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J'Leon Love hit the canvas for the first time in his career tonight, but managed to get out of Las Vegas with his undefeated record intact, beating Gabriel Rosado via split decision on scores of 95-94, 97-92, and 94-95. Bad Left Hook had it 96-93 for Rosado.
The two 95-94 cards were perfectly defensible, but 97-92 for Love raised a few eyebrows. After the fight, Rosado, who dropped Love in the sixth round on a great right hand counter, said he felt he deserved the win, and Love said he'd be open to a rematch. Whether that happens or not (it almost surely won't) is another story.
Love (16-0, 8 KO) did fight pretty well, and showed he can dig down and fight his way out of trouble. He took a lot of good shots from Rosado (21-7, 13 KO), and ate them fairly well. But there still didn't seem to be anything special about Love -- this was a good, even fight, and he fought well -- and there will remain skeptics of his true upside.