Bryan Lua Remains Undefeated With Hard-Fought UD Over Frevian Gonzalez
Bryan Lua improved to 8-0 after six dominant rounds against Puerto Rico’s Frevian Gonzalez live on ESPN+ from Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (June 12, 2021) — A rescheduled four-round Junior Lightweight bout between young undefeated fighters Bryan Lua and Frevian Gonzalez turned out to be a standout matchup on the undercard of Top Rank’s Shakur Stevenson vs Jeremiah Nakathila. The fight aired live on ESPN+ and included enough action to entertain the live crowd at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
In recent appearances on The Plus, Maderna, Calif.’s Lua (8-0, 3 KOs) had started distinguishing himself as a talent to watch – a feat achieved with trainer Robert Garcia and his Oxnard-based boxing academy. Gonzalez (4-1, 1 KO) made the trip with countryman Pedraza. The 20-year old from Cidra, Puerto Rico enjoyed some early success in Round 1. He aggressively marched forward against the California native with big punches. Lua took some steps backwards to evade most of the shots, regroup and re-engage behind his jab.
Lua closed the first round with a display of his own power. He ended a combination with a telling right hook.
Gonzalez responded to the pick shot by opening Round 2 looking to get even. The action was heated and both men exchanged punches standing in the center of the ring through the first half of the frame. By round’s end Lua’s body work started to set the stage for his takeover of the balance of the fight.
By Round 3 damage started surfacing under the Puerto Rican’s eyes. Gonzalez’ form started to decline, fatigue appeared to set in and he grew impatient while under attack from Lua’s steady offense.
Gonzalez relied on big power punches throughout the balance of the fight, landing a solid right hand early in Round 4. He switched to southpaw to attempt to throw off Lua’s control of the action. Lua remained poised, stuck to his game plan and threw hooks around the high guard of Gonzalez. With the Puerto Rican leaning over constantly and lunging forward, Lua also unleashed several telling uppercuts.
The punishment accumulated and Gonzalez battled on purely off instinct. Lua switched to southpaw briefly to further trouble Gonzalez.
Lua closed the sixth and final round strong, landing a right uppercut that rocked Gonzalez, and then added a final punishing combination with just over 10 seconds to go. The judges all saw the fight in Lua’s favor with scores of 60-54 on two cards, and then 58-56 on the third.
All photos by Mikey Williams/Top Rank
