Raymond "Tito" Serrano wasn't really impressive tonight in the Friday Night Nights co-feature on ESPN, but he got a clean win over Kenny Abril over ten rounds, winning on scores of 97-92, 97-92 and 95-94. Bad Left Hook had it a wider 99-91 for Serrano. (Maybe a round too wide, in fact.)
Abril (11-5-1, 6 KO) just didn't look there mentally from the beginning, but did score a third round knockdown when he popped Serrano (18-0, 8 KO) with a jab while Serrano was wide open, off-balance, and throwing. It was a pure flash knockdown and wound up making no difference in the fight at all, and Serrano otherwise pretty much dominated a slow round.
Much of the fight, in fact was unfortunately too slow. Abril constantly turned his back, and dropped into a dull habit of throwing one shot, missing, and tying up. This happened over and over, every round. The fight did pick up pace in the sixth round, but only in the final minute.
When Abril did throw, he had success. That's the biggest red flag for Serrano, a 22-year-old Puerto Rican prospect out of Philadelphia. He's really never come off as a blue chipper or an overly impressive prospect, and tonight his flaws were on display despite a largely one-sided fight overall. While Serrano didn't do as much as you'd hope, Abril simply did even less.
Our live coverage of Friday Night Fights continues here, with the Demetrius Andrade vs Angel Hernandez main event coming shortly.