NEW YORK (June 3, 2019) –Despite dictating the pace of the fight, welterweight contender Ray Robinson had to settle for a for a majority draw in his 10-round WBA International title bout with Josh Kelly in a fight that took place this past Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Split-T Management’s prized middleweight prospect, Diego Pacheco stopped Jared Chauvin in the 1st round.
Robinson pressured Kelly throughout most of the contest, and had Kelly in the corner or against the ropes as he came forward behind combinations. Kelly was resigned to throwing mostly one-shot at a time, and Robinson looked like he was building a comfortable lead on the scorecards. In round seven, Kelly was cut over his left eye. In round ten, Kelly was cut around the right eye. Kelly needed to sweep the final round just to have the scores read 96-94 for Kelly and 95-95 twice,
This is the 2nd consecutive draw for Robinson, who drew with WBO number-one ranked Egidijus Kavaliauskas on March 30th. Robinson who has shown no-fear in fighting anyone in the welterweight division, as he took on Kelly, who was a 2016 Olympian and came in with a perfect record of 9-0 and was ranked number-nine by the WBA.
With the draw, Robinson, who himself is ranked number-13 by the WBC is 24-3-2.
“He’s the champ, and they said that you have to outwork the champ, and I feel that’s what I did. He did a lot of moving his body and head. I stalked him. The brought a pup to a dogfight, and I did what I was supposed to do to get the “W”. I thought I pulled it out. I am in the sport to take chances. I fight on other promoter’s cards. If they think they are the best, I want them to prove it to me,” said Robinson.
Pacheco, of Los Angeles, was the number-one ranked amateur in the United States and Mexico, dropped Chauvin with a hard right hand to gain his 2nd consecutive opening round round, and subsequently raised his perfect mark to 4-0 with three knockouts.