ARLINGTON, Texas – Vito Mielnicki Jr. looked better Saturday than he did during his previous performance on Christmas night.
The 19-year-old Mielnicki mostly used his jab and range to out-box veteran junior middleweight Dan Karpency in a six-round fight on the non-televised portion of the Errol Spence Jr.-Yordenis Ugas undercard at AT&T Stadium. The judges scored it 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73 for Mielnicki, who improved to 11-1 (7 KOs).
Karpency (9-5-1, 4 KOs), of Adah, Pennsylvania, has lost three straight fights.
Mielnicki moved up to the junior middleweight limit for this fight and expects to remain a 154-pounder for the foreseeable future. The Roseland, New Jersey, native also fought for the first time with another new trainer, Raul “Chino” Rivas, in his corner.
Mielnicki re-connected with respected trainer Joe Goossen in San Diego at the start of camp for this bout. They parted ways amicably again because Goossen was busy preparing lightweight contender Ryan Garcia for his 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Emmanuel Tagoe last Saturday night at Alamodome in San Antonio.
While Mielnicki didn’t stop Karpency, he looked better throughout their bout than when he stopped Nicholas DeLomba (16-4, 5 KOs) on December 25 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Mielnicki suffered a slight tear to his right biceps in the third round of that bout, which limited him thereafter.
After fighting Karpency on the inside during the previous two rounds, Mielnicki spent the final three minutes of their unremarkable bout boxing him from a distance. By then, it was clear Karpency had no chance to win.
Mielnicki moved the fight inside on Karpency during the sixth and seventh rounds, when he regularly went after Karpency’s body. Karpency had trouble landing clean punches on Mielnicki in those rounds as well.
Already well ahead on points, Mielnicki continued to work well off his jab throughout the fifth round.
Mielnicki caught Karpency with a right hand as Karpency backed toward the ropes toward the end of the fourth round.
Mielnicki worked well off his jab in each of the first three rounds, when Karpency had difficulty finding his way inside on the taller, rangier fighter. Mielnicki landed a hard right hand to the side of Karpency’s head late in the fourth round, which made Karpency reset his feet.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
