In the opening bout of the evening, Rolando Romero (13-0, 11 KOs) remained unbeaten against late replacement Avery Sparrow (10-4, 3 KOs) with a dominating performance that led Sparrow’s corner to call an end to the fight in seventh round. All three judges had the fight scored 60-51 at the time of the technical knockout stoppage, as did SHOWTIME’s unofficial ringside scorer Steve Farhood.
Romero, 25, set the tone early in the fight sending Sparrow to the canvas with a well-placed left hook within the first minute of the first round. Born and bred in Las Vegas, and fighting under the Mayweather Promotions banner, Romero landed 86 of his 175 power punches which more than doubled Sparrow’s total punches landed in the fight (40). In the closing minute of the sixth round, Sparrow went down with an apparent knee injury and upon the return to action referee Johnny Callas deducted two points from Sparrow for an intentional low blow. Sparrow’s corner confirmed that Sparrow’s knee injury was the reason for stopping the fight.