Michel Rivera Flawlessly Defeats Matias Romero
Young lightweight talent Michel “La Larza Ali” Rivera (22-0, 14 KO’s) entered and exited the ring of his most recent assignment brightly smiling. Rivera (23), had good reason to grin, having just handed Jose Matias Romero (24-2, KO’s) his second professional loss by way of unanimous decision. Clearly Romero (25), has not relished in his American tour as his first two first professional losses were also his first two bouts held in the States. It’s uncertain what the Argentinean will do from this point but whatever it is don’t be surprised if its’ done back in Argentina.
As for La Larza Ali his future remains bright as ever. Unlike countless fighters who have had their careers stalled by COVID-19, Rivera has flourished. Having fought just this past July 3, Romero stood as La Larza Ali’s third outing this year. Prior to that, Rivera fought twice in 2020 and three times in 2019. Promoted by Sampson Lewkowicz and trained by Herman Caicedo, who is the chief second to heavyweight Luis Ortiz, Rivera is in a fantastic place. Ranked #2 (WBA), #8 (IBF), #12 (WBC) and #13 (WBO) the Dominican should not be left wanting for more notable opposition much longer.
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EASY WORK
While the first round was not full of quality action it would see Rivera come out, initiate the action and land the better shots. In fact, outside of La Larza Ali coming forward behind his jab, following up with the straight right and occasionally working the body of the perpetually back peddling Romero very little transpired over the first five rounds.
Rivera displayed a handsome array of punches as he doubled hooks, shot straight rights and jabs to the body and controlled with his lead stick. Nevertheless, nothing of serious consequence landed for either competitor. It would certainly be inaccurate to say that Romero was running but he was doing anything but consistently engaging.
Finally in the final ten seconds of the sixth round, La Larza Ali clipped Romero with a straight right that appeared to mildly buzz him. Romero fought back with more spit and fire in the seventh but did not do enough to carry the period. Even worse, Rivera began sitting down on his punches a bit more in the eighth. The alteration in velocity appeared to bother Romero. He was in no way rocked but the overall damage was beginning to take its toll.
PREDICTABLE OUTCOME
The final round saw the best action as the two pugilists sought to close the show in style. Romero did up his output and scored with a few thumping punches, but nothing that wasn’t eaten up by Rivera without much effort. La Larza Ali, who was the ring general the entire night, also socked Romero with hard shots but nothing wobbled or significantly deterred him. Unsurprisingly when scorecards were read Rivera won a shutout 100-90 three-way unanimous decision victory.
By: Bakari Simpson
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