Joshua James Pagan wins promotion fight in Puerto Rico, decision Haskell Rhodes
Joshua James Pagan made a strong impression on his home island of Puerto Rico on Saturday, defeating veteran Haskell Rhodes by unanimous decision at the Coca-Cola Music Hall in San Juan.
Pagan (11-0, 4 knockouts) won all ten rounds of his lightweight title, 100-90, on the same card, while two judges scored one round to give Rhodes (31-7-1, 16 KOs) 99 points. -91.
The fight was a tough test for the 24-year-old Pagan from Grand Rapids, Mich., who was extended the distance in his first ten-round assignment, and had to eat several hard punches from the red-hot veteran, incl. a few against the ropes as the final bell rings.
“Haskell Rhodes is a tough competitor. I knew you were coming for a very long time. I feel like I made a few mistakes there, I was so happy when I hurt him but he survived and it was my fault. I have to go back to the drawing board and work on that,” said Pagan, the 2021 US National Champion.
Pagani, who is five inches taller than the 37-year-old Rhodes from Oklahoma City at 5’10”, survived an early onslaught from the now-defunct Rhodes opponent before tightening control as the rounds wore on. Instead of playing the distance, Pagan was content to meet Rhodes in the middle of the ring, throwing short punches inside Rhodes’ wide shots to support a shorter fight. Heathen landed the best punch in the sixth fight, when a right hand rocked Rhodes and put him on the defensive.
The win was Pagan’s second straight win of the year, his last bout was in May when he defeated undefeated Roger Hilley by unanimous decision.
Rhodes, whose biggest name was being a longtime partner of Manny Pacquiao, is seeing his two-fight winning streak, losing for the first time since losing last December to Antonio Perez in Miami.
The fight was headlined by a Salita Promotions card that aired live on DAZN.
In other results, Juan Carrillo (13-0, 9 KOs) remains undefeated, defeating Gilbert Lenin Castillo (25-6-1, 19 KOs) by unanimous decision in their ten-round light heavyweight bout. The scores were 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92, all for the 32-year-old Carrillo from Barranquilla, Colombia.
Also in action, hometown favorite Kiria Tapia (5-0) won a unanimous decision over Hungary’s Beata Dudek (4-5, 4 KOs). Tapia was credited with a first-round knockout en route to a 60-53 victory in their six-round contest.
