December 17th, 2006 – By Frank Gonzalez Jr., Sharkie’s Machine – Photo by 8CountProductions.com- Saturday night at the Miccosukee Gaming Resort in Miami Florida, rising Featherweight Prospect, Jason “The American Boy” Litzau (20-1, 18 KO’s) stepped into the ring undefeated and left with his first L. That loss came by way of an eighth round knockout, compliments of a big right hand from Jose Hernandez, who improved his record to 22-3, with 14 KO’s.
Early in the first round, Litzau was leading the fight, peppering Hernandez with jabs and combination punching. Hernandez landed a clean right cross that knocked Litzau to the canvas. Litzau beat the count and before he could say hello, Hernandez was all over him, looking for the finish line. Litzau barely survived the round.
In the second round, Hernandez sought to capitalize on the damage he did in the first but Litzau showed some heart and boxing skills and managed to escape most of Hernandez punches with good athleticism. Litzau managed to score more and defend better in round two.
In the third, it was a brawl early on but Litzau was finding his legs and jabbing his way out of harms way and into the drivers seat. Hernandez rarely touched the moving, jabbing Litzau.
Litzau recaptured the momentum he had before the first round knockdown and was easily out boxing Hernandez and landing with regularity. Though Hernandez managed to get inside where he wanted to be, he didn’t do enough when he got close and Litzau was making the slowing Hernandez pay.
Litzau was in charge in round five. Hernandez was looked slower and sapped of his power. There were a couple of head butts, as Hernandez tried to get on the inside. Litzau complained.
In the sixth, they brawled at center ring and after a wild encounter, Hernandez’ nose was bleeding. Litzau kept sticking, moving and landing at will. Hernandez pressed, ever forward, ever less effective.
Litzau was showing better stamina and resilience by the seventh, jabbing and throwing combos. Hernandez managed to land a couple of right hands that seemed to stun Litzau just a bit but not enough to win the round.
Early in the eighth, Hernandez came alive and landed a big right that stunned Litzau again. Litzau took it and kept boxing but again, Hernandez landed an overhand right, after which, Litzau was woozy. Then came another right. Litzau kept boxing but Hernandez could smell the blood as he rushed Litzau into the ropes and wailed on him. Weakened, Litzau falls after Hernandez landed yet another overhand right that snapped his head to one side and his body fell backwards onto the canvas. The referee, Frank Santore Jr. counted but Jason Litzau was done for the night.
Jose Hernandez corner picked him up and carried him round the ring. With his face swollen and eyes blackened, his mouth looked to be asking the audience, “Huh, Huh?” as if to ask, what do you think of THAT?
I think Hernandez is a scrappy fighter with good natural instincts. He has some talent and if committed, could be a quality prospect on the rise himself after taking down the unbeaten, flashbulb friendly Jason Litzau on HBO.
A rematch against Litzau might be the best way for Hernandez to capitalize on his newly found recognition. I had Litzau winning every round except for the first and last. It would also be a wise course for Litzau to bravely seek redemption over the man who put the only blemish on his record. If Jason keeps his left arm up a little higher next time, he might be less vulnerable to the potency of Hernandez’ right.
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The Main Event featured rising Middleweight Contender, Edison Miranda (27-1-0, 24 KO’s) landing a solid right to the upper temple area of Willie Gibbs (20-2-0, 16 KO’s) and consequently scoring a knockout. The KO was somewhat technical though, because after the ref counted, Gibbs stood up ready to fight—only he waited until the referee had already counted to ten. Is it possible that Gibbs didn’t realize he had to be on his feet before the ref counts to ten? As a pro fighter, he had to know what the protocol is in that situation, so it wasn’t exactly a controversial call.
For those who were hoping to see Miranda exhibit his fighting skills against another up and coming fighter, they got about 15 seconds of action altogether as the first half of the first round was a real snoozer, with neither guy doing much at all up until Miranda landed the big shot to Gibbs’ head.
There was talk of Miranda fighting Jermain Taylor during the post fight interview. Hey, why not? If Kassim Ouma could bypass all the top contenders at Middleweight and get a shot at Taylor’s titles then why not Miranda? At least Miranda is a legitimate Middleweight.
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