Gabriel Rosado and Saul Duran in a Puerto Rico vs Mexico Vicious War!

In a vicious gutter war that turned the house upside down at Bally’s Hotel and Casino on February 28, 2010, Gabriel Rosado, a Puerto Rican out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Saul Roman of Tijuana, Mexico, engaged in a brutal bloody split decision light middleweight slugfest.

Rosado, 14-4 (8) won a brutal ten round split decision over Roman, 32-6 (7), scoring was 96-94 Rosado, 97-93 Roman, 96-94 for Rosado, with at least some of the judging influenced by the blood. The bout could have been scored either way, and there was widespread disagreement at ringside.

After the bout, promoter Russell Peltz, who promotes Rosado, stated he thought Roman had won the fight easily scoring the bout six rounds to three with one round even. This reporter scored it 97-94.

Roman fought calmly all night while backing up, flashing a good jab while looking for counterpunch opportunities. Rosado landed more power shots, looked desperately hungry, and was eager to slug it out in center ring.

Midway through the bout, Roman was bleeding from a cut above the right eye, while Rosado was bleeding from a cut above the left eye. Neither fighter seemed to care about the blood. Rosado was warned for throwing a dirty hip shot at one point, but no points were taken away.

The fighters went toe-to-toe, with Roman landing the more effective jabs, but few power shots. Rosado was the aggressor, and that edge probably won him the bout, Ringside consensus was that this split decision would not shake up the light middleweight division, one way or the other.

One bizarre fact in this bout was the reported height. Rosado is listed at 6’0″, Roman at 5’7″. Roman appeared taller, however. A truer guess is Roman at 5’11, Rosado at 5’10”.

After the bout, Roman and his handlers chatted with the press, and felt if the bout were held in Mexico, they would have gotten the decision. General consensus was, since Roman’s head cut bled more, this could have influenced the judges who went for Rosado.

In four preliminary bouts on the Bally’s Casino undercard:

Ariel Espinal, a light heavyweight out of Brooklyn, New York, scored a fourth round stoppage of Tony Pietrantonio, of Youngtown, Ohio, in a journeyman bout that went life and death.

Pietrantonio, now 6-5-1 (5) used his reach advantage to win rounds one and two with body shots. Things seemed to be going his way until Espinal, now 7-12-3 (3) popped Pietrantonio with a monster right hand and decked him, rocking the house. Pietrantonio beat the count, but was in trouble, getting hit by overhand rights. A left hook staggered him prompting referee Benji Esteves to end the slug-a-war at 1:38 of round four.

In a brief junior middleweight bout, Glen Tapia of Passaic, new Jersey, rose to 4-0 (3) with a first round stoppage of Tyrone Miles of Camden, New Jersey, now 1-3. Tapia looked the part of a wrecking machine, using right-left combinations with Miles on the ropes to deck him quickly. A brutal overhand right staggered Miles, prompting referee Benji Esteves to stop the contest at 1:00 of the first.

Anthony Washington, a cousin of Miles in the Miles corner, complained that the stoppage was premature. “They didn’t give him (Miles) a chance to fight.” Referee Benji Esteves was referee when Francisco Rodriguez died. “He didn’t give Tyrone no chance, if that’s what happened to the referee in Philadelphia he shouldn’t be the referee!”

However, while the stoppage was premature, the outcome of the contest was not in doubt.

In a light heavyweight bout, Troy “Trouble” Maxwell of Galloway, New Jersey, won a close four round decision over Todd “Viking” Erickson of Dover, New Jersey. Erickson, now 0-3-1, had height and reach advantage, and scored with power shots to the head to win rounds one and two. Maxwell came on near the end of round two, and won rounds three and four, and all three judges scored it 39-37 for Maxwell. The bout looked closer to a draw.

In a four round walkout bout originally scheduled for six, former British Commonwealth Light Middleweight Champion Ossie Duran of Ghana, now out of Paterson, New Jersey, made a successful comeback with a for round unanimous decision over Jamaal Davis of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Duran, now 24-8-2 (9) won his first in three years by coming forward and mixing jab combinations with power punches. Davis, 11-6 (6) looked to counter and tried hard, but could not land much or match Duran’s speed or experience. Davis who has lost three eight rounders, wasn’t in Duran’s league. Duran has gone the distance fourteen times in his career. Duran also had an experienced corner, which were confident enough during the bout to give this reporter a cold bottle of water.