Late Friday night from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL welterweight prospect Derrieck Cuevas notched a hard fought 10-round decision over gatekeeper Ed Paredes. Cuevas, 147, fought the bout in close quarters and kept Paredes, 151 on the ropes for most of the fight. Cuevas was busier throughout ripping uppercuts and hooks inside and often bullying the tough 33-year old veteran.
The well built 24-year old Cuevas imposed his will with a relentless body attack that wore down the Dominican. Paredes was hurt badly in the 9th on unsteady legs but showed a warriors heart to make it to the final bell. Paredes had his moments but never landed a truly flush shot to hurt Cuevas and seemed a few notches slower in the handspeed department. Cuevas improves to 20-0-1, 14 KO’s Paredes drops to 38-8-1, 25 KO’s. Cuevas is a TV friendly fighter that has beaten consecutive hard-punching veterans decisively and is due for a step up bout. Time will tell if the aggressive Cuevas is the genuine article but he appears to have the makings of a very good pug. Cuevas was a 5 to 1 boxing odds favorite over Paredes.
26-year old Super featherweight Hairon Socarras, 21-0-3, 12 KO’s, is another prospect to keep an eye on. Socarras is a lead-fisted Cuban brawler that needs a little polishing but could find himself among the top contenders soon.
Knockout of the night belongs to popular super bantamweight Jessy Cruz, 16-7-1, 7 KO’s, who put Eduardo Melendez through the ropes and nearly onto the press table with a series of brutal shots.
Shout out to The Heavyweight Factoryfor consistently producing adrenaline pumping shows that also include some of the most beautiful female boxing fans that you will ever see.