Fortuna Beats Vasquez, via UD, in Brooklyn

Two sharp defenders engaged in a “pitchers duel” in the chief support bout to the Amir Khan-Chris Algieri main event, from Barclays Center, and on SPIKE.

Javier Fortuna earned the W, according to the judges, over Bryan Vasquez, through 12 rounds of sweetly scientific warfare. Fortuna had the upper hand, by scores of 116-112, 117-111, 117-111.

Fortuna went 237-637 to 174-710 for Vasquez, according to CompuBox.

Fortuna, supposedly coming in with a significant power edge, didn’t look the part, and it looked like he never buzzed Vasquez. But Vasquez is no power merchant, and he, perhaps, needed a clear volume edge to offset the handful of power tosses which were scored by the victor.

A WBA 130 pound crown was up for grabs.

Vasquez came from Costa Rica with a 34-1 mark, and 18 Kos, while the Dominican Fortuna was 27-0-1 with 20 KOs.

In the first, Vas showed the sweet feet, while the lefty wanted to counter with bombs. They clinched a few times. Then they both swung for fences, with Vas being a bit more contained. He grinned when Fortuna looked to pepper him. In the second, the ref warned Fortuna for being foul. He was off the back foot, moving pretty smartly, and both men postured some late in the second. In the third, we saw Vasquez with hands down, darting in, having some luck, though Fortuna was slipping pretty well. The DR man had Vasquez on the ropes and was having some luck late. In the fourth, Fortuna was busier. Fortuna’s D was solid as he moved his head and torso in anticipation of Vasquez’ launches. A right counter landed for Fortuna and the crowd buzzed, late.

In round five, Vas went lefty. Then he went back righty, and he grinned when Fort looked to pepper, again. A winging right from Vas had the crowd buzzing. Tight round. In the sixth, they grappled, a mid-fight lull. Both defended pretty well, so it was hard to decipher the clear winner.

In round seven, Vas came out nastier. He ripped to the body some, bulled Fortuna some, was the aggressor, was the busier man. Then Fortuna had some power land late, enough to steal it? In round eight, Fortuna started out surging. Vas could work off the ropes, without fear, but was he busy enough to send a message to the judges against a guy with a power edge? They traded in the last twenty seconds giving the crowd a nice pop.

In round nine, a lead right landed for Vasquez. The rest of the frame was pretty even, and we went to ten. A counter right for Vasquez landed, and then he was the busier guy. In the 11th, Fortuna flurried with Vas backed to the ropes. The two similarly skilled boxers once again were in a tight round, no one pulling away. We went to the 12th. The crowd didn’t dig it when Fortuna ran around with his arms up. We went to the cards..

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