Photo Credit: Derrick Hogan/ Hogan’s Photos
LAS VEGAS — In a clash of battle-weary veterans desperate for a career-reviving win, Gabriel Rosado made good on his vow to display his skills in dominating Glen Tapia with superb counter-punching in route to a sixth-round TKO at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.
A pattern emerged quickly over the first three rounds. Tapia would start the round strong by scoring with the right hand and getting inside with hooks to the body. Rosado would weather the storm and hurt The Jersey Boy with counter rights over the jab and mix in sneaky left hooks. Rosado implemented this strategy off the backfoot but would come forward with combinations anytime Tapia was stunned or backpedaled (which was often).
By the fourth round, Rosado knew he had a lesser fighter in his domain and unleashed every right hand with bad intentions. Tapia’s attempts to hold were pushed off. In the fifth, he was trapped on the ropes and had his head repeatedly snapped back by vicious overhand rights. Going inside for Tapia now proved equally dangerous with Rosado mixing in uppercuts.
The beating was written all over Tapia’s face — a growing hematoma on the left side of his forehead, bloody nose, and swollen lips. Referee Robert Byrd warned Tapia to “show him something” before the sixth.
The only thing Tapia could show was a fighter in need of being saved from himself. Rosado started the end with a lead left hook that exploited Tapia’s low guard. The latter staggered backward to the ropes and avoided a few follow-up rights before being sent to the canvas by another left hook. Tapia rose and tried to right back, but was rocked by several more rights before the bout was mercifully called.
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Tapia would be wise to officially retire. Now at 23-5, he’s lost four straight (two by stoppage). Should he continue fighting, it likely won’t be under the banner of Golden Boy Promotions. In a truly macabre irony, Rosado’s win gives him the mantle of Golden Boy’s goto veteran for the meat-grinder, meaning the name opponent for its fledgling prospects, and potentially a stay-busy future opponent for its big-punching stars in Canelo or David Lemieux (who stopped Rosado in 2014).
Last night’s win snaps Rosado’s two-fight losing streak (Willie Monroe Jr., Martin Murray) and improves his record to 24-11.
