Manuel Rojas wins, Tyler McCreary sleep walks to second straight loss
In his latest prizefight, Tyler “The Golden Child” McCreary (16-2-1, 7 KO’s) suffered his second professional loss to Manuel Rey Rojas (21-5, 6 KO’s) by way of unanimous decision. The fight was supposed to bounce McCreary back into the win column following his first professional loss and snapped a long spell of inactivity. He had not been in the ring since being roughed up by Carl “The Jackal” Frampton on November 30, 2021. The former super bantamweight champion represented McCreary’s best competition by far.
Once in the squared-circle, The Golden Child proved that his bag of trick was not nearly as diverse as Frampton’s. After eight rounds of being out boxed and hammered to the body, McCreary dropped a unanimous decision loss. With the fresh loss, the amateur standout is sure to drop even further in the rankings.
For his part, Rojas was essentially in the same boat. Like McCreary, he too was entering the bout directly after a loss. Ironically, Rojas last lost to Albert Bell, who also hails from Toledo, Ohio like McCreary and both are Top Rank stablemates. Yet, unlike McCreary, Rojas was much fresher having staged his last prizefight two months ago. This time, Rojas was able to topple the Ohio fighter.
OUTWORKED AND OUT HUSTLED
The fight started with McCreary using his feet and lead jab well, and it was also very apparent that he had the quicker hands. Nevertheless, Rojas found notable success crowding The Golden Child’s space and getting his punches off in close. This tactic continued to pay dividends throughout the second and third periods.
During the fourth round, Rojas stepped up the pace and began landing a great deal of leather on McCreary’s face. Here and there, McCreary was landing solid shots but was suffering from a very lackadaisical attitude. He quizzically chose to smile and shake his head ‘no’ far more often than he was throwing punches. The capricious style of fighting left him getting outworked and bleeding from the mouth.
McCreary opened the sixth displaying a bit more fire. Instead of letting Rojas walk him down largely without consequence, he threw meaningful punches with regularity. Nothing really hurt or discouraged Rojas but it was a shift in action. Sadly, it was not meant to last. By the end of the period, McCreary was spending a good deal of the time posing. McCreary attempted to let his hands go in the final round, particularly the final minute. Still, it was a case of too little too late. As a result, he dropped a unanimous decision loss when the cards were read.
By: Bakari Simpson
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