ShoBox: The New Generation 11/1 Results (The Mayweather Promotions Edition)
Mayweather Promotions returned to Sam’s Town Live with some of its younger prospects serving as the featured fights on a ShoBox: The New Generation telecast. Undefeated Sacramento, California based Super Feather Xavier Martinez faced Jessie Cris Rosales in the main event, with Brooklyn’s Richardson Hitchins facing one-loss Kevin Johnson in the co-main event for the 2016 Haitian Olympian’s first 10-round bout.
Xavier Martinez (15-0, 101KOs) vs Jessie Cris Rosales (22-4-1, 10 KOs), Super Featherweight – 10 Rounds
Martinez obliterated Rosales with a right hand just moments after the opening bell. The finishing combination was a left hook-right hand that left Rosales flat on his back writhing in pain. The official time was :21, and Martinez moved to 15-0 with KO No. 11.
Richardson Hitchins (10-0, 5 KOs) vs Kevin Johnson (7-2, 4 KOs), Welterweight – 10 Rounds
Hitchins, a member of the Haitian boxing team at the Rio Olympics in 2016, entered the fight with the objective of showcasing his wares for consideration as one of the best young Super Lightweight prospects. Johnson was riding a 2-0 run after suffering his first loss to Rio gold medalist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in July of last year.
Hitchins mixed in leading with his 1-2 and countering Johnson on the way in through the majority of the fight. Johnson’s issue became his inability to get inside, and connect with a second and third punch to accumulate some damage on Hitchins and slow him down.
Johnson failed to ever really make Hitchins uncomfortable as the Brooklyn fighter consistently kept the fight in the center of the ring where he relied on his feet to create escape routes as needed. Johnson may have landed some of the heavier shots, at least over the second half of the fight, but they weren’t in bunches. Hitchins secured win No. 10 relatively easily, but not without being given some areas to address back in the gym, despite earning a unanimous decision behind scores of 96-94 and 97-93 twice.
Kevin Newman II (11-1-1, 6 KOs) vs Mark Hernandez (14-3-1, 3 KOs), Super Middleweight – 8 Rounds
Newman opened this rematch bout fighting sharply, appearing to be motivated to avenge a 2017 six-round decision loss, scoring well with the faster hands and in-and-out attacks against Hernandez. Newman allowed Hernandez to make the fight ugly by agreeing to wrestle inside over the next few rounds, until he started to convincingly outclass Hernandez in space in the sixth round.
After finding success with the uppercut in the sixth, Newman continued to strafe the slowing Hernandez with a variety of shots in the seventh that caused him to smile at his own work. Hernandez briefly shook off the effects of Newman’s body attack to mount a brief rally in the eighth, but Newman outworked him over the second half of the round to secure the victory, No. 11, with scorecards of 80-72 and 79-73 twice.
Rolando Romero (10-0, 9 KOs) vs Juan Carlos Cordones (14-2, 9 KOs), Super Lightweight – 6 Rounds
Romero stalked Cordones around the ring primarily looking to brawl until he split Cordones’ guard with a power punch, and then moved in with a flurry that dropped the overwhelmed fighter. After the action resumed Romero closed in to finish his opponent, he walked through a glancing Cordones left hand to send him to the canvas, for the second and final time, behind a crushing right hand of his own. Cordones remained on the canvas in the corner and watched referee Donald Byrd count to 10 at 2:14 in the round. The victory, Romero’s 10th, was also his ninth knockout.
