Jeison Rosario dropped Reinaldo Gonzalez three times en route to a second-round knockout win Sunday night at the Pabellon De Esgrimas in Rosario’s hometown of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Rosario, who now lives and trains in Miami, improves to 21-3-1 (15 knockouts).

Former unified junior middleweight titleholder immediately went on the front foot, walking Gonzalez down and putting him on the defensive. Rosario mixed up his combinations to the body, followed by a right cross or left hook to the head.

Moments before the end of Round 1 a right uppercut to the head followed by a left hook to the body forced Gonzalez to crouch down against the ropes and he was given a mandatory eight-count. The fight resumed and Gonzalez managed to survive the round.

Sensing Gonzalez was still hurt from the impact of the punches, Rosario was even more offensive in Round 2. With just over a minute remaining in the session, a left hook to the body dropped Gonzalez again. He beat the count and was willing to fight on, but another left hook put him over for a third time. Gonzalez was face down in pain as referee “Smiley” Valdez counted him out at 2:39.

Sunday’s win over Gonzalez took place almost five months after Rosario was stopped in Round 6 by contender Erickson Lubin. In his previous fight, on September 26 of last year, Rosario was dropped three times and stopped by Jermell Charlo in a unification bout.

Following the win over Gonzalez, Rosario confirmed the move up to 160 pounds.

“I’m now fighting as a middleweight,” said Rosario, who won the IBF and WBA junior middleweight titles by stopping Julian Williams on January 18 of last year. “I can’t make 154 pounds anymore. It was taking a toll on my body.

“I am planning to fight here again in January. I would like two or three more fights before I face the best in the middleweight division.

Gonzalez, who resides in Maturin, Venezuela, drops to 17-6 (10 KOs).

Junior welterweight Esteuri Metiver (8-0, 7 KOs), who also resides in Santo Domingo, stopped Francisco Conteras in two rounds. Contreras (31-14, 24 KOs) has now lost eight of his last nine bouts.

Unbeaten junior bantamweight Marcelino Nieves (12-0, 10 KOs) earned another victory on ‘The King of Boxing’ card, stopping Hector Nivar early in the sixth round.

Francisco A. Salazar can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @FSalazarBoxing

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