Verdejo Wins by Unanimous Decision

In the 1^st bout of the televised card, as the heavy favorite, the undefeated Felix Verdejo (19-0 with 14 KOs) squared off against the also undefeated William Silva 23-0 with 14 KOs). In what was an extremely raucous crowd, Verdejo was there to please the crowd against what could be look at as his toughest opponent. Even though it was just the co-main event, it was widely known as the fight that everyone was there to watch.

In round 1, there was not much of anything. The crowd chirped every time Verdejo threw a punch whether it landed or not and neither guy really did much of anything. The 2^nd round was much like the 1^st, not much of anything, but Verdejo probably got the slight edge. In round 3, Verdejo was a little more aggressive. He caught Silva was a punch that send him against the ropes with about 45 secs left in the round, but it didn’t hurt him. On to round 4 they went.

In the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th rounds, it was much of the same as Verdejo started to slowly take over and dominate the fight. This still proved to be his toughest challenge as he missed a lot of punches and Silva did fight back, but Verdejo continued to come forward and pressured Silva throughout the bout. The most exciting moment of the fight thus far was with 20 seconds to go in the 6^th. Verdejo mistakenly hit the referee in the face on the break. At the end of the round Verdejo did catch Silva with a punch that seemed to hurt him, but it was too late to capitalize on it.

As rounds 7 and 8 started, it was much of the same as Verdejo was the aggressor, with Silva landing the once in a while shot, but Verdejo landing the harder shots. Round 7 ended with Verdejo landing a good body shot, but it didn’t seem to faze Silva. As round 9 started, most people on press row had Verdejo clearly ahead. Most haven’t hadn’t even given Silva a round as of yet. This was clearly one of those fights that was meant to prepare Verdejo more mentally as he couldn’t seem to get Silva out of there quickly.

As they hit the final round, all Felix Verdejo had to do was stand up to not lose the fight. In the 10^th and final round, he continued to be the aggressor, despite the obvious big lead and he finished off the fight strong as he backed Silva up a few times to get the crowd on their feet. The score on my card, as well as most of the other writers had it as a clean sweep 100-90 Verdejo. The judges agreed as Felix Verdejo improved to 20-0 with a unanimous decision win, 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.