Daniel Jacobs (37-3, 30 KOs) boxed his way to a 12 round split decision against the tough Gabriel Rosado (25-13-1, 14 KOs) on Friday night in a glacially slow-paced fight at the Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida.
The fight could have gone either way, but the judges saw it s follows: 115-113, 115-113 for Jacobs, and 115-113 for Rosado.
Whatever chance Rosado had of winning, he lost it by failing to do enough in the championship rounds.
Jacobs fought a little bit harder in rounds 9 through 12 to get the victory. But he hardly shined, though. He barely did more than Rosado, which isn’t saying much because he hardly threw anything meaningful.
Jacobs was afraid to let his hands go in the first seven rounds. Finally, in the eighth round, Jacobs, 33, began to go on the attack more with single shots, but he didn’t throw combinations that his trainer wanted him to.
The fighters that have beaten Rosado in the past, like Gennadiy Golovkin, did it by throwing a lot of power shots and going on the attack. Jacobs didn’t fight that way tonight. Hence, the fight was razor-close, and it could have literally been scored a draw or a win for Rosado.
Jacobs still has a chance to get a title shot, but it’s doubtful that Canelo Alvarez or Gennadiy Golovkin will want to fight him because he’s too boring with the way he fights.
Welterweight Daniyar ‘Kazakh Thunder’ Yeleussinov (10-0, 6 KOs) left former 140-lb champion Julius Indongo (23-3, 12 KOs) on the canvas in a heap in the second round after connecting with a left to the head.
The fight was stopped at 1:24 of the second. In the first round, the 37-year-old Indongo was knocked down by a left hand from Yeleussinov.
While Yeleussinov looked good, Indongo had already been knocked out by Terence Crawford and Regis Prograis in fast stoppages in 2017 and 2018.
For Yeleussinov to impress, he’s going to need to prove that he can beat someone like Vergil Ortiz Jr, Yordenis Ugas, or David Avanesyan.
Middleweight prospect Nikita Ababiy (10-0, 6 KOs) looked unusually poor in winning a six-round unanimous decision against Brandon Maddox (7-4-1, 5 KOs). The judges all had it 59-55, 59-55, and 59-55.
Heavyweight Mahammadrasul Majidov (3-0, 3 KOs) beat Sahret Delgado (8-0, 7 KOs) by a third-round knockout. Majidov landed a hard right hand that hurt Delgado, prompting the referee to stop it.
In the opening fight on the DAZN card, lightweight Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) won a ten round majority decision over Mason Menard (36-5, 25 KOs).
The judges scored it:
