ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – Dwyke Flemmings Jr. ended his 10-month layoff with a victory Saturday night, just not in the way he had hoped.
The 19-year-old junior middleweight prospect appeared well on his way to knocking out Henry Rivera early in their four-round fight on the Jaron Ennis-Roiman Villa undercard at Boardwalk Hall’s Adrian Phillips Ballroom. The taller, rangier Flemmings (4-0, 4 KOs), of Paterson, New Jersey, had to settle for a third-round, technical-knockout win when a New Jersey State Athletic Control Board physician determined that Rivera shouldn’t continue due to his bloodied nose.
Referee Charlie Fitch officially stopped their fight at 1:57 of the third round. Las Vegas’ Rivera (2-1, 2 KOs) had taken a lot of flush punches, but he remained on his feet throughout their bout.
The awkward, gritty Rivera fought mostly from a southpaw stance, despite that he is an orthodox boxer. It caused several head clashes, but it didn’t prevent Flemmings from landing clean shots on him.
Flemmings blasted Rivera with a right uppercut barely 40 seconds into the third round. Their fight was stopped a little more than a minute later.
Rivera put his head down and pressed forward early in the second round, which enabled Flemmings to unload power punches on him. Flemmings’ right uppercut staggered Rivera, who valiantly attempted to fight out of that trouble.
Flemmings continued to pick apart Rivera, but none of his shots hurt Rivera badly enough to put him down.
Flemmings rocked Rivera with a straight right hand that knocked him backward in the first round. Flemmings followed up with various power punches, but the tough Rivera made it to the end of the first round.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.