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ESPN Wednesday Night Fights Recap

May 2, 2007

Mahi Shrine Auditorium-Miami, Florida

Featherweight (126 pounds) 4-Round Match:

Juan Carlos Velasquez (1-0, 0 KO's, 125.75 pounds) vs. Freudis Rojas (1-2-1, 1 KO, 130.5 pounds)

Velasquez made his pro debut in February in New York and won a 4 round decision.  He is 5' 8" tall.  Velasquez is from Catano, Puerto Rico and at 22-years-old, nine years younger than his opponent.

Rojas is the second former Cuban on tonight's card.  He has suffered a loss via knockout.  Rojas now fights out of Las Vegas, Nevada and if the graphic is right came in over weight for super featherweight (the weight class above the one contracted for this match).  He accepted this match on short notice, 2 days, but was scheduled to box on Tuesday so should not be out of shape.  The extra weight appears to be lean muscle.  At only 5' 4" tall and only a 4 round bout the bonus 4.5 pounds should end up being added power compared to what he over what he usually brings to the ring, with little risk of exhaustion.  Velasquez's camp did allow Rojas to come in overweight and their boxer will have to deal with the extra strength Rojas likely possesses.

With 2:37 to go in round 1, Velasquez sends Rojas to the ground with a big left hook.  With 2:23 to go in the round action resumes.  Rojas is having a difficult time talking to the referee upon getting up from the knockdown, because of the language barrier.  Rojas' trainer also, had problems communicating with the referee prior to the match again because the referee does not speak Spanish.   Again, with 2:20 to go in round 1, Rojas goes down.  This time, the knockdown was the result of a Velasquez right hand and the referee immediately calls a stop to the contest.  That ends the thoughts of the extra weight being an unfair advantage for Rojas.  Velasquez's twin brother, Carlos Juan Velasquez is one of the reserve matches that will be run on ESPN if enough matches end prematurely and has an extra reason to love this result from his brother.

The official decision is: at 45 seconds of round 1 the winner by technical knockout, Juan Carlos Velasquez.  He is now 2-0, with 1 of those wins coming by knockout.  This is a very impressive television debut for Velasquez, hopefully he will be on ESPN again, soon.

This show did not have a single competitive match on it. This show can be skipped without missing much.