By John Gabriel Thompson: On the undercard of the matchup between Kendall Holt and Julio Diaz at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California, Jonathan Gonzalez (13-0, 13 KO’s) stopped Rudy Cisneros (12-3, 11 KO’s) in the seventh round of their eight round contest when the corner of Cisneros TRIED to throw in the towel. The fight was broadcast live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights series.
Some might remember Chicago native Cisneros from the second season of “The Contender” where he was thought of as an easy target due to his trouble making weight. Cisneros has been extremely inactive the last four years, with no fights this year or last. He had only one fight in 2009 and only one in 2008. Gonzalez, a member of the 2008 Puerto Rican Olympic team, has five first round knockouts on his record and was so confident that he had another fight already scheduled for June.
Cisneros showed his ring rust during the first three rounds. In the third, Gonzalez was moving backwards with his hands down low by his waist, looking to catch Cisneros coming in, connecting with some hard shots. The fourth round was Cisneros’ best of the night as he managed to fight on the inside where he was finally able to land a few blows of his own, though Gonzalez probably won that round with cleaner and more effective punching. Gonzalez wisely resumed moving backwards in the fifth – not that he had been losing on the inside, but he did far better at making Cisneros miss with a little distance between them. Cisneros was pressing forward hard in the sixth until the last minute of the round when Gonzalez let loose with a barrage of hard and wild hooks, trying to end the fight.
In the seventh, Gonzalez was again moving backwards, though this time using his jab to keep Cisneros at bay and set up shots of his own. About half way through the round Gonzalez’s shots started taking their toll, and Cisneros backed into the ropes. Gonzalez landed a right-left through his opponent’s guard and then a right-left to the body which clearly hurt Cisneros. His corner man then attempted to throw in the towel, but the towel hit the top rope and stuck there. To make matters worse, Referee Ray Corona’s back was turned. Gonzalez’s back was also turned, so he kept landing shots on Cisneros. Cisneros’ corner man stepped onto the ring and gave the towel a better toss, but at the same time one of the commissioners in attendance waved to Corona to tell him to stop the fight. Corona immediately stepped between the fighters to award Gonzalez his thirteenth consecutive stoppage victory.