Charlottsville, VA middleweight George "Wartime" Rivera was stopped in the eighth round Saturday night in his rematch with Keenan Collins of York, PA at the Rodeway Inn in Allentown, PA.
The time of the stoppage was 2:16 of the final round. This was a rematch of the draw the two men had on April 27 in Reading, PA. Here's a description of the action from Fightnews.com's Kurt Wolfheimer.
The fight started out slowly as each fighter tried to control the
ring. The taller Collins was trying to jab from the outside while Rivera
was using movement and picking his spots to step in the pocket with
single shots.
The movement of Rivera seemed to frustrate Collins in the early going
as Rivera picked up rounds two through four. Collins had his moments as
he pushed Rivera to the ropes and landed a good overhand right late in
the second, which seemed to loosen him up and he close the round with
several single shots bfore the bell. Rivera was slick though and he
continued to frustrate him as he pecked away with hooks and jabs while
sliding in the pocket and the escaping out the back door.
The movement and constant flurries by Rivera, along with the jabs on
the outside by Collins, began to take their toll on the Virginian and by
the end of the fourth round, he looked gassed.
In the fifth and sixth, the Reading native was finding his mark with
his jabs and Rivera, though competitive was getting hit more often but
Collins seemed to be loading up for the big right hand and it slowed him
also.
Keenan Collins finally landed the big shot with a right uppercut which
wobbled Rivera. Collins tried to jump on him with a couple of heavy
right hands in the center of the ring, but Rivera’s defense was tight
and he recovered quickly.
The heavier handed Collins appeared to be coming on, but his corner
knew it was close and shouted at him that a knockout was needed in the
eighth and final round if he were to come out with a victory. Collins
stepped up the attack and was consistently landing in the early going of
the final round as Rivera’s tank went to empty he was fighting with his
mouth open. Collins finally found the punch that he had been looking
for all night and dropped Rivera with a crushing overhand right. Rivera
rose to his feet and tried to retreat, but Collins would not let him off
the hook and followed up with a left along with a heavy overhand right,
which dropped the Virginian to his hands and knees. Referee Gary Rosato
reached the eight count as George Rivera rose to his feet and wobbled
back into the corner. Rosato took a good look at him and it was clear
his legs weren’t there, so he called a halt to the contest at 2:16 of
the eighth and final round.
Rivera is now winless in his last three bouts and is now 13-8-1, four KO's. Collins's record rises to 15-7-3, 10 KO's.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
George was winning the entire fight until the end. Still good work George.
George you could be the best my friend
George was so good at one time. He had everything, power, speed, you couldn't hit him. He's never been in tip top shape for any of his fights. There's no way a guy like Keenan Collins should have beaten George. To me, he was the best we've had in this area other than the name guys who have signed with big promoters.
What I mean by the above comment is that he had as much talent as any of the name guys from this area who were signed by the big promoters. George was every bit as talented as the Russells and Petersons of the world. He just couldn't dedicate himself to getting in world class shape. He had world class talent but just not world class conditioning. It should have been a much better career for George Rivera. He should retire. Damn good fighter, should have been a great fighter.
Post a Comment