Bektemir Melikuziev Gets Stopped By Gabe Rosado!
Uzbekistani super middleweight prospect Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (7-1, 6 KO’s) has now suffered his first professional loss. The young fighter was stopped in devastating fashion by “long in the tooth” “King” Gabe Rosado (26-13-1, 15 KO’s) in the third round. The victory officially got Rosado back in the win column after dropping a split-decision loss to Daniel Jacobs November 2020.
With this being only his eighth professional fight, clearly Melikuziev’s team meant to move him aggressively. The hard charging boxer entered the bout already ranked #7 (WBA), right behind Edgar Berlanga and Jacobs. Yet, it appears that his team opted to move him a bit too fast! It will be interesting to see how the Bully reacts to this loss. His last three fights have all been staged roughly four months apart!
Following a dreadfully dull opening round Rosado was forced to take a knee after absorbing a solid left hook to the belly. For about fifteen-seconds before going down the Bully was finally starting to come on. Melikuziev firmly became the ring general for the first two minutes of the second by pressing the action and hammering the body. In the final minute of the round Rosado did find a measure of success countering.
Then in stunning fashion Rosado leveled his opponent with a crunching left hook that left him spilling on the canvas face first. Referee Robert Burke called the fight off near immediately, bringing the winning streak and the buzz of the Uzbekistani to a close!
In his post-fight interview, an ecstatic Rosado made it clear he was gunning for former junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia next. The latter is involved in the main event on the same card and expected to pick up his third win at middleweight. If so, this knockout victory may have already set that fight up!
By: Bakari SImpson
