MORE BOXING FIGHTS: https://www.boxingfightsvideos.com
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/boxingfvideos_
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/boxingfvideos1/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boxingfvideos_/
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/boxingfvideos_
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/boxingfvideos1/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boxingfvideos_/
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00and he's got to win.
00:02Okay.
00:03Here and up are the legal punches, okay?
00:05I explained the instructions to you in the dressing room.
00:08It's a clean fight, and operate at all times.
00:10If you want to clash, clash now.
00:11See you.
00:15Eddie Claudio with the final instructions
00:16for Roljan Polanco,
00:18the undefeated Dominican Olympian
00:20trained by Hector Bermudez.
00:22To say he's a gym rat, well,
00:24would be an understatement, Mark,
00:25because he actually lives
00:27on the upper floor of the gym.
00:29He's taking on Argentina's Marcelino Lopez,
00:31who started camp with Joel Diaz
00:35out there in Coachella, California,
00:36and now he's in here with Marcos Caballero,
00:39a man who has trained great fighters throughout the years,
00:42and now has the Argentine in his charge.
00:48It's a gym with an interesting pedigree.
00:50It's almost a firehouse.
00:52I presume he just has to slide down the pole...
00:54Exactly. ...to get to work.
00:56That's pretty much the case.
00:59La Mella on the front of Blanco's trunks,
01:02and that's in honor of his mother,
01:04who just moved to the United States
01:07alongside his son, Roanjel.
01:10La Mella, because she is a twin, La Melliza.
01:15He says that his mom and his kid motivate him.
01:19We'll see.
01:23Looks pretty motivated.
01:24Yeah, nice bodywork there from Rohan Blanco,
01:28a power puncher who just likes to work his way into a fight.
01:34Stylish power puncher.
01:35Yeah, absolutely.
01:37And he said early on,
01:39I'm further along than a lot of these young guys
01:42who are making the transition from the pros
01:44because I had a pro style in the amateur game.
01:52And you can see it on display right here.
01:58Eight knockouts and 13 wins.
02:00He's 25 years old.
02:02He's in against a guy, Marcelino Lopez,
02:05who has really been around...
02:09He's dropped consecutive fights by decision,
02:13but he is a rugged guy, and he will test you.
02:15Yeah, and he's never been stopped.
02:17He's never been down.
02:18Yeah, never been, I mean, so...
02:20Like, a career that started...
02:23Let's look this up here, pal.
02:25I mean, look, he's been in against power puncher Brady's
02:27Prescott, Pablo Cesarcano, David Rodela.
02:31So no easy touches for him throughout the years.
02:33A career that started in 2006.
02:36That's when you were born, right?
02:37Pretty much.
02:39Never been down.
02:41Think about that, man.
02:44I was already old and cranky then.
02:45Man.
02:49This is the first fight of the night,
02:52not the spot that would-be contenders necessarily covet,
02:57but the stakes are really high for a guy like Polanco,
03:00and the eyes are on him.
03:03He has to distinguish himself not just with the fans,
03:07but with top ranks, matchmakers.
03:11There's a lot of 140-pounders here,
03:13and he needs to make a statement.
03:14He says, he needs to say,
03:16-"Pick me first. Put me in, coach." -"Yes. Well said."
03:21And, you know, you saw it yesterday,
03:23Hector Benitez is already talking about
03:25how he could beat Teofimo.
03:27Easier said than done.
03:29Absolutely, but also on this card will be
03:32Tiger Johnson out of Cleveland, Ohio,
03:35who also wants to make the same statement
03:37that Rohan Polanco wants to make.
03:40They are back-to-back on Tim Bradley Jr.'s
03:43double-stamp prospect list,
03:45headlined by Abdullo Mason, Emiliano Vargas,
03:47who we saw last week,
03:48Troy Isley, who we'll be seeing in Norfolk, Virginia.
03:51But, Mark, this is about as close
03:53to a head-to-head comparison as we're gonna get
03:56of three of the best prospects that Top Rank has at 140.
03:59Well, I mean, let's put Rondalvo Delgado on the card as well.
04:03I mean, there's a lot. It's an interesting division.
04:06It's always an interesting division.
04:09A lot of guys can hit.
04:10A lot of guys are really good athletes.
04:13Let's not forget Sando MartÃn is out there.
04:15He's gonna be fighting for a title on another promotion soon,
04:19but there's a lot of guys, and there's not enough spots,
04:22so every round counts.
04:24Seconds out.
04:25Every second that you commit to tape counts.
04:28Yeah, and this fight is taking place just above Welterweight.
04:31143.4 was the weight for Rohan Polanco,
04:33143 for Marcelino Lopez,
04:35but it's because it's a non-title fight,
04:37and the campaign that Polanco will make
04:40towards the world title will definitely be
04:42at junior Welterweight.
04:44There's also some thought in Polanco's camp
04:48that he may, if he can't get what he wants at 140,
04:51which is Teofimo,
04:53I mean, everyone says they want Teofimo until they get him,
04:56that he go to 47.
04:58I mean, he's got the size. Nice body shot there.
05:00Left hook, and Marcelino Lopez felt that.
05:02You saw exactly how quickly he tucked that elbow
05:06right to his ribs.
05:09Wow. And this is where Polanco distinguishes himself,
05:12hurting guys and finishing guys.
05:14The Dominican fans are out here in force
05:17to see their Olympian.
05:18Nice uppercut.
05:19Body shot a little bit on the belt line there,
05:23but you just... Oh, that was low,
05:24and that's a two-punch uppercut.
05:28Rohan Polanco looking good here.
05:35But the punch resistance from Lopez,
05:37who's never been stopped,
05:38is also very obvious,
05:40but he's breathing from his mouth, Mark.
05:41He's feeling these shots.
05:42You could also see how his body language changed,
05:45the way he moved changed.
05:47He just started a full-blown retreat,
05:49coming out of, you know, going back on his left side.
05:53And you see... And he can't get away now.
05:55No, and Polanco hitting the Arriveños logo
05:58right on the front of Marcelino Lopez's trunks.
06:02Arriveños is a neighborhood in Buenos Aires
06:04where he comes from.
06:05Nice left hook there from Lopez.
06:08That's it.
06:10Letting the youngster know he's gonna be in a fight.
06:11Polanco's going low.
06:13Yeah, he is.
06:17Eddie Claudio with no significant warnings as of yet.
06:21I gotta hand it to Lopez, man.
06:22He ain't... He bends, but he ain't breaking.
06:26I mean, but that's how you break a fighter
06:28who is of that age, 38 years old,
06:31from Marcelino Lopez.
06:32You keep going to the body.
06:34You can keep going to the body on a young kid, too.
06:36You gotta show him something.
06:40If you think about what Lopez works out of his fight,
06:45first would be a monumental upset,
06:47put his career back on track.
06:49But if you've been fighting 18 years in the pro games
06:52without warnings...
06:54And that's a first warning verbally from Eddie Claudio.
06:57It should have been about the second or third warning.
06:59And that might have, you know,
07:00that might have merited a point deduction.
07:03Because by my count, it's the third time at least.
07:07Yeah, he alluded to it by first just kind of
07:10using his hands to push upwards, saying,
07:11hey, low blow.
07:13And that was a first warning,
07:14but it's been happening repeatedly from Polanco.
07:17What I was saying before is the amount of pride
07:21that this guy, Lopez, has to have,
07:24not going down once in an 18-year pro career,
07:27not even taking a knee.
07:30And you saw what he survived here
07:31in round two of the scheduled 10-rounder
07:33against one of the young and up-and-coming punchers
07:36in the game in Rohan Polanco.
07:38And we're going to take a couple of looks
07:41at the left hand to the body mark that was on target,
07:44and then we'll probably see some low blows after that.
07:47Let's us be the judge.
07:48That's good.
07:50That hurt me.
07:52Okay, there goes that rib.
07:58Wow.
08:00He sinks him in.
08:01He sinks him in there, textbook.
08:03Jim Zeroli in the truck just said that hurt him.
08:06I have no doubt.
08:08It was beautiful.
08:18What the...
08:22Hey, keep going to the body.
08:25As you see that Eddie Flavio goes to the body.
08:30Goes over to ask him about the low blows.
08:36It's not the trunks of Polanco that is a concern.
08:39The fact that he's hitting low on Lopez.
08:45He's hitting him on the green part of the trunk.
08:47There again.
08:48I mean...
08:52Mark, you're going to do it until they say you can't.
08:56Nice shots there from Polanco that Lopez takes in stride,
09:00until Eddie Claudio tells him he can't.
09:02Yeah.
09:05That's the job of the third man in the ring.
09:09But you see Lopez on the back foot
09:11trying to gather his breath once again
09:15after those body shots from Polanco.
09:17That's on the belt line. That's another one.
09:20So he gets the admonishment of,
09:22hey, the shots on the belt line are good.
09:29That's it.
09:34Marcos Caballero asking Lopez to get inside the guard of Polanco
09:40to smother him.
09:43I'm always waiting for a guy to go,
09:45hey, why don't you get inside the guard?
09:51Easier said than done.
09:53But you can tell why Lopez is such...
09:58is such a rigorous test, especially for a young fighter.
10:03You can see the pride with which he fights.
10:05Yeah, absolutely.
10:07We've seen plenty of older fighters
10:11who do not conduct themselves with this type of...
10:16ferocity, fierceness, whatever, pride.
10:18No, that's absolutely right.
10:20He comes from a fighting family.
10:21His uncles also fought.
10:24And that's...
10:26Nice, sneaky right hand. You see that?
10:28I mean, he's...
10:30He survives for a reason, Martin,
10:32and he's in these fights.
10:41But you can see, like,
10:43the matchmakers thinking, this is not...
10:46You do not give Lopez to a guy who just turned pro.
10:50Because it'll be too much.
10:53That was a bad low blow.
10:54That's a warning from Eddie Claudio, saying,
10:56raise those hands up.
11:08You know, I mean,
11:10Polanco's on the wrong side
11:15of Lopez to be seen as such.
11:17That one was low, and
11:19it was on the right side for Eddie Claudio to see it.
11:24Well, until then.
11:25Oh, nice right uppercut.
11:27And down goes Marcelino Lopez
11:29for the first time in his career.
11:45My goodness, what a shot
11:46Rojan Polanco landed.
11:48He has to redirect him to the other corner.
11:51Marcelino Lopez cut
11:53and doesn't know where he is.
11:54It's a little bit too much sportsmanship for me.
11:58Remember what I said.
11:59You gotta watch out for those shots.
12:02Give me water.
12:06Don't go headhunting.
12:07That's why he caught you.
12:08All right, Mark, this is how the knockdown happened.
12:11He kind of walked into it.
12:12Yep.
12:13Coming forward.
12:15Bing.
12:17It wasn't just Polanco.
12:20Lopez helped him out by walking right into that shot.
12:23Coming forward, falling into his punch.
12:24Boom.
12:29Watch his feet.
12:32Picked him up off the canvas.
12:34What an impressive shot from Rojan Polanco,
12:36who was patient.
12:37And then Lopez,
12:39it could have been stopped because he had no idea where he was.
12:42Always hear coaches caution against
12:45don't fall into your punches.
12:47And that's why.
12:48And look at the left side of the face
12:52of Marcelino Lopez.
12:53It's now swollen,
12:55and there is a bruise on that side of the face,
12:58apart from the cut on the bridge of the nose.
13:01Time in!
13:04The Dominican fans here early to see Rojan Polanco,
13:07and Polanco is a great finisher.
13:09Eight knockouts in 13 victories so far,
13:12and he's on the prowl.
13:19Marcos Caballero telling Marcelino Lopez,
13:22keep your guard tight.
13:24And there's a reason for that.
13:27You keep it so tight, though,
13:29it's just you're guarding against incomings.
13:31It's like bombs are just landing, and you're...
13:35Romario, he still has to get his bearings back after that knockdown.
13:39Blue got a slight cut on the bridge of the nose.
13:41Nice one-two combination,
13:42and it's just...
13:43We talked about him never being down.
13:46He had to take a knee, Mark,
13:48because of that overhand right.
13:54You know what it took for an 18-year veteran
13:57to take a knee for the first time?
13:59A special fighter across the ring from him,
14:01and that special fighter is Rojan Polanco.
14:08And somebody has to take care of Marcelino Lopez here,
14:12and it may have to be his corner.
14:14There's another big shot that Polanco lands.
14:23Make sure they are not too brave for their own good.
14:26Well, also, he's not fighting to preserve any streak.
14:30He's not fighting for pride anymore.
14:33You know, he's been down.
14:35He took a knee.
14:36That's over.
14:38What's paramount now is the safety of the fighter,
14:40and you can just see
14:42the way those shots are coming in from Polanco.
14:44They're unforgiving,
14:46and they're the kinds of shots that will remain unforgiving forever
14:49if you don't take care of it right now,
14:52because I'm not sure there's anything that Lopez's corner can do.
14:55Just look at the way he guides him with that right hand,
14:57saying, if you come this way,
14:59this is going to be waiting for you.
15:03Polanco has a mean streak once he gets you hurt.
15:06Pure stalking right now.
15:08Nice jab there from Lopez, though, saying,
15:10hey, kid, you're going to have to take something to give something.
15:21Every punch has finishing intentions,
15:26and you can also see disparity in size.
15:30You can see what I mean by Polanco having his eye on Welterweight.
15:34Wouldn't be that difficult to transition.
15:36Oh, wow.
15:37Good moment to move up to Welterweight, too, right now.
15:41He might have an easier time at 47 than 40.
15:49The corner's asking Lopez to throw when he gets in range,
15:53but he knows that there's going to be something vicious coming back from Rojan Polanco.
15:57Once again, hey, fella, you throw.
15:59Yes.
16:00You get in trouble.
16:01Have you seen what happens when I throw?
16:04Let's listen in to Marcos Caballero and Marcelino Lopez's corner.
16:10How are you?
16:11I'm good.
16:13Hey, you can't take this many shots.
16:15If you don't throw anything,
16:17if you recover, give me water, please.
16:27I need you to keep turning him,
16:28because he's trying to counter you and land that right-uppercut.
16:32I need you to be more active.
16:34I'm not going to let you take those big shots anymore.
16:43You got to let your hands go down and upstairs.
16:46Now, Marcino.
16:53C'mon, let's get a low.
16:54You know it's the last time.
16:55That's a lot of time.
16:57We're good.
17:00They're talking about the low blows,
17:01you're saying that they warned Rojan Polanco about the low blows,
17:05but Diego Lopez is Marcino Lopez's brother.
17:09He's the assistant to Marcos Caballero,
17:10and they really do have a concern in the corner
17:13about the type of shots that he's taking.
17:17Not the amount, Mark, it's the heavy shot
17:19that he's taking.
17:20Like you mentioned.
17:23And he's loading up and there's not enough coming back
17:25that he has to be concerned about.
17:27So it's just target practice.
17:28I mean, it looks like a welterweight
17:30against the featherweight in there.
17:33And Marcelino's not a small guy.
17:34No, but he's just tightening up his guard
17:36and there's nothing really that, you know,
17:39he can jab back.
17:40There was a cute right hand.
17:42He hit him, I think, in the second round,
17:44but nothing that's going to really alter
17:47the balance of power in this fight
17:48or change the course of it.
17:51You know, we talk a lot about how can fathers
17:55count out their son and at what point
17:59do you go against your blood?
18:01Do you go against pride?
18:03This is a question for a guy's brother.
18:07Body work again from Ruan Blanco.
18:11They were right to get on Eddie Claudio
18:14about the low blows,
18:16but the time to really admonish the ref,
18:18to start working the ref,
18:20was after the first second round.
18:21I think they did.
18:22It just, he saw him as borderline
18:25until he was able to finally see where they were landing
18:27when he was on the opposite side,
18:28finally made a difference.
18:30They weren't so borderline,
18:31but I don't think that they're the story of this fight.
18:34No, absolutely not.
18:35They do make a difference though.
18:37The story of this fight is a big,
18:40strong, talented young guy.
18:45You see this, that malicious smile
18:48from Roja Blanco, just kind of letting Lopez know,
18:52you know what I'm capable of doing to you.
19:00He won't be able to carry himself like that, Blanco,
19:03move forward with that kind of guard
19:05against a younger, quicker fighter.
19:13I mean, those are the habits that you develop
19:15at a lower level that you can get away with
19:17that end up coming back to bite you at the elite level.
19:21But that kind of way he's holding his hands now,
19:25that casual way against a higher level guy,
19:28you know, that's going to be, oh, we got to fix that.
19:30Absolutely.
19:32And you hope it gets fixed before it becomes an issue.
19:58Is that Timmy?
19:59Yeah.
19:59Timmy's saying close the exit.
20:00He's right.
20:06Coach Timmy.
20:06He's slipping out of left side.
20:09And letting him go halfway through this fight.
20:11And we talked about,
20:14he's going to the wrong corner once again.
20:16I think he needs better GPS.
20:17I think Blanco disabled his GPS.
20:22But you know what you do
20:24when you keep slipping out that left side,
20:26you throw a right hook to the body.
20:29Speaking of body work.
20:31Speaking of body work.
20:32Oh, there you go.
20:34Take over.
20:37What'd he do?
20:39There's the right to the body,
20:40but not when he was coming out.
20:44Yeah.
20:46That's low.
20:47On the hip.
20:48That's not.
20:52What do you think,
20:54what do you think Lopez's ribs are telling him like,
20:57hey, pal, what are we doing here?
20:58I mean, you're the one who suffered
21:00the broken ribs before, man.
21:01You tell me what that feels like.
21:02I suffered broken ribs as a matter of course.
21:04I can walk down the street and get broken ribs.
21:08Just walking the dog, Mark.
21:10Walking the dog.
21:12Oh, the corner is going to allow
21:14Marcelino Lopez to come out for round five.
21:18Blanco's dominated this fight,
21:19that 10-8 round in the third
21:21with the knockdown,
21:23and then also in round four.
21:26It's funny,
21:28there's so much at stake incrementally,
21:31because the fight starts
21:33and Blanco looks like a million dollars,
21:37and as it goes on,
21:38if he can't put him away.
21:40Yeah.
21:44You get the Canelo treatment.
21:45Yeah.
21:46Why couldn't you stop a fighter that you had hurt?
21:52That's a nice jab from Blanco.
21:56I didn't think Berlango was that hurt, by the way.
21:58No, no, he got caught by a punch he didn't see.
22:00It was a perfect shot.
22:06Nice right from Blanco,
22:08and it looked like Lopez was going to go to a knee
22:11from that angle.
22:13Look, the game now,
22:13Lopez wants to survive.
22:15He wants to go the distance.
22:19Nice body shots.
22:20What a series from Blanco.
22:22Sets up that right,
22:23and you see Lopez stagger.
22:24And has to take a knee one more time.
22:27What a combination.
22:32Put that in the body shot package.
22:34My goodness, he's never looked this way,
22:37as he had to take a knee again
22:39for the second time in this fight.
22:41But that's smart from a veteran fighter.
22:46The corner is telling Lopez,
22:48get on his chest,
22:49but you have to get through this stuff
22:51to even get near Rojan Blanco.
22:54Get on his chest, get inside.
22:57How?
22:57Give me 12 years back.
23:04See how heavy those shots are.
23:07Lopez has too much heart, Mark.
23:09They got to protect him from himself.
23:11Somebody step in there.
23:16Now might be the time for Eddie Claudio.
23:19Look at that, again.
23:20What do you guys need to see?
23:22What do you need to see?
23:23Finally, it looks like the...
23:26There we go.
23:29That fight stopped.
23:32Now, this is a statement.
23:35Absolutely.
23:36I did something no one else has been able to do.
23:39And that finish on the rope
23:41just goes to show how sadistic a finisher
23:45this young man is.
23:47And that's what makes him scary.
23:49A knockout in six rounds.
23:52But Mark, it was a demolishing victory for this young man.
23:56It was a statement.
23:57The only thing I'll say is the punch
24:00that first put Lopez down was an uppercut.
24:04And I think that, I know he's working around the guard.
24:07He couldn't come with another uppercut.
24:08That might've ended a little bit earlier,
24:09but an impressive performance.
24:11All right, Mark, let's take a look at the three times
24:15we're going to take a look at the first knockdown
24:17before we see the finish of this fight,
24:19where mercifully the referee ended it.
24:27Wow.
24:28You saw a long, looping right around the guard.
24:32I don't think that was the first knockdown, was it?
24:35There it is.
24:37It was the one he walked into.
24:39That was taking the knee.
24:41He took three knees by my count.
24:43Yes.
24:46That's how it ended, Mark.
24:48Take us through it.
24:50Tried the uppercut around the guard
24:53and Lopez knew the tide was coming in.
24:57And the only thing he could do to stop it
24:58was take that knee.
25:00I mean, it was a demolition by Team Polanco.
25:06Yes.
25:07Rohan Polanco shining in front of his four-year-old son,
25:11Roangel, who came to move here to the United States
25:14in this month of June.
25:15He's so happy that he's finally going to start school,
25:18learn English in the upcoming month.
25:21But this young man is going to be someone
25:24we're going to be talking about in the future, Mark,
25:27because not only does he have the skill,
25:29he's got power and he has finishing prowess.
25:33And that's why he was able to do
25:35what no man has done before against Marcelino Lopez.
25:38And that's get the stoppage win.
25:39Mark Chinooks has the official time.
25:41Ladies and gentlemen, here inside the theater
25:44at Madison Square Garden,
25:45this bout comes to a conclusion
25:47at two minutes, eight seconds of round number six.
25:51For your winner by technical knockout,
25:54Rohan El Rayo Polanco.
25:59Rohan Polanco has just become the definition
26:01of high-risk, low-reward.
26:03Ranked 16 by the WBC at 140 pounds,
26:07he calls his left hook, El Rayo.