Janelson Bocachica and Alberto Palmetta delivered a highly competitive main event tonight in Florida on ProBox TV, trading rounds in a very tight back-and-forth effort.
Neither man could really take control of the fight and make it his own. Bocachica (17-2-1, 11 KO) couldn’t maintain separation, neutering his own punches throughout the night. Palmetta (19-2, 13 KO) was active on the front foot, constantly closing the gap, but couldn’t find a clean target for his power shots.
It was a very difficult fight to score, with Boachica landing cleaner when he threw, but Palmetta fighting with more intensity and activity. I scored it unofficially 96-94 Bocachica, but felt anything as wide as 98-92 either way was a very reasonable take on the fight. The official judges had it 97-93, 96-94, 96-94, all for Palmetta.
Bocachica should be kicking himself at the result, as he took the 9th round off, giving Palmetta one of the only clear rounds of the fight. A competitive effort in that 9th round, or maybe more emphasis on punching in one of the rounds where he was taunting and miming insults instead, could have swung the fight to at least a draw.
Here’s a timestamped link to the 7th round, which gets my vote for best of the fight:
Angelo Leo TKO-9 Nicolas Polanco
Fantastic action with barely a pause in the chief support between Angelo Leo and Nicolas Polanco. Leo (22-1, 10 KO) hadn’t fought in almost two and a half years, and started off ripping hooks like he’d been saving them up the whole time.
Polanco (20-5-1, 11 KO) countered crisply whenever he could, but seldom had enough space to operate or even catch his breath. Leo was relentless throughout, and held up against several big return shots when Polanco did manage to plant his feet and fire them off.
Polanco stood strong through nine and a half rounds of Leo attacks when he hurt his left arm, speculated to be a dislocated shoulder, leaving him unable to throw it or defend his left side. Referee stopped the fight after a medical evaluation, over the emphatic objections of Polanco, but it was a good call.
Polanco hasn’t notched a win since 2021, and wasn’t on track to win this one even before the injury. But, he looked good at the weight tonight and hopefully gets a third ProBox opportunity for his effort. Even with Leo doing most of the work and winning almost all the rounds, it was fantastic action, and well worth a replay .
Mykell Gamble TKO-1 Carlos Rocha
Gamble (6-0, 4 KO) timed a perfect counter left hand that caught Rocha lunging in and ended this one very quickly. Rocha (3-2, 2 KO) tried his damndest to get up and continue, but stumbled and fell twice like a classic Fight Night video game knockout animation.
Here’s a timestamped link to the finish: