By Jake Donovan
It was a night of power punching in Memphis on HBO's Boxing After Dark, with Andre Berto and Chris Arreola leading the charge for the leaders of the new school with dominant wins on both sides of the telecast.
Andre Berto now enters the welterweight ranks on the strength of a one-sided seventh round stoppage of Miguel "Miki" Rodriguez in the main event, picking up a vacant alphabet title in the process. He did so by way of pure power punching, landing 163 punches in just under seven rounds of action.
Berto went on the attack early, but Rodriguez remained game. Straight right hands were the story in the first two rounds for Berto, a few of them stunning his foe as did a left hook later in the round. Rodriguez slightly budged, though slightly more than his hair which remained perfectly in place through the first six minutes no matter how often his head snapped back.
Rodriguez found himself against the ropes often and on the receiving end of Berto's attack. Still, it didn't stop the Mexican from trying to press the action whenever Berto decided to stop punching. It carried over in the fourth as well, with Rodriguez sneaking in body shots along the ropes, and also beginning to work his jab. Berto quickly found the secret to working around Rodriguez' stick, slipping it and shooting his own jab over the top, to which Rodriguez had no answers.
Everyone's best friend – open scoring – reared its ugly head after the completion of the fourth round. Berto heard that he actually lost a round on the cards, and went to work in the fifth.
Once again, Rodriguez showed the ability to absorb and remain poised under fire. He also began clinching more often, though it proved to be a wise tactic, landing a left hook at the two minute mark after being broken apart by referee Laurence Cole. Berto closed the round strong, landing a left hook and a body shot just before the bell.
His hair finally mussed, Rodriguez' defense was beginning to suffer in the sixth. A series of jabs and overhand rights from Berto had water from Rodriguez' dome spraying those at ringside. It was easily Rodriguez' worst round of the fight, on the receiving and delivering end, yet he still remained in Berto's face, even landing a couple of shots toward round's end.
A right hand from Berto about 30 seconds into the seventh produced the fight's first knockdown. Rodriguez was dumped on the seat of his pants, drawing a rise from the sparse crowd on hand, who chanted "Ber-to, Ber-to" in anticipation of a big – and quick – finish.
Berto delivered, catching up with a suddenly mobile Rodriguez to floor him with about a minute left in the round. The 2004 Olympian was a little overzealous, nailing Rodriguez with a left while his man was on a knee. The referee being Laurence Cole, the infraction went undetected, or at least without warning. It mattered little, as Berto went on the attack, unloading before Cole stepped in to stop a defenseless Rodriguez.
The official time was 2:13 of the seventh round.
With the win, Berto picks up the alphabet title left behind by Floyd Mayweather. He becomes the second fighter from the 2004 Olympics to win a major belt, just two weeks after unbeaten Puerto Rican junior featherweight Juan Manuel Lopez picking up hardware after scoring a 1st round knockout win over Daniel Ponce de Leon. Though many had the verdict chalked up as a foregone conclusion, the feeling of winning a title is still very surreal to the rising star.
"This is the best feeling in the world," said an overjoyed Berto, who advances to 22-0 (19KO). "I was ready to take on the best. AT the start of this whole period, it's amazing that at 24 years old I'm now a world champion. I'm ready to take on all comers in the division."
Berto admitted afterward that the fight wasn't as easy as it may have appeared, but knew it was a matter of time before he closed the show.
"Miki Rodriguez was a tough opponent, I'm glad to face this tough opposition. When I caught him in the seventh round, he slowed up a bit; I knew it was over."
Rodriguez stuck around just long enough to praise the newly crowned champion.
"I give all of the respect in the world to Berto, he's a great warrior," said Rodriguez, who falls to 29-3 (23KO). "I don't have much else to say other than I'm very disappointed in my performance and like the opportunity for the rematch."
It's highly unlikely he'll get one, as Berto moves on to bigger and better things, as does a certain power punching heavyweight who may have single-handedly resuscitated a suffocating heavyweight division.
A technicality was all that prevented Chris Arreola from racking up his 12th straight knockout. He was instead forced to settle for two knockdowns and a third round disqualification of Chazz Witherspoon in a battle of previously unbeaten heavyweights in the televised co-feature.
Both fighters stuck to the scouting report, letting their hands go from the opening bell. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a bad thing for Witherspoon, who simply couldn't keep Arreola off of him. Arreola's best sequence of the round came after taking a right hand. It was then that the power difference was established, with Arreola twice knocking the spit out of Witherspoon's mouth and had him wobbly toward the end of the round.
The action didn't let up in the second. Witherspoon had a much better go of things, getting through with his jab. But it was still Arreola's power that was making the difference. Both fighters were effective to the body, but Arreola's punches were drawing ooh's from the crowd; Chazz' shots merely drew ire from the Mexican-American.
Witherspoon felt the full brunt of Arreola's wrath in the third, and what would become the final, round. Arreola was brutal in his assault, landing 48 out of 70 punches in the round, all but one being power shots.
Though going down twice in the round, Witherspoon showed a world-class chin, absorbing massive amount of punches before finally collapsing in a neutral corner midway through the round. Chazz arose very early in the count, on unsteady legs but well enough to continue on in the round. Arreola unloaded everything and the kitchen sink, wailing away on Witherspoon before beating him to the canvas at round's close. Witherspoon tried desperately to cling on, but eventually slammed face first onto the mat.
Confusion set in, with the bell ringing prior to referee Randy Phillips' count. Witherspoon's corner entered the ring, which Arreola tried to point out. The referee waved his hand as if to say "I'll do my job, you do yours," but was so inept that he didn't even know the round had already ended.
Arreola's corner tried to inform Phillips of Witherspoon's corner illegally entering the ring, to which the referee responded in the same unaware fashion. However, a separate conversation took place among the Tennessee Boxing Commission, resulting in Witherspoon suffering a loss by disqualification rather than knockout.
The official time was 3:00 of the third round.
Arreola improves to 24-0 (21KO) with the win, easily the biggest of his young career. Because of the high stakes, Arreola insisted that he approached this fight like no other.
"You know how I won? I expected the unexpected," insisted the power-punching heavyweight, who gives the heavyweight division hope at least for the moment. "Chazz is a good fighter, but fought methodically. I expected him to be stronger."
Where he goes from here is anyone's guess, though Arreola took the time to put other heavyweights on alert.
"I'll fight anyone anytime, David Tua, whoever."
Witherspoon falls to 23-1 (15KO) with the first loss of his career, one in which he believes he already knows what went wrong.
"I should've tried to tie him up early; I didn't stick to my game plan," admits Witherspoon, as classy in defeat as he is in victory. "It was my own stupidity that beat me in the ring tonight."
Many will argue that Arreola's fists had a lot to do with it as well; the next question now is whether or not that can become responsible for a heavyweight revival.