Southpaw Javier Fortuna continues his ascent up the featherweight ranks as he easily handled Patrick Hyland via a unanimous decision on Saturday night. With the win, Fortuana won an interim championship, but the youngster will certainly have his sights set on bigger titles.
Fortuna, 22, was far too athletic for Hyland in this bout. He was more active and was landing twice as many punches. Hyland continued to wait and look for counterpunching opportunities, but found few.
With the win, Fortuna improves to 21-0 with 15 KOs. Hyland, 29, suffered his first defeat and fell to 27-1 with 12 KOs.
This was an impressive win for Fortuna. He dominated from start to finish. You will see that in the round-by-round recap below.
Round 1
Both fighters spent most of this round feeling each other out. The early action was so slow that the crowd was getting restless before the round ended.
Hyland spent the majority of the round in the middle of the ring as Fortuna stayed low and circled.
They locked up a few times as the ref was forced to separate them. At the very end of the round, Fortuna got Hyland backpedaling and up against the ropes, but he wasn't able to do any damage before the end of the round.
This round was close, but Fortuna had a slight edge.
Round 2
Fortuna came out aggressive, but he was soon back onto the defensive circling as Hyland held off the charges.
Overall, there was more action in the second round, but little damage was done.
Fortuna was far more effective landing his power punches, and again, he had to be considered the winner of this round.
Round 3
Again, Fortuna came out low, but he was swinging, and he was a little too low as he landed a blow below the belt, and the ref warned him to get his punches up as the action was stopped.
Fortuna raised them just enough. He kept his hooks flying to the body, but just above the belt line.
Hyland began struggling with the fast hands of Fortuna in this round, but he was not giving up ground.
However, Fortuna continued to be the more active of the two boxers. Hyland was in a counterpunch mode, and did land one nice straight right.
Still, this was another round that had to be given to Fortuna.
Round 4
There was a distinct pickup in action in this round as it began with a swirl of punches. Again, Fortuna had far more success with his punches, but it did not appear to do much damage to Hyland.
Hyland continued to pick places to land counterpunches.
The action slowed as the round progressed. Fortuna was moving in and out while throwing quick combos.
Things got a little chippy at the end of the round as Fortuna threw a big hook that was clearly after the bell, but the two sides were quickly separated.
This was another round for Fortuna.
Round 5
Fortuna came out cocky in this round. He stayed low, but kept his hands down. Meanwhile, Hyland continued to just wait for Fortuna to make a move.
Hyland had to be waiting for Fortuna to wear out, but he certainly wasn't showing any signs of that in this round.
Fortuna continued to be far more active and land more punches. This was clearly another round for Fortuna.
Round 6
The pace was slower in this round. It was hard to tell if it was something Hyland was doing or just Fortuna trying to pace himself, but Fortuna was far less aggressive.
This is the first round that it can be reasonably argued that Hyland won.
Round 7
Fortuna picked his energy back up this round, but Hyland again thwarted the challenge, and the pace slowed as the round went on.
With less than a minute left, Hyland landed his best combo of the fight, and Fortuna was definitely showing signs of slowing down.
This was Hyland's most active round to this point, and he was the clear winner of this round.
Round 8
Hyland came out much more confident in this round as Fortuna again looked to be slowing down.
Still, Hyland was not able to use this to a great advantage. The two spent much of this round toe to toe.
It was in this round that Hyland was able to get Fortuna against the ropes a bit. This was a close round, but Fortuna landed a few more punches and stole this round.
Round 9
The first real sign of damage was done in this round. Hyland suffered a cut over his eye, but it only seemed to fuel him to better boxing.
Hyland did some damage and sent Fortuna to the canvas, although it was not ruled a knockdown.
Still, Fortuna was hardly fazed, and he landed way more punches in this round. It was another round for Fortuna.
Round 10
It had to be getting clear to Hyland that if he was going to win this fight, he was going to have to do so with a knockout.
He was more aggressive in this round, and landed a couple nice shots.
Fortuna again went to the canvas, but it wasn't ruled a knockdown. However, the warning went to Fortuna as the ref felt he was going down too easily.
Hyland won this round, but it was getting to be too little too late.
Round 11
Fortuna came out in this round looking like a fighter who knew he had this bout won if he avoided getting knocked out.
He spent most of the round circling, and Hyland was at a loss as of how to attack him.
Fortuna would still bounce in for the occasional flurry, but he was cautious.
His strategy worked, Hyland did very little damage, and it was another round for Fortuna.
Round 12
It was surprising to hear, before this round, Fortuna's corner imploring him to go for the knockout.
Fortuna had this fight well in hand at this point.
To his credit, Fortuna ignored the instructions and didn't put himself in harm's way. He continued to circle and look for his spots, and just as it had been all fight, Hyland had no answers.
Hyland was surprisingly subdued given the fact he needed a knockout in this round.
It was another round for Fortuna as he put an exclamation point on the win.
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