Luis Feliciano UD-10 Herbert Acevedo
Acevedo (16-3-1, 6 KO) wasn’t close on the cards here, losing 97-92, 99-90, and 100-89, but he gave Feliciano (14-0, 8 KO) a better fight than those scores might seem. The 28-year-old Acevedo is a battler, and if he had more power, he might have been able to change the tone of this fight at some point, because he did land some good shots.
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But Milwaukee’s Feliciano, 26, was the clear better fighter here overall, did more damage, and dropped Acevedo hard in the third round, though Acevedo got up and fought his ass off trying to stay in the fight.
“This is how you progress,” Feliciano said after the fight, expressing respect for Acevedo’s toughness. “At the end of the day, we’re looking at long-term. We want to get the elite level and fight the elite names. You have to go through these challenges.”
Erik Bazinyan KO-3 Saul Roman
Bazinyan (24-0, 18 KO) is the current WBO mandatory for Billy Joe Saunders’ super middleweight belt, but the Armenian-Canadian doesn’t think he’s quite ready for Saunders at age 23, which is a stance you have to admire on some level, it’s very honest. Given Saunders’ struggles at 168 — momentary against Shefat Isufi and real against Marcelo Coceres — Bazinyan might be more of a threat than he thinks he is, but it’s understandable that he wants to be fully confident before he takes the swing. He’s young, there’s time.
Roman (46-14, 38 KO) is a 39-year-old scrappy veteran who’s now been stopped 11 times in his career, he’s a guy always willing to take a shot but he’s real limited. This was Bazinyan staying busy, and he cracked Roman with a counter right hand over a lazy jab that knocked the Mexican vet flat out.