For the third straight fight, Andy Dominguez dug deep to eke out a close decision in a hard-fought fight.
The 27-year-old strawweight contender from The Bronx, New York, scored the biggest win of his career Friday, using his boxing skills to outpoint former title challenger Byron Rojas by split decision at The Tropicana in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Two judges scored the fight for Dominguez, 97-93 and 96-94, while a third had it for Rojas by the tally of 97-93. The win earned Dominguez, 13-1 (6 KOs), a minor WBC regional belt, while Rojas, 29-5-3 (12 KOs), showed he was still a dangerous matchup at age 35 despite having his three-fight winning streak snapped.
Early on, the 27-year-old Dominguez, a native of Mexico, was too sharp for the more experienced Rojas, outboxing him to gain an early advantage. Rojas began to close the gap in the third round, using his uppercuts to force Dominguez backwards. Dominguez made an adjustment in the fourth round, rolling out to his left after he finished punching to avoid the return fire, though nothing Dominguez connected with could slow Rojas’ pressure.
A cut opened on the forehead of Rojas in the fifth round as Dominguez continued to box, though Rojas never stopped throwing, finding success in the middle rounds by throwing heavier right hands in between Dominguez’s quicker but lighter combinations.
Rojas continued to surge in the seventh as Dominguez, slowed down by swelling above both eyes, was forced to exchange more than was likely the game plan laid out by head trainer Marvin Somodio. With the fight close heading into the final rounds, it was Dominguez’s disciplined adherence to his strategy to box and move that earned him the victory, and he closed the fight on a strong note.
Dominguez showed respect to Rojas afterwards, saying the fight was “good experience,” admitting that he was concerned that the decision could have gone either way.
“I thought I won the first three rounds and the last three rounds,” said Dominguez, who brought a sizable crowd from his home gym, Mendez Boxing in Harlem. A bus was commissioned by Mendez Boxing to bring gym members to see Dominguez in action in the Boxing Insider Promotions main event, which aired live on DAZN.
In the co-featured bout, Chicago-based journeyman Alex Martin scored a big win on the road, defeating popular Philadelphia junior welterweight Daiyaan Butt by unanimous decision. The three judges scored the fight 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75, all for Martin, 19-8 (6 KOs), who used his tighter technique to control the exchanges throughout.
Butt dropped to 20-3 (10 KOs) with the loss.
In other action, Bruce Seldon Jnr, 7-0 (6 KOs), continued his early march through the sport, knocking out Alexis Soriano, 3-3 (1 KOs), of the Dominican Republic, 46 seconds into the first round. Seldon, 30, is the son of former heavyweight titleholder Bruce Seldon, also from Atlantic City.
Heavyweight prospect Roney Hines, 15-0-1 (8 KOs), of Cleveland, remained undefeated after a methodical eight-round unanimous decision over St. Louis-based Ed Fountain, 14-10 (7 KOs), winning the all-southpaw outing by scores of 80-72 on two cards and 79-73 on the third.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
