By Cliff Rold
Mexico’s 30-year old Welterweight Freddy Hernandez (26-1, 18 KO) made it ten straight without a loss on Friday night at the Laredo Entertainment Center in Laredo, Texas with a commanding ten-round unanimous decision over 33-year old Damian Frias (16-2, 7 KO) of Miami, Florida. Both came in a hair below the division’s 147 lb. limit at 146 ¼.
Through round one, the game plan for each man was set with Frias looking to sharp shoot and Hernandez firing in bunches with emphasis to the body. By the end of the second, Frias was threatened with being overwhelmed. Hernandez’s sheer volume meant even while many body blows were blocked by elbows, many more were not.
The southpaw Frias began the third with an increase in activity, jabbing and firing the right behind it to the chest and stomach of Hernandez but as the round wore on Hernandez’s work rate, and commitment to the body was still paying more dividends.
In round four, a succession of left jabs to the face followed by short hooks downstairs kept Hernandez a step ahead even as Frias came forward. In round five, three consecutive lead lefts landed glancing but clean to the head and, in the final thirty seconds, he added some hooks to the face with Frias pinned to the ropes.
With the fight slipping away, Frias landed a combination to the head of Hernandez early in the sixth but faced a steep climb. Hernandez wasn’t giving much room to make it and by the end of six was again working Frias against the ropes. The Floridian was firing back but not producing enough to keep the Mexican off him.
Frias appeared on his way to a winning seventh as the round hit its final minute. Planting and countering with simple one-two combinations, Frias landed a succession of left hands clean to the face of Hernandez. In the final minute, Hernandez narrowed the scoring gap in the round with aggression and some booming shots to the flanks.
The following two rounds returned to form, Frias still occasionally landing well but Hernandez dominating the action. Round ten had a brief spark. A sharp left stunned Hernandez, buckling his knees and breathing life into the repetitive affair. With Frias surging forward in search of a miracle turnaround, Hernandez turned his head and looked as if he intentionally spit out his mouthpiece. The action briefly resumed, but Hernandez quickly clinched and referee Rafael Ramos called a halt to return the mouth shield. Frias’s chance was gone and the final scorecards were elementary at 98-92, or eight rounds to two, for Hernandez.
In the televised Jr. Featherweight opener, 29-year old former title challenger Al Seeger (28-5, 22 KO) of Savannah, Georgia, battled gamely but found the accurate punching of 28-year old Puerto Rican Victor Fonseca (17-0, 9 KO) too much, dropping his fourth fight in five outings and third by stoppage. It was only Fonseca’s second stoppage in his last eight starts.
Seeger, 121, behind a long left jab, started the action pursuing the Puerto Rican southpaw. Both men attempted counters as they took turns lunging. A Seeger lead right worked through the guard of Fonseca, 122, seconds later coupled with a long right to the body. At the minute mark, a counter right from Seeger got the attention of Fonseca and the men traded body shots near the bell to close the first.
Seeger opened well to being the second, timing a counter left hook to the temple and shaking Fonseca. At a minute in, Fonseca found some hard offense of his own, using his right arm to hook Seeger and loading up some short lefts inside. He did it again near the ropes a minute later, ending a flurry of action with a left uppercut to stun Seeger. The infighting grew more intense as both men took turns grappling, holding, and hitting. Seeger headed to the corner with blood drawn below his right eye.
Turned aggressor, Fonseca struck with a long left to buckle Seeger early in round three but the Georgia native shook it off and fired back. Fonseca controlled the first half of the round, rocking Seeger’s head backwards with the jab and countering sharply. Seeger used his jab to create room and slowed the momentum of Fonseca until the closing seconds. Pushed to the ropes, Seeger ate a big left cross near the ropes.
The fight stayed within the pattern of rounds two and three for the next couple but then Seeger battled back. A series of close rounds resulted from Seeger keeping space from his man and firing the right to the body which worked for him in the opening frame. It turned out to be only delaying the inevitable.
Nearing the halfway mark of round nine, Fonseca’s sharp, hard shots became too much to bear. A huge left landed up and under on a bent over Seeger and Fonseca piled on. Seeger fired a right back but missed the mark and Fonseca bodied him into the ropes, leaning on him and drawing a warning from referee Ruben Carrion. Unrattled, Fonseca stepped right back in with a left and hurt Seeger again. Sliding backwards across the ring, Seeger could do nothing as a long finishing left sent him to the floor. Carrion leapt in right away to end the action at 1:41 of the ninth round.
In untelevised but highlighted action, 2008 U.S. Olympian Gary Russell (5-0, 2 KO) handed fellow prospect Noe Lopez (4-4, 3 KO) his fourth straight loss with a unanimous decision over four. Russell made the trip to Beijing but missed weight and failed to compete at the Olympics. The 21-year old Featherweight from Capitol Heights, Maryland is one of America’s most promising young professionals.
The card was televised in the U.S. on premium cable network Showtime as part of its ShoBox series, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions and Universal Promotions.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
