. Even when it looked like Jason might have bothered him late in the ninth, he responded with an even bigger right hand of his own.
I had it 7-2 Manny Rodriguez going into the tenth, meaning Jason Moloney needed a finish or at least a few knockdowns to win the fight. There was hope for it in watching the tenth too. The Puerto Rican titleholder was clearly exhausted and maybe starting to wilt under Moloney’s never ending pressure. This was the first clear round in the challenger’s favor in some time. The fatigued belt holder was able to throw back more in the eleventh, but he still was absorbing more punishment than he was given back in the first championship round despite a pair of solid rights to close it. The challenger came out with a ton of heart and drive to start the final round too. He was a man on fire as he charged forward and threw hands. Manny moved his hands too just enough to keep him honest, but this was all Jason Moloney. He poured out everything he physically had in him. It was brilliant, passionate stuff worth every penny paid to watch it.
What a great fight. Just outstanding. I’m just going to give both of these young men a virtual standing ovation, especially Jason Moloney. While he closed the gap in a huge way on my card over the last few rounds, he still lost 115-113 due the large deficit he was in to begin with. Never mind that though. His heart and determination down the stretch were truly something to behold. Both men are winners here too. I don’t mean to dismiss Manny Rodriguez, especially given that he won. He was brilliant as well. I can’t praise this one enough. Official cards came back split too. The first was 115-113 for Moloney, then the opposite for Rodriguez, with the final 115-113 again for the defending titleholder. I have no complaints.
How great is Manny Rodriguez versus Naoya “Monster” Inoue in the semifinals going to be? I can’t wait.
The Cuban “KO Doctor” Yunier Dorticos (22-0, 20 KOs) came out aggressively on the front foot to start his cruiserweight quarterfinal against Mateusz Masternak (41-5, 28 KOs). The Pole’s high guard based defense absorbed most of it, but the damage on the arms seemed bound to add up after only one round. I thought Masternak has stabilized and dealt with the pressure well in the second, but then an accumulation of power shots clearly bothered him late in the round. He ate even more right hands in the third. The durable underdog was taking them well still at this point in the fight and landing back clean some, but it didn’t seem to be a recipe for success.
Despite opening the round bleeding from his left eye, Mateusz had his best round in the fourth as Dorticos began to fatigue and slow down. He landed several crisp shots right down the middle. Dorticos reasserted his right had in the fifth, especially to the body, to take the momentum back a bit. The sixth was quite close thanks to quality combination punching from Mateusz Masternak, but I still preferred Yunier’s merciless body work. I had him up five rounds to one at the halfway point.
Both rounds seven and eight were highly competitive and I scored them in opposite directions. While the Polish man was able to land some clean shots in round seven, the Cuban body work still carried it. Masternak landed far too many clean head shots in the eighth not to score it for him though. Even though he appeared to be tiring, the season one semifinalist regained control of the fight with several giant right hands that clearly bothered Masternak both up and downstairs in the ninth. At this point, Matuesz could’t win my card if Yunier Dorticos stayed on his feet the rest of the way.
He did too. Though Mateusz fought pretty well in the last three rounds and I gave him the final two, it wasn’t enough on my card which came back 116-112. If Masternak had a thirteenth round he might have been able to do serious damage as Dorticos was absolutely spent in the twelfth, but that isn’t how it works. Punch stats were nearly identical though so I was curious about how the cards would come in. One judge agreed with my score while the other two came back 115-113 for the same man. Yunier Dorticos will meet Andrew Tabiti in the semifinals. This was a close, competitive, and highly entertaining cruiserweight battle.
