Jino Rodrigo Scores Shocking First-round Knockout

PHILADELPHIA – Super lightweight Jino “The Silent Beast” Rodrigo (13-4-2, 11 KOs) of Antipolo City, Rizal, Philippines, took a leap forward in his career with a shocking one-punch knockout over formerly undefeated Mathew “Lefty Gunz” Gonzalez (15-1-1, 10 KOs) of Ridgewood, New York, in the main event of boxing legend Danny Garcia’s Swift Promotions’ “THE FUTURE IS NOW” event from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia and streamed live on BXNG TV.

With the action barely underway, the power-punching Rodrigo unexpectedly stepped in with a strong right hand to the chin that dumped a shocked Gonzalez on the canvas. Although he was able to bravely regain his feet, Referee David Braslow assessed the still wobbly southpaw Gonzalez and deemed him unable to continue at just 57 seconds of the opening frame.

The 29-year-old Gonzalez, a fan favorite at the 2300 Arena, had been knocking on the door of a world rating before this stunning upset. After spending his entire career fighting in the Philippines, Rodrigo was making just his second ring appearance in the United States. He lost a competitive unanimous decision to world-ranked Elvis Rodriguez last June in which both fighters tasted the canvas.

In the eight-round super middleweight co-feature, surging contender Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs) secured his ninth consecutive victory with a second-round technical knockout over Noe Alejandro Lopez (11-7-1, 4 KOs).

Looking sharp and strong, LaManna had everything his way against his outclassed opponent. After a one-sided first round, a hard jab sent Lopez down for an eight count in round two. Lopez rose seemingly favoring his left elbow.

The injured Lopez dropped again seconds later, and Referee Eddie Claudio waved it off for a TKO win at 2:07.

19-year-old welterweight prospect Juan Rivera V (6-0, 4 KOs) of Philadelphia made quick work of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s Yeifer Valencia (6-5, 5 KOs), knocking him out with a single body shot in the first round.

After taking several thudding shots to the head from the promising Rivera, Valencia finally crumbled from a perfect right hand to the solar plexus. Referee David Braslow reached the count of 10 at 1:26.

Daiyaan “Badshah” Butt (20-2, 10 KOs) of Philadelphia survived a scare in his eight-round super lightweight bout against Issouf “Volcano” Kinda (20-7, 9 KOs) of the Bronx via Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by winning a razor-thin split decision.

The bigger, taller Butt controlled the action in the first round with educated combinations. Butt was cut by a headbutt in round two and then wobbled momentarily by a roundhouse right hand by the crafty veteran Kinda.

The fight settled into a rhythm in the middle rounds, with Butt coming forward behind strong jabs and right hands to the head and body with mixed results and the experienced Kinda moving backward, frustrating Butt and stopping to throw sneaky rights over Butt’s low left hand with frequent success.

Sensing the cards may be close, the fighters came out throwing bombs with both landing well in round eight.

Without warning, Referee Eddie Claudio stopped the action to deduct a point from Kinda for holding midway through the final round, which ended up making the difference between a split decision and a draw in the fight.

The scores were 76-75 Butt, 79-72 Kinda and a deciding score of 77-74 Butt. 

Swift Promotions’ prospect Nyousha “SuperFly” Nakhjiri (2-0) of Vancouver, Canada via Iran, won her six-round junior flyweight battle against a game Josefina Vega (9-12, 4 KOs) of New York City via unanimous decision.

The smooth-boxing Nakhjiri, a former decorated amateur, got the best of most exchanges, but Vega never stopped trying and had her moments in the fight. The two women kept a strong pace throughout the well-fought contest and neither fighter was ever seriously hurt. The scores were 58-56, 58-56, and 59-55.

Undefeated super welterweight Thanjhae Teasley (12-0, 6 KOs) stopped Dominican veteran Eudy Bernardo (25-9, 18 KOs) with a single well-placed body shot at 1:32 of round three.

Teasley appeared to hurt Bernardo with a right hand in the opening seconds of the fight and again midway through the first round. The mostly one-sided action continued in round two, as Teasley controlled with his superior output and punching power. The battered Bernardo went down from a delayed reaction left hook to the body from Teasley in round three and took Referee Eddie Claudio’s full 10 count on his knees.

Canadian southpaw super lightweight Thomas Blumenfeld (8-0, 7 KOs) of Montreal outclassed Frankie Sanchez Jr. (7-2-2, 6 KOs), dropping him twice and scoring the stoppage at 1:21 of round two.

Already bleeding heavily from the nose, Sanchez was dropped by a Blumenfeld right hook with six seconds remaining in the opening round. Blumenfeld continued his assault in the second, dropping Sanchez again midway through the round with a series of uppercuts and hooks to the body. Referee David Braslow wisely chose to stop the contest without a count.

In the opening professional bout, undefeated Justin Palmieri (4-0, 2 KOs) handed Antonio Gates (3-1, 2 KOs) his first career defeat via TKO at one second of round four of their lightweight bout.

Despite coming off a 5 ½ year layoff, southpaw Gates came out firing in the opening stanza, winning the round with superior activity. However, Palmieri, who had just eight amateur fights, kept his cool and started landing his thudding power shots in the second round. Attempting to slow the onslaught of the surging Palmieri, a tiring Gates lost a point for holding in round three.

.With nothing seemingly going his way anymore, Gates elected not to come out for round four.

Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.

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