GABRIEL ROSADO W10 (split) SAUL ROMAN

The matches have generally been pleasing in the Top Rank Live! series on Fox Sports Espanol, and the junior middleweight 10-rounder between Gabriel Rosado and Saul Roman on Saturday’s show was highly entertaining — far more so than the somewhat tepid Mike Jones showcase in the main event. Rosado, the locally based fighter from Philadelphia, survived late-rounds pressure to win a split decision in a fight that could have gone either way. I saw it as a draw, 95-95, judge Pierre Benoist had Roman winning widely, 97-93, while judges Debra Barnes and Ed Gabler (a new name to me) each had Rosado ahead 96-94. When there was an extremely long wait before the decision was announced I had a feeling that Roman was not going to go home to Mexico with the W.

This was one of those back-and-forth fights. Roman was the aggressor and looked the harder puncher but Rosado boxed intelligently and had the faster hands. Each man jabbed effectively. Roman dug some good hooks downstairs but Rosado was clever at timing his opponent for sneaky right hands.

A head clash in the sixth round was a bad break for Roman, who suffered a vertical slice between the eyes. He backed up and lost his composure, and Rosado was quick to go right at him and hammer him to enjoy his most dominant round of the fight. Roman came back strongly but that shaky sixth round proved costly on the cards. This is boxing, though, where a close fight can come down to inches, or even a hair’s breadth, and one untimely occurrence can be the difference between a boxer winning, losing or getting a draw.

Rosado had problems of his own, being cut and swollen over the left eye in the later rounds as Roman landed right hands. Roman gestured to Rosado to stand and fight in the 10th but the gritty Philadelphian of Puerto Rican heritage defiantly beckoned to his opponent to keep bringing the fight to him.

The boxers showed mutual respect at the final bell, though. That is one of things that I like most about boxing: two proud, game, well-matched boxers can give and take punches, fight their hardest and acknowledge each other’s contribution when it’s all over. Roman looked very disappointed at the decision but seemed to be telling Rosado: “No hard feelings, you don’t do the judging.” The fight reflected credit on both men and it was so closely contested that it was almost a shame there had to be a loser because if ever a fight was what the British would call “a good draw”, this was the fight.