Rosa Ekes Out A Narrow Win Over Saludar
At the Hotel Catalonia Malecon Center in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, Vic Saludar (21-5, 11 KOs) defended the WBA world ‘regular’ minimumweight title against mandatory challenger Erick “Mini Pacman” Rosa (5-0, 1 KO). It was a classic battle of experience versus youth.
Saludar was the veteran in this instance. The 31-year-old resident of Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines came up the hard way and had his share of bumps along the road. In December 2015, he was stopped by then-WBO world 105 pound champ Kosei Tanaka. He rebounded to win the WBO title in July 2018, then captured the vacant WBA belt in February 2021.
He faced Rosa, who was fighting for a world title in his hometown. “Mini Pacman” is full of youthful energy and ambition. Because of his rapid development and natural ability, the 21-year-old is being moved very quickly by his handlers. Local observers view the southpaw as the future of Dominican boxing.
CLASH OF STYLES
The challenger is someone who prefers to box from a distance. As a result, Saludar began matters by pressing the action. While not landing with consistency, the defending champ was able to get home with an occasional right hand up top and left hook to the body.
QUESTIONABLE CALLS
But, Rosa is an elusive target with outstanding upper-body movement. He’s also an effective counter-puncher with sneaky punching power. With sixty-seven seconds to go in round three, he put the champ down with a right jab-left hook. Saludar quickly got up, and it seemed more of a flash knockdown than anything else.
From there, the champ continued to stalk in hopes that his pressure would mentally and physically wear down his younger opponent. Rosa kept in pure boxing mode. He stayed outside, then flurried with two, three, and four-punch combinations as the Filipino waded in. It was more of a cat and mouse game than a thrilling, back-and-forth battle through the middle rounds.
Rosa was given credit for a second knockdown midway through the ninth. However, in watching the fight, the knockdown came from Saludar being off-balanced after their feet got tangled.
With fifty seconds to go in round ten, Saludar put Rosa down with a straight right hand. It seemed to give the Filipino a boost of energy as he applied pressure and had the better of it during the championship rounds.
DIFFICULT TO SCORE
It became a situation of what you preferred. Did you like the attacking style of the champ or the movement and flashy punches of the challenger? In the end, the judges scored the fight in favor of Rosa by split decision (116-109 Rosa, 113-112 Saludar, 113-112 Rosa).
For the winner, his next fight will come against the winner of the upcoming bout between Byron Rojas and Leyman Benavides.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
