Hugo Centeno of Cali met James De La Rosa of Texas in a middleweight scrap in the second TV bout on HBO, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday night, in front of 6,532 patrons of pugilism, and proved himself boss of that squared circle.
After four mostly semi-boring rounds, Centeno ended it at 2:26 of the fifth, with a chin-checker which decked DLR, sending him face first to the mat, like he’d been tased.
In the first, Hugo, so much taller, snapped a jab. DLR then went down off a jab, his balance compromised. Hugo went to the body nicely.
In the second, Hugo kept on dictating the distance between them. In the third, DLR couldn’t come up with a plan to get going. In the fourth, DLR ate a left hook, and Hugo danced, and looked like he was having fun. In the fifth, a left hand, thrown from a lefty stance, as he dipped low and right, face-planted DLR. Game over…
Centeno is a cool customer, and his range and smarts make him a player in the division. Manager Joel De La Hoya has a solid hitter under his umbrella in Centeno.
I spoke to De La Rosa manager Adrian Clark, a young gun up ‘n comer building up a stealth stable.
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