By Mark Vester
In a thriller, Jason Litzau (20-1) was knocked out by Jose Hernandez (22-3) before a packed house in the Miccosukee Resort & Gaming in Miami, FL.
After it appeared in the first round that Litzau was boxing Hernadez silly, in the final minute of the round, Hernandez landed a big right hand that sent Litzau down to the mat. He got up in serious trouble, but was able to hold Hernandez off long enough to make it to the next round.
The next six rounds saw Litzau go back to boxing, which allowed him to take over the fight. He used movement, defense and quick combinations to bust up the face of Hernandez.
In the eight round, Hernandez went for broke by coming forward and throwing hard right hands. Rather than use his defensive skills, Litzau stood with Hernandez and exchanged power shots.
While Litzau was looking for the straight right hand, Hernandez threw an overhand right that landed right on Litzau's chin and put him on his back. Litzau tried in vain to beat the count, but was unable to get to his feet.
At the time of the stoppage, Litzau was up on all three official cards, with three indentical scores of 68-64.
Hernandez took off a year from law school to focus on this fight, and said after the win that he is going to stick to his boxing career for the moment.
