Adrien Broner Wins Paid Sparring Over Hutchinson! Rigo Gets Another KO!
There were many questions about Adrien “The Problem” Broner’s (35-4-1, 24KO) maturation leading up to this fight. The former champion seemed more serious than he has in years as he did away with his normal controversial pre-fight antics, made weight and showed a focused demeanor in the ring. After Broner sat at the buffet line on Bill “Hutch” Hutchinson’s (20-3-4, 9KO) body that nearly stopped the practicing lawyer in the first round, he seemed to use his opponent as a way to get rounds in after a two-year layoff. This was evident as Broner’s mouth was open by the end of round two!
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There was definitely ring-rust as Hutchinson landed some decent counter shots at close range that occasionally knocked Broner’s head back. The “Problem” here was Hutch could not hurt the former champion nor could he stop him from coming forward. Broner stalked his prey with more volume than boxing fans are used to seeing from him. In the process, he landed short combinations at will, staggering the lawyer in almost every round.
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To Hutchinson’s credit, he is extremely tough. Broner started to open up by round seven. Everything would now land with much more pop. Hutch would begin to take a serious beating and the damage on his face showed it. Although he lost every round, Hutchinson can praise himself for surviving the onslaught as he garnered respect from the ringside commentators. Meanwhile, Broner picked up much needed rounds, but may receive criticism for not stopping an unknown opponent who is a part-time fighter. Oh, and the antics came right back in the post-fight interview!
GUILLERMO RIGONDEAUX VS CHARLIE CLEMENTE-ANDINO
After grabbing a quick first round knockout in his last outing, 42 year-old former unified 122lbs champ Guillermo “Rigo” Rigondeaux (22-3, 14KO) found himself in a seven round “dud”. As much as former champions turned commentators in Ray Mancini and Nate Campbell were critical of Rigo, his over-matched opponent Charlie Clemente-Andino (12-1, 5KO) was more to blame for putting observers to sleep.
Though undefeated from feasting on sub-D level competition, the Puerto Rican contender elected to show more respect for his opponent’s name than fight him. As soon as he got wind of Rigo’s speed, accuracy and power from the first straight left landed in the opening round, Clemente-Andino decided to get on his bicycle for the remainder of the fight. While not aggressive in a way fans would appreciate, Rigo did press the action and seemed to be the only competitor who came to win.
For true boxing heads that can remember, this fight looked very similar to Rigondeaux’s victory against Joseph Agbeko over ten years ago. The difference here is Rigo was able to land a shot to the solar-plexus of a “running” Clemente-Andino midway into the seventh round. The shot instantly dropped the Puerto Rican as he rolled around on the ground until the referee waived off the fight.
Love him or hate him, Rigo we’ll never become a Ruslan Provodnikov or Arturo Gatti type of fighter. A message to fans and commentators – appreciate what you can if you are watching him or just don’t watch at all!
AHMED ELBIALI VS RODOLFO GOMEZ JR
Light Heavyweight contender Ahmed Elbiali (23-1, 18KO) has been on a near six-year recovery period after taking his first loss to then semi-retired former champion Jean Pascal. Since then, his management team decided to push the 32 year-old Egyptian slower than a snail in hopes of avoiding another mistake of putting him in a tough matchup. By the looks of his limited skill-set, fans can easily see why.
His opponent, Rodolfo Gomez Jr (14-7-3, 10KO) came into this fight with a 1-2-2 record in his last five bouts. Therefore, this was clearly a hand-picked opponent for Elbiali’s style. Outside of the constant crying over belt-line blows and hugging, Gomez still had success. Elbiali has serious problems defensively as he stays flat-footed with zero upper-body and head movement. This would result in him periodically catching some hard shots on the chin and to the body. Nevertheless, Gomez also suffers on the defensive end and the Egyptian found a home for his jab and setup the uppercut very well throughout the fight.
This was a matchup was intended to excite the fans, but fell short. Though neither man would be considered real contenders for reigning champions Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol, for what it’s worth, Elbiali was clearly a level above Gomez. In the end, he cruised to a unanimous decision victory in a sub-par performance.
