By: Sean Crose
The WBA interim lightweight crown was at stake Saturday night when 11-0 Rolando Romero battled the 19-0 Jackson Marinez in a scheduled 12 rounder. Romero went for the kill right off the bat, while Marinez responded with his jab. The second was a close affair. By the third, Marinez was employing ring generalship to keep Romero from landing as he wished.
Marinez’ jab landed effectively in the forth. So slippery was Marinez that Romero was unable to land with regularity during the fifth. By round’s end, however, Romero was able to get to his man. The sixth round was, like several of the previous rounds, rather close.
Romero got rough with his elbow at the end of the seventh, subsequently earning himself a warning from the referee. Marinez landed cleanly in the eighth. Romero’s left eye was clearly bothering him in the ninth. By the last minute of the tenth, Romero seemed desperate to score a knockout, or at least hurt his man.
Marinez took to holding a bit in the eleventh. Romero pursued Marinez in the twelfth, but was not able to land definitively with regularity. Romero won by questionable scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 118-110.
