Gonzalez Wins Ugly Decision

Gonzalez beat Adonis Rivas via a dull, ugly points win tonight. Rivas had lost three out of his previous five and five out of his previous ten coming into the fight. Gonzalez, on the other hand had picked up three high-profile, reasonably meaningful stoppage wins in his five previous outings. Glancing at the number beforehand, a fun knockout was almost guaranteed. Unfortunately, almost and absolutely are two entirely different things when it comes to boxing. Instead, Rivas, who was almost absurdly dwarfed by the much taller, much rangier Gonzalez, came out to win the first round and do virtually nothing after that. The second round set the pattern, with Gonzalez mostly jabbing from the outside, trying to find the range, and only landing meaningful punches inside the last sixty seconds. In some round or another Gonzalez slipped to the canvas, and the ref correctly did not rule it a knockdown. If I hadn't been asleep at that point I could have told you which round it was. In the main event, Daniel Ponce De Leon was upset by unknown Panamanian Celestino Caballero. Again, a fight in which a knockout was almost guaranteed. Again, major disappointment. Ponce De Leon oughta shoot his matchmaker and fire his trainer. Any idea that he could be truly successful without at lest SOME in-fighting skills was thoroughly dismissed throughout this fight, as Caballero had to do little more than sit on the outside, potshot, and leanback at the first sign of incoming flak. He got away with EVERYTHING he tried, including dropping his hands to his waist and throwing lead uppercuts. Les uppercuts that MISSED. Still, Ponce De Leon is a fairly good prospect with a number of good wins, and can't be discounted because of one setback. Given his power, his chin and his will, he's still a reasonably bankable fighter. If he can adjust, he can succeed. That's a pretty big if, though.