All photos by Lucas Noonan/PBC
In the scheduled 12 round main event of the Tuesday, September 29 edition of Premier Boxing Champions‘ PBC on FS1, southpaw Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (29-0, 1 21 KOs) of the Dominican Republic took on Puerto Rican Carlos “Twin Dream” Velasquez (19-2, 12 KOs) in defense of Fortuna’s newly acquired WBA Super Featherweight world championship.
The fighters acquainted themselves with each other in the first round and decided to dispense with the formalities in the second and went on the attack. It became a violent, awkward tango between southpaw and orthodox styles featuring unintentional head butts mixed in with winging shots by both fighters that saw Velasquez hit the canvas courtesy of two right hands behind the ear.
Fortuna caught Velasquez on the back of the head and dropped him in Roudn 2 #Boxing #PBConFS1 pic.twitter.com/0c1H1CBWO9
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) September 30, 2015
Velasquez’s nose began bleeding heavily in the third round though it was unclear if it was the result of a punch or a clash of heads in a stanza that saw Fortuna continued to pepper his rival with shots from different angles.
As the rounds passed it became evident that the damage to Velasquez’s nose was significant and swelling appeared around his eyes. Fortuna continued to punish the wounded challenger who fought back gamely, his mouth open as the blood continued to flow steadily.
Fortuna charged across the ring in round ten and attacked his rival with impunity. Velasquez simply had nothing left to offer and the referee stepped in and issued a well-timed stoppage that awarded Fortuna his first successful title defense.
In comments following the bout, Fortuna dedicated the fight to his close friend who recently passed away.
Super welterweights Domonique “3D” Dolton (17-0-1, 9 KOs) hailing from Detroit, MI and fellow undefeated Oscar Molina (13-0-1, 10 KOs) from Norwalk, CA stepped into the ring for a scheduled 10-round contest that opened up the televised portion of the PBC card.
It was a relatively tepid first two rounds with Dolton feinting and seeking proper punch placement while Molina threw only a punch or two in succession in response. In the second round Dolton landed a stiff jab that knocked Molina’s mouthpiece out but caused no damage.
Molina’s patience paid off early in the third as he caught Dolton with a well-placed left hook that buckled his knees and he wobbled to the ropes.
#MolinaDolton action from Round 3 #Boxing pic.twitter.com/E0ZbGZQQHy
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) September 30, 2015
Molina pressed the attack and landed several effective shots but Dolton showed good recuperative powers and by the end of the round was feinting and boxing effectively once again.
For the remainder of the fight he pace remained consistent with Dolton the busier fighter and Molina landing the heavier blows. The prospects traded shots for the final twenty seconds of the 10th round in a good, evenly matched fight.
Ultimately it was too close to call as the judges submitted scores of 97-97 Dolton and 95-95-95 for a majority draw.
The next bout was a cruiserweight affair contested between Mayweather Promotion’s prospect Andrew “Beast” Tabiti (12-0, 11 KOs) and Tomay Lodi (16-6-2, 13 KOs) scheduled for eight rounds.
Tabiti stalked Lodi for the first two rounds and caught him with a perfectly timed straight hand to the jaw that dropped Lodi heavily in the corner. It appeared that he may not beat the count but struggled to his feet in time.
"Picture perfect right hand from @AndrewTabiti89" –@FloydMayweather #PBConFS1 pic.twitter.com/lbQRQRLZQj
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) September 30, 2015
Tabiti followed up with a barrage and landed several more clean shots before the bell sounded seconds later.
Lodi’s team had seen enough however and stopped the fight between rounds.
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All fighter records updated
