Rafael Rivera Beats Giovanni Caro in Palm Springs, California

By Francisco Salazar

PALM SPRINGS - Featherweight Rafael Rivera keeps winning. Sooner or later, he hopes that will draw the attention of fighters in his weight class.

The fringe featherweight contender was dominant in his scheduled eight round bout against Giovanni Caro, winning a six round technical decision .

With the win, Rivera improves to 24-0-2 1 NC, 16 KOs. Caro falls to 27-21-4, 21 KOs.

Rivera is best known to boxing fans for his 10 round split decision victory over former world titleholder Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. in December of 2015.

Rivera had not fought since knockout Miguel Tamayo in the opening round on July 27.

Caro, who has faced numerous world titleholders, contenders, and prospects, entered the Rivera fight having won three of his previous five bouts.

It was all Rivera from the opening round, outboxing and outlanding the veteran Caro. At times, the veteran Caro was able to keep up with Rivera, but he was not able to keep up with the younger and stronger Rivera.

Caro also had to deal with three separate cuts to his head he suffered from accidental headbutts against Rivera. The worst of three cuts occurred in the sixth round, when a large cut appeared on the left side of his forehead, producing an abundant amount of blood that flowed into his eye.

At the beginning of the seventh round, the ringside physician recommended to referee Eddie Hernandez to stop the fight.

Because the fight was stopped due to an accidental clash of heads, the fight went to the scorecards, where all three judges scored the bout 60-54 in favor of Rivera.

Junior welterweight Max Becerra won a six round unanimous decision over Hugo Padilla. Becerra (11-2-2, 7 KOs) beat Padilla to the punch consistently throughout the fight, connecting with hooks and crosses to the head. The action was sloppy at times as the awkward Padilla (5-10, 2 KOs) would rush in, causing heads to inadvertently clash during the fight. An accidental clash of heads late in round three opened a cut over the right eye of Becerra, but the corner was able to keep blood from seeping out into Becerra's eye. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Becerra, 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55.

Junior bantamweight Danny Andujo won a hard-fought four round unanimous decision over Elwin Soto (2-1, 1 KO). Soto won the opening round, but Andujo was the more effective fighter the rest of the fight, breaking Soto down with vicious hooks and right crosses to the head. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Andujo, 39-37, 39-37, and 40-36. Andujo (3-1, 1 KO) turns 19 years of age on April 25.

Junior middleweight David Lopez (4-0, 3 KOs) dropped Antonio Neal twice en route to a third round knockout victory. The shorter Neal (4-8, 3 KOs) was game, but Lopez utilized his strength to break his opponent down. A barrage of punches followed by a right hand from Lopez dropped Neal midway through round three. Neal beat the count, but was dropped by a left hook to the body moments later. Referee Ray Corona stopped the bout at 2:35.

Welterweight Larry Fryers (Gleeson) improved to 2-0, 1 KO with a third round knockout win over Rolando Padilla, who was making his pro debut. After a competitive opening round, Fryers began to assert himself, landing the more telling blows. Fryers repeated snapped Padilla's head back with right hands to the head. It was an overhand right that stunned Padilla early in round three, prompting referee Tony Crebs to stop the bout at 31 seconds.

In the opening bout of the LiveCo Promotions card, middleweight Ronnie Robidoux (2-0, 2 KOs) survived a first round knockdown to knock out Donnis Reed in the second round. reed, who was making his pro debut, dropped Robidoux with a counter right cross in the opening minute of the first round. Robidoux recovered, boxing well the remainder of the round. A left hook in round two dropped Reed against the ropes, prompting referee Eddie Hernandez to stop the bout at 2:13.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing