ESPN Friday Night Fight's Results

In a well contested affair at the Fontainbleau Hotel in Miami, Florida, young Antwone Smith took another step forward in his career with a hard fought decision win over Columbian Richard Gutierrez.

Gutierrez seemed to start faster in the early rounds but Smith began to take control in the third. Guiterrez’ early success to Smith’s body was negated by Smith’s efficient workrate from there on out. Despite suffering a cut early in the contest above his left eye, Smith remained poised and continued to fight hard on the inside.

At the end of ten honest rounds scores of a shocking 100-88 and a more reasonable 97-93, and 96-94 were read in Smith’s favor. With the win the Miami native moves to 16-1 with 8 knockouts and is 11-0-1 in his last twelve contests. Gutierrez showed that he has something left in the tank but sees his record fall to 24-3-1.

Guillermo Rigondeaux invades the States with impressive Win

Former Cuban amateur standout and two-time gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux made his professional debut against heavily overmatched Juan Noriega in the evening’s co-feature bout. The buzz on Rigondeaux is very high, as he showed much poise and class during his Cuban amateur days and people in the states are savoring at the thought of him testing his skills as a professional. While his bout with Noriega wasn’t much of a test it was perhaps a look into what the future holds for the 28 year old southpaw.

From the outset Rigondeaux controlled the pace of the fight and showed superior technique and speed. Within seconds the crafty Cuban had his younger foe on the canvas courtesy of a crashing left hand and the outcome was never in doubt. Rigondeaux’s left hand is a thing of beauty and he used it to control the contest, wrecking Noriega to both the body and head effectively. The bout was eventually stopped at 1:09 of round three, as the referee has seen enough.

The win marks a new chapter in Rigondeaux’s life, as he is free from the days of communism in Cuba and can now begin his trek as a professional. When asked what he thought of Rigondeaux afterwards ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas said he saw a lot of promise, based on his previous success in the amateur ranks, and says that he could see the standout having much success if moved quickly and properly.

Lara Stops Vasquez in Four

Before his fight with journeyman Edwin Vasquez, Erislandy Lara stated that he was focusing on sitting down on his punches a bit more while also increasing his workrate. He was able to do both tonight, as the former two-time Cuban national champion stopped Vasquez after four one-sided rounds.

Lara is an impressive prospect and upped his record to 6-0 with 4 knockouts after dominating the action throughout. He floored his older foe in the second round and the bout was halted for good about a barrage of punches from the southpaw in the fourth. A solid performance for Lara who landed 73 head shots through the first four rounds.

When asked his assessment of Lara, ESPN guest analyst Freddie Roach said that he feels Lara is a prospect worth watching but is also a little immature and green inside of the ring. Still, if the right work is put in, Roach thinks Lara could begin to emerge in a year’s time.

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