By Jake Donovan

It’s not uncommon for a co-feature to outshine the evening’s main event. Rare is the occasion where the entire show rates better than the headliner, but that’s exactly how it went down Friday night in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Unbeaten junior welterweight Lucas Matthysse was robbed of a 20th straight knockout win in being forced to settle for a three-round No-Decision against trialhorse Rogelio Castaneda, Jr. in the Telefutura-televised main event. Castaneda suffered a cut, which led to the fight being stopped just 50 seconds into the third round of their scheduled ten.

Matthysse controlled the real estate for most of the brief affair, boxing smartly in the opening two rounds. Unlike his reckless (and chinless) older brother Walter, Lucas fought behind a tight guard, picking off most of the incoming while shooting his right hand from the outside.

The pace picked up a bit in round two. Matthysse saw an opening and attempted to exploit it. He connected with a left-right-left combo upstairs, but slipped on a ring logo before he could follow up. The Argentinean quickly recovered from the spill, coming back with a left hook but running out of time in the round.

Castaneda was under siege at the start of the third. Matthysse let loose a left-right upstairs and a clean-up left hook to follow, with the latter opening up a cut over the Mexican’s right eye. Matthysse went on the attack, targeting the blood until referee Jesse Reyes decided the cut was severe enough to warrant an examination by the ringside physician.

Upon the visit to the doctor’s office, Reyes belted out to all three ringside officials “Accidental headbutt!” If a clash of heads occurred, it wasn’t picked up by the television cameras, as neither the live feed nor the slo-mo replays supported the referee’s theory.

It was bad news for Matthysse that would only get worse after the ringside physician decided the cut was too severe to allow Castaneda to continue.

Because the fight didn’t last four and its ending caused by an erroneously ruled accidental foul, the official verdict was a no-decision.

The ruling ends Matthysse’s knockout streak at 19, as his record now stands at 22-0-1ND (21KO). He’s still unbeaten, and showed potential to make some noise in an already loaded junior welterweight division, but was cheated out of what was clearly a technical knockout.

Castaneda’s blood stops the proverbial bleeding on his resume. The faded journeyman, now 24-14-3-1ND (8KO) entered the bout having lost four of his last five, but can use the non-verdict and the cut-induced medical suspension to rest up for the remainder of 2008 to undoubtedly return next year, even if he has very little to offer the sport at this point.

We’ll have to wait until his next fight to see just how good Matthysse is. On this card, he didn’t even prove to be the best junior welterweight of the evening, upstaged not once but twice.

Rock Allen made the most of his televised debut, pitching a virtual shutout over Austin-based journeyman Gilbert Vera in their eight-round co-feature.

The bout never changed gears, though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Allen, who remained in control throughout, and never stopped pressing the action, determined to make a statement in his first fight of 2008.

He managed to do just that. A member of the 2004 US Olympic boxing squad, it’s been a slow road for the unbeaten prospect, complete with a forced 10-month leave of absence from the ring after seeing several bouts fall through this year.

Allen showed no signs of ring rust, taking the fight to Vera from the opening bell and never let up. The money punch for the squat Philly prospect was a left hook to the body, though he enjoyed success with a variety of punches throughout the contest.

The same could not be said for Vera, who failed to show any signs of playing the spoiler role, like older brother Brian managed earlier this year in an upset over Andy Lee. Gilbert didn’t even come close to threatening to upset the odds tonight; he appeared winded by the midway point, and had very little snap on his punches.

Conversely, Allen looked as strong by fights end as he did at the opening bell. Several left hooks and right hands upstairs drew a reaction from the crowd, as well as the Telefutura ringside announcers, belting out an occasional “ooh!” when he landed.

Scoring was academic in the end. Two judges turned in identical shutout scorecards of 80-72, while judge Robert Chapa was a bit charitably in awarding Vera one round, scoring the bout 79-73. All were obviously in favor of Allen, who cruises to 13-0 (7KO) with the win.

Vera falls to 9-3-1 (4KO) with the loss, his second straight.

Four fighters made their pro debut in two separate televised bouts, with Texas-based newcomers Hector Vazquez and Edgar Portillo scoring 1st round knockouts.

Vazquez (1-0, 1KO), an 18-year old junior welterweight fighting out of Dallas, was way too much for 20-year old Anthony Reyes (0-1), of Wichita Falls, Texas. The brief encounter saw plenty of leather fly – and land – with Vazquez scoring the lion’s share, particularly with his left hook. It was the hook that rocked Reyes early in the fight, and another that sent him to the canvas and nearly out of the ring, prompting referee Laurence Cole to stop the contest, just 0:40 into the bout.

Another Dallas native made his pro debut, though Pedro Sanchez was nowhere near as successful. His bout with Edgar Partillo (of Midland, Texas) lasted two minutes longer, but featured a similar ending – Laurence Cole waving his arms to rescue one of the fighters.

On this occasion it was Sanchez (0-1), who was dropped by a left hook midway through the round, and rendered defenseless as Partillo (1-0, 1KO) unloaded on him along the ropes before Cole intervened, at 2:50 of the opening round.

The show was presented by Golden Boy Promotions.

Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.