Junior middleweight Justin Figueroa proved too strong for Omar Rosales, blasting him out in four rounds at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday night.
Figueroa, 25, commenced the fight on a bright note, landing clean shots against the 34-year-old Rosales. Figueroa took over in the third round by troubling Rosales with right and left hooks that prevented his opponent from attacking.
In the fourth round, Figueroa, 11-0 (8 KOs), made sure the fight ended abruptly after a dangerous combination sent Rosales, 9-4-1 (5 KOs), to the canvas and forced the referee to end the bout.
Figueroa said he was relaxed throughout the fight because he was so well-prepared.
“I was so calm in this fight because I had over a hundred rounds in sparring,” Figueroa said. “I got an insane fucking work ethic and that’s how I got here.”
In the co-main feature, Baltimore’s Dominique Crowder, 31, stopped 33-year-old Duke Micah, 24-3 (19 KOs), of Ghana, in one round after a straight right sent Micah down and he failed to beat the count in their bantamweight contest. An excited Crowder, 34-8 (10 KOs), said after the fight, “I threw it hard, but I don’t know what he felt. I was just warming up.”
Welterweight Avious Griffin, 16-0 (15 KOs), destroyed Adrian Gutierrez, 12-3-1 (6 KOs), in three rounds with a powerful right that knocked his opponent out.
In other undercard fights, Bruce Seldon Jnr, 4-0 (3 KOs), recorded a four-round unanimous decision win over Julio Mendoza, of Florida, in a heavyweight contest, and New York’s Donte Layne, 5-0 (5 KOs), bested Shaquille Cameron, 7-4 (6 KOs), of Alabama, at super middleweight.
Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at bernardneequaye@gmail.com.
