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Tonight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, “King” Gabriel Rosado and Curtis “Showtime” Stevens faced off in the shows main event to contest for Rosado’s BKB middleweight title. It was Rosado’s first defense since stopping Brian Vera last August to become the first BKB middleweight champ, and Stevens first time competing in the BKB pit.
Rosado boxed from the outside at the start, setting the distance of the fight behind the jab, and despite the small confines of the pit, kept Stevens at a safe distance. Stevens however, wasn’t fighting as aggressive as was expected by most, the Brownsville “chin checker” wasn’t able to get in close often enough to land his damaging power shots. The defending champ made it a point to punch and move, and not allow the match to turn into a toe-to-toe slugfest that would have easily favored the challenger.
In the closing seconds of the fifth round however, the two did square off at close range, with Stevens landing his signature left hook that clocked in at 480 pound of pressure, dropping Rosado, who beat the count and returned to his side of the pit at rounds end. The knockdown lit a fire under Stevens, who came out more aggressive in the sixth frame, but by rounds end, Rosado appeared clear-headed and free of any carry over effects the prior rounds knockdown may have caused.
After a close seventh round, the fight went to the scorecards, with tallies of 69:63 for Stevens, and 66:66 twice, declaring the contest a majority draw with Rosado retaining the middleweight strap. The unofficial ringside scorecard had the fight at 67:65 in favor of Rosado.
“Somebody got their math fucked up,” stated Stevens, while Rosado stated that he felt he had “boxed a shutout”. Both fighters were open to rematch.
*Rosado’s combined record is now 21-9-1, 13 KO’s, Stevens combined record is 27-5-1, 20 KO’s