ShoBox Results: Brandon Gonzales Slips Past Ossie Duran, Javier Molina Loses to Artemio Reyes

We had one upset tonight, and another fight that just missed being one in the main event.

Tonight's ShoBox: The New Generation was headlined by middleweights Brandon Gonzales and Ossie Duran, with Gonzales barely getting past the tough veteran with a split decision win over eight rounds in a solid fight. Official scores were 77-75 twice for Gonzales, and 78-74 for Duran on the third card. Bad Left Hook scored it 77-75 for Duran, the veteran from Ghana who has been in this exact position before.

Duran (26-9-2, 10 KO) did enough to win in my eyes, and landed a lot of good shots on Gonzales (15-0, 10 KO). The 27-year-old Goossen Tutor prospect Gonzales looked like a very ordinary fighter tonight, fighting well in spurts but finding it hard to keep focus and prove that his physical advantages -- including a big speed advantage -- were much to get excited about. Some already feel after watching this one that his career highlight may be cutting Andre Ward in sparring. That might seem harsh, but I didn't see a lot tonight that would indicate he's any type of future star.

As for Duran, he just fought his sort of fight. He kept it close, had an argument as the winner, but didn't pull it out in the end.

In the co-feature, former Olympian Javier Molina suffered his first pro loss, getting outworked and outfought by Artemio Reyes over eight rounds. Reyes won on scores of 77-75, 78-74 and 78-74. Bad Left Hook scored it 77-75 for Reyes, who landed the harder, more telling blows over the course of the night.

Reyes (14-1, 11 KO) hardly looked like any future contender himself, as he's slower than all get out and far from being a huge puncher, but it was his determination that won the fight. He was willing -- and easily able -- to walk down and through Molina (9-1, 4 KO), whose lack of power finally bit him big-time in this one. It seemed like all of the exchanges tipped to Reyes, who had more solid blows. Molina did his share of decent work, but he was pressured effectively through much of the fight, and was backed down by a fair number of shots from the underdog.

It's kind of hard to tell what the future holds for the 21-year-old Molina. He's talented, but he has hand issues (three broken right hands already in his pro career), and he's not quite good enough to overcome his lack of power. He may be Paul Malignaggi Lite, but with a better amateur background.