All photos by Peter Amador/Top Rank
On Saturday, February 28, 2015, up-and-coming Hasbrouck Heights, NJ product, Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez (9-0, 8 KOs) showed no stage fright in his first headlining bout on UniMas’ Solo Boxeo Tecate.
Rodriguez took on Raul Tovar (14-9-1, 4 KOs) at the Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida in a scheduled eight-round bout. Rodriguez was given the opportunity to showcase his stuff in the main event after Puerto Rican star-in-waiting, Felix Verdejo, was injured in preparation for his bout a few weeks back.
Rodriguez jumped on Tovar immediately in Round 1, knocking him down with a stiff jab early on. From there, it was a game of seek and destroy as Rodriguez calmly stalked his over-matched opponent.
After scoring two more knockdowns, Rodriguez was declared the victor because of the three knockdown rule. The official stoppage came at 1:59 of Round 1.
