Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York -- In an IBF bantamweight world title eliminator rematch, Emmanuel Rodriguez (21-2, 13KOs) defeated Gary Antonio Russell (19-1, 12KOs).
Rodriguez came out and established himself by stunning Russel with a good right hand in the 1st round. For the next 7 rounds Rodriguez outboxed and hurt Russell at will. At the end of the 8th round Rodriguez scored a spectacular knockdown over Russel that should have ended the fight. After a long count, Russell was able to make it to his corner.
More controversy ensued in the 9th round, as Russell connected with what appeared to be an unintentional headbutt, which stopped the fight momentarily. Rodriguez was able to finish round 9 after being given some time to recover as he was visibly in agony. Before the the start the 10th round the referee (on the advice of the ringside physician) called an end to the fight because Rodriguez was deemed unable to continue. Rodriguez was awarded a technical decision victory. Scores were 100-90 , 99-91, 99-93.
In a Junior middleweight bought, Vito Milenicki improved his record to 13-1, 8KOs against Limberth Ponce who now drops to 19-6, 11KOs. The fight was uneventful for 9 rounds, But for whatever reason both fighters decided to "let it all hang out" (tried to score knockouts) in the last round. Too bad there wasn't more of this action earlier in the fight. With the victory Milenicki, who goes by the nickname of "White Magic", won the WBA continental americas championship
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