JULIAN Rodriguez boosted his career with a final-round knockout win against Avious Griffin on the Jake Paul-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr undercard.
The 30-year-old entered the fight as the underdog and as an opponent for his 31-year-old foe, who had a 94 per cent KO record coming into his 18th bout.
In the opening session, both men felt the heat from the crowd, who booed in the opening 90 seconds because of the lack of action. A round later, however, Rodriguez began to find openings to body and head – particularly when finishing combinations with his left hand.
Griffin was a man caught in two minds. When he pushed forward, he looked dangerous and at range he had some success, but these tactics were used infrequently. Rodriguez landed the more telling shots throughout and used his greater experience to great effect.
In the third, Griffin came out the pocket with his chin high and was nailed by the Rodriguez money shot – the left hook. A more aggressive Griffin appeared in the fourth and got the better of his opponent, but still looked vulnerable during exchanges.
Rodriguez closed his combinations with more authority than Griffin in the fifth and sixth with Griffin beginning to chase the fight. The straight right and overhand left looked like a winning pair for Rodriguez and landed them with force.
Griffin showed his vulnerabilities in the seventh when on the back foot or stationary. Coming into this fight, he had won 17 from 17 with 16 inside the distance, but had been accused of having a padded record. Rodriguez was exposing the Tennessee native, proving there was something to that claim.
In the eighth, however, Griffin showcased his power with a right to the temple, dropping his New Jersey opponent, who recovered quickly. Griffin now had momentum on his side, but was lacking solid fundamentals to do anything about it.
The final two rounds saw Griffin wobbled twice and eventually on the floor. Rodriguez forced him back in the ninth and staggered the betting favourite. A round later, he did the same, but this time Griffin couldn’t recover from that winning left hook, which closed the show with a KO win in the dying seconds.
Rodriguez now goes to 24-1 (15 KOs). Griffin, meanwhile, sits at 17-1 (16 KOs).
