All photos by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
In welterweight action that kicked off the televised portion of the Friday Night Knockout telecast on truTV, undefeated Brad “King” Solomon (26-0, 9 KOs) squared off with Raymond “Tito” Serrano (21-3, 9 KOs) in a 10-round affair.
At the opening bell, Solomon established a very wide stance and kept his right hand unusually high and slightly toward his opponent. Round 1 featured more posturing and probing than sustained action, which may be expected with only 18 knockouts in a combined 48 bouts between the two fighters.
Toward the end of Round 2 it appeared that Serrano landed a hook to Solomon’s chin as “King” lunged in and dropped, but the referee erroneously ruled that it was not a knockdown.
The pace picked up over the next several rounds with both fighters committing more to their punches and occasional combinations.
In Round 8 both fighters had their moments and landed flush shots, but neither was significantly hurt or was able to establish a clear advantage over the other though the momentum seemed to be slightly in Solomon’s favor.
The judges saw it in favor of Solomon by unanimous decision with scores of 100-90, 98-92, 97-93.
