Anthony Cuba won a six-round unanimous decision over Marco Rodriguez at the Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino, California. And then he opened another pack of Pokemon cards.
The fight was scored 60-54 on all three scorecards. The bout took place after the televised portion of a ProBox TV card.
Cuba, the 22-year-old lightweight from Fontana, California, bullied Rodriguez of Tijuana, Mexico from the opening bell in front of his local fans. Cuba targeted the body well in the second round and kept up solid pressure for the whole fight.
Cuba displayed his skills and talents less than a month after defeating unbeaten DeMichael Harris on another ProBox card. After both victories, Cuba took his chances on catching ‘em all with a fresh pack of Pokemon cards, though the Charizard and Mewtew have been harder to attain than in-ring victories.
“That is my new tradition after I win,” Cuba said. “I can’t get anything good, yet.
“For coming straight back, I felt I did good,” Cuba added. “The guy I fought was a little confusing, he wasn’t even throwing at all. So I couldn’t showcase the skills that I wanted to.”
Cuba is now on a three-fight winning streak since his lone defeat to Curmel Moton. Cuba holds a professional record of 10-1-2 (4 KOs), whereas Rodriguez, a 30-year-old veteran, is now 12-8-3 (5 KOs).
“I want the big fights, I want to fight the big names,” Cuba said. “I want to do that as soon as I can.”
Junior middleweight Anthony Saldivar of Ontario, California won a hard-fought four-round unanimous decision against Orlenis Licea of Tampa, Florida. All three scores were 39-37. The fight was far from easy as Licea rushed Saldivar in the opening round. Saldivar boxed nicely to edge the fight.
Saldivar, 23, improves to 8-0 (3 KOs) and Licea, 28, now drops to 2-3-1 (1 KO).
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
