Acosta stops Uutoni for 108-pound title mandatory position

Angel Acosta (right) vs. Japhet Uutoni. Photo courtesy of Miguel Cotto on Twitter

Feb

Angel Acosta dropped Japhet Uutoni four times en route to a tenth round technical knockout at the Coliseo Roger L. Mendoza in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

The hard-hitting Acosta improves to 16-0 (with 16 knockouts). Uutoni falls to 12-2 (5 KOs).

With the win, Acosta becomes the mandatory challenger to face WBO junior flyweight titleholder Kosei Tanaka. Uutoni and Acosta were ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

Uutoni pressed the bout from the opening bell. The fighter from Namibia threw looping hooks and crosses, landing occasionally but mostly missing.

Acosta, who resides in San Juan, landed more at will with each passing round, countering with left hooks and right uppercuts to the head.

Uutoni continued to march forward but was outgunned. Acosta dropped Uutoni once in the second, fifth, and eighth rounds. After a barrage of punches dropped Uutoni in round 10, referee Roberto Ramirez Jr. stopped the bout at 1:01, thus snapping Uutoni’s five-bout winning streak.

Another fighter from Puerto Rico also won by knockout in Caguas.

Janiel Rivera stopped Juan Guzman (22-7, 12 KOs) in the second round of a scheduled 10-round flyweight bout.

Rivera (15-2-3, 9 KOs), who resides in Catano, is ranked No. 10 by the IBF and No. 9 by the WBO at 105 pounds. Saturday night was Rivera’s first fight in almost 10 months.

Junior featherweight Bryan Chevalier (8-0, 8 KOs) knocked Harold Reyes (2-8-1) out in the fifth round.

Featherweight Edgardo Laboy (12-0, 7 KOs) won a six-round unanimous decision Eliezer Agosto (2-9, 2 KOs).

Promociones Miguel Cotto promoted the card.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper, BoxingScene.com and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.

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