By Joe Harrison
Last night, bantamweight Francisco Rodriguez (14-2, 8 KOs) defeated Torrence Daniels (12-7-1, 6 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision at the Cicero Stadium located near Chicago. It was a difficult bout for Rodriguez as Daniels was continuously holding and hitting, but it was the accurate punches from Rodriguez that made the difference.
The first round was mostly tactical, but the two boxers began to exchange in the second. Rodriguez got the better of the exchange as Daniels was backed against the ropes. Rodriguez went swinging away, looking to punish his opponent with punches to his body and uppercuts. Just when it appeared that Daniels may be finished, he began swinging back viciously as his punches pounded the body of Rodriguez.
In the third round, Rodriguez was the aggressor as he tried to develop an attack. Instead, Daniels was using his left arm to hold the right arm of Rodriguez. As the round proceeded, Daniels attempted to build an attack of his own, but his punches were missing frequently.
In the fourth and fifth rounds, Daniels continued having difficulty finding the target while Rodriguez was increasingly landing his punches. Daniels spent more time covering up with his back against the ropes as Rodriguez threw punches rapidly while searching for openings. Daniels, however, was occasionally swinging back just enough to prevent the ref from stopping the bout.
In the final round, both boxers began to trade punches in the middle of the ring. As the round continued, Daniels began to back up against the ropes again, but refused to stop swinging and was able to keep Rodriguez off him. Then, Daniels was timing Rodriguez’ attacks, slipping and countering his punches, causing Rodriguez to step back and restart his assault. When the contest was over, the judges’ scorecards read 79-73 and 80-72 twice, all for Rodriguez by unanimous decision.
In the co-main event, super lightweight Adrian Granados (2-0, 1 KO) knocked out Jesse Francisco (2-9, 1 KO) in the first round of a scheduled four-round bout. At first, both boxers were using their jabs. Granados slowly began to back up Francisco. Suddenly, a right hand caught Granados. As Granados was going down, he bounced off the bottom ropes and back up to his feet. Rather than call it a knockdown, Referee Pete Podgorski allowed the round to continue.
Granados went after Francisco and they traded punches. As Granados backed him against the ropes and proceeded to pound his body. Francisco took a lot of punishment before dropping to his knees. On all fours, Francisco was counted out as he began to vomit in the ring.
In a scheduled six-round welterweight bout, Carlos Molina (14-4-1, 5 KOs) scored a fifth-round technical knockout over Roberto Valenzuela (47-45-2, 39 KOs). Valenzuela showed very little fight as Molina stalked him around the ring throwing punches at his head and body. As the bout progressed, Molina was landing more of his punches as Valenzuela continued to take punishment. Referee Gino Rodriguez halted the one-sided beating at the 1:55 mark of the fifth round.
