By Ryan Burton & Mark DeSisto
At the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Nevada, WBA-interim junior welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27 KOs) knocked out Victor Cayo (24-1, 16 KOS) in six rounds.
There was good action with both guys throwing some very hard shots. At the end of the second round, Cayo was caught and dropped for the first time in his career. The punch came at the bell. They traded hard shots in toe to toe fashion in the third and fourth rounds.
They continued to trade punches in the fifth round with both having their moments. During the sixth, Maidana was unloading with both hands. He got Cayo in trouble and put him down for the full count with a heavy body shot.
In the co-feature, Joan Guzman (30-0, 17 KOs) won a very close split decision over Ali Funeka (30-3-3, 25 KOs) in a rematch of last year's controversial draw. The scores were 114-113 for Funeka, 114-113 for Guzman and 116-111 for Guzman. The vacant IBF lightweight title remains vacant because Guzman was nine-pounds above the weight at Friday's weigh-in.
Guzman had the body of a middleweight with the extra weight. Guzman was quicker and slicker against Funeka in the first two rounds. He was outlanding Funeka, who was pressuring the action. Funeka started to double-up his jab in the third round. Guzman was blocking a lot of punches and stayed on the move while countering. In the final thirty seconds Funeka caught him clean with several hard shots. Guzman came back in the fourth round with good counters and was landing some very nice combinations to the body. Funeka was talking and chasing the fourth. They traded punches to end the round.
In the fifth, Funeka was outworking Guzman, throwing more jabs than Guzman threw total punches in the round. They traded hard rights at the start of the sixth. Guzman's nose began to bleed and was backing up to get away but then he came forward and threw a counter right hand that dropped Funeka hard. When Funeka got up, Guzman was working him over hard shots to the head and body until the bell.
Funeka came back in the seventh, he was coming forward and throwing decent combinations to control Guzman against the ropes. Guzman was shooting back with good punches to the body. In the final minute they stayed on the inside and traded power punches. In the eight, Guzman was taking flush shots from Funeka and throwing shots back with both hands. Funeka continued to throw and land. Guzman was countering to the body. They traded punches again in the final ten seconds.
In the ninth, Funeka continued the pressure. They traded punches as Funeka was pressing Guzman against the ropes. Funeka continued to press the action in the tenth. Guzman was one the move as he was in the previous rounds. He stayed away and landed counters in spots. In the eleventh, Guzman kept on his toes. Funeka was in full chase. Guzman kept moving around the ring and picking his spots.
In the final round, Funeka was going after Guzman in the same manner as the previous rounds. Funeka was doing the better work and Guzman was landing the hard punches and was moving away from a lot of the punches.
The evening's opening bout saw welterweight prospect Diego Chaves improve to 14-0 ( 12 KOs) by winning a unanimous decision over Edvan Dos Santos Barros (10-9). The scores were 59-55 60-54 58-56.
Chaves controlled the action early by using his jab to keep Santos at bay. In the 2nd round Chaves was warned for a low blow but continued to dominate the action. Chaves opened a cut above Santos' right eye with a left hook in the third round. By the fourth round the eye was really giving Santos problems as he was bleeding profusely.
Chaves was warned for another accidental low blow in the fifth but continued to dominate the action. Santos came out in a southpaw stance to start the sixth round but quickly abandoned it even though he was able to trap Chaves in a corner. It was Santos' best round but a case of way too little to late.
Junior middleweight Jermell Charlo (11-0) won a unanimous decision over Gerardo Prieto (6-9-1) in their junior middleweight bout. The scores were 79-72 twice and 80-71. The Houston Texas native started out stalking his over matched opponent and Prieto wasn't too eager to mix it up as Charlo won an uneventful first round. Charlo started the second round out even more aggressive and started landing with more frequency but was unable to really hurt Prieto.
In the third, fourth and fifth rounds Prieto was able to land a few shots but they were few and far between compared to Charlo who showed good accuracy and footwork but failed to put together enough combinations to knock his opponent down. In the sixth Charlo finally let his hands go and he dropped Prieto with a vicious left hook to the body. The seventh round was action packed as Charlo continued his body attack and wobbled Prieto on a few occasions. The eighth was another easy round for Charlo as he took the decision.
In an entertaining Texas shootout, talented Omar Figueroa scored a 60-54, 58-56 (twice) unanimous decision over Edgar Portillo in a six round jr welterweight bout. Figueroa, out of Weslaco, TX showed exceptional boxing skills early, smoothly switching from orthodox to southpaw stance, looking like he was going to overpower Midland, TX native Portillo early.
Portillo (6-4-1, 4KO) came to fight and let his hands go to force a firefight in round 2 which initially looked like a bad strategy with Figueroa getting the best of the fan friendly exchanges. The firefight continued in round 3 with Portillo starting to land more consistently to make the fight interesting.
Portillo was clearly overmatched in boxing skills and punching power, but never stopped trying. Figueroa hurt his left hand in the 5th round, rendering it basically useless for the end of the bout, but Figueroa brings toughness along with his skill, making him a prospect to keep an eye on. Figueroa improved to (9-0, 8KO) with Portillo being his first opponent to last the distance.
Golden Boy Super Middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs handled his business, bombing out overmatched Colombian Jose Rodriguez (12-5-1, 6KO). The Golden Child hurt Rodriguez with two right hands before dropping him with a left jab. Jacobs (19-0, 16KO) trapped his opponent on the ropes and pounded away, dropping him again at the end of the round. Rodriguez beat the count and made it back to his stool but the ring doctor decided it was best to stop the fight
