NEW YORK – Henry Lebron demonstrated Saturday night that more than his first name differentiates him from Luis Lebron.
The younger southpaw boxed well while moving backward for much of their eight-round junior lightweight fight and wouldn’t allow Luis Lebron to get into any sort of offensive rhythm. Henry Lebron beat his older, right-handed opponent unanimously to remain unbeaten (16-0, 10 KOs) in a rather unremarkable bout between Puerto Rican fighters on the Edgar Berlanga-Alexis Angulo undercard at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater.
Judges Glenn Feldman (80-72), John McKaie (79-73) and Waleska Roldan (78-74) scored eight, seven and six rounds for Henry Lebron, respectively. San Juan’s Luis Lebron (18-4-1, 11 KOs) lost for the third time in his past four bouts, but he has not lost by knockout in nine years as a pro.
Henry Lebron held more and punched less during the seventh and eighth rounds. Luis Lebron was the aggressor throughout those last two rounds, but he couldn’t connect with anything to hurt his seemingly fatigued opponent.
Henry Lebron continued to elude Luis Lebron and land occasional left hands during the sixth round.
Murdaugh sternly warned Luis Lebron with 40 seconds to go in the fifth round for hitting Henry Lebron after Murdaugh called for a break. Henry Lebron later landed a right hook with about 20 seconds to go in the fifth round.
Henry Lebron went after Luis Lebron’s body early in the fourth round. Henry Lebron really let his hands go after the halfway point of the fourth round.
Luis Lebron blocked some of those punches, but he had difficulty dealing with his opponent’s hand speed and volume punching.
About 50 seconds into the third round, Henry Lebron unloaded a six-punch combination that started to the body and ended up top. Henry Lebron also landed a left to the side of Luis Lebron’s head with about 1:10 to go in the third round.
Luis Leron tried to smother Henry Lebron throughout the second round, yet he didn’t land many clean punches during those three minutes. Henry Lebron landed a left hand that backed up Luis Lebron barely 1:20 into the first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.