Raul Curiel and Alexis Rocha fought to a draw in their December 2024 Fight of the Year contender. There was unfinished business between the pair after their first meeting, and so an anticipated rematch was scheduled for Friday’s Golden Boy/DAZN main event. However, the second bout was disappointingly canceled on Thursday after Rocha was hospitalized and forced to withdraw just 36 hours out.
Luckily for boxing fans, though, Jordan Panthen stepped in to replace Rocha, and he picked up right where Curiel and Rocha left off in their welterweight thriller.
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Although Curiel defeated Panthen by unanimous decision (97-93, 97-93, 98-92) Friday night at the Acrisure Arena at Greater Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California, it’s safe to say Panthen’s stock rose in defeat.
Panthen (11-2, 9 KOs), who had a noticeable size advantage, pressured Curiel (17-0-1, 14 KOs) from the opening bell. He used a stiff jab and head movement to push Curiel backward and break the distance. When Panthen entered punching range, he unleashed short, powerful combinations, attacking Curiel’s body and going up through the middle with uppercuts.
Panthen lifted Curiel’s chin with the uppercut just after the one-minute mark in Round 2 and continued to pour the pressure on Curiel in the second frame. Curiel was intent on outsmarting Panthen, using his speed advantage to land eye-catching counters and to slow him down with body shots. An uppercut counter from Curiel was effective in the opening minute of Round 3, but Panthen came back later in the session with an uppercut of his own and a strong chopping right.
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The underdog had a strong opening three rounds, but the tide began to turn in Round 4. Although Panthen opened the round with some good body work, the pace and pressure soon slowed from him, and Curiel’s counters were proving to be more effective. Curiel traded power shots with Panthen at close quarters, which made for some fun exchanges in Round 4.
Raul Curiel lands an uppercut punch on Jordan Panthen during their short-notice bout.
(Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy via Getty Images)
The uppercut proved effective for Curiel again early in Round 5 as a brilliant punch through the middle of Panthen’s guard connected, and was followed by an eye-catching combination. Curiel continued to have success with the uppercut and attacked the body in an attempt to further slow Panthen down.
Entering the sixth frame, it looked like a different fight than it had been in the early rounds. Panthen was still active and throwing with volume, but the momentum was firmly in Curiel’s favor. Now, the Mexican was suddenly pushing back the much bigger and stronger Panthen. Curiel had a minor breakthrough when he appeared to trouble Panthen to the midsection in the final minute of Round 7 and then drove Panthen backward with a left hook.
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Panthen was badly rocked again by a Curiel right hand in the final minute of Round 9. Curiel put together a sustained attack, but Panthen — showing a terrific chin and tremendous heart — refused to go down, managing to survive the onslaught.
Curiel found further success in Round 10 with power shots and combinations, before Panthen rallied and the pair slugged it out until the final bell of a thriller. Although Curiel was a clear winner after taking over in the second half of the contest, Panthen has surely set himself up for more television fights after his late-notice showing.
In the night’s co-feature, Jorge Chavez defeated Manuel Flores by unanimous decision (96-94, 97-93, 98-92) in their super bantamweight rematch. The pair previously fought to a majority draw in Indio, California, this past July.
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Flores started the rematch well, banking the first few rounds with aggression. Chavez came to life in Round 4 with a combination of body shots, and the pair went back and forth in the mid-rounds. Chavez wobbled Flores in Round 7 with a right-left combination. He continued his assault in Round 8 with terrific uppercuts. Chavez also took control of Rounds 9 and 10, and the strong final four rounds of the bout for him were enough to secure him a decision.
Jorge “El Nino Dorado” Chavez lands a punch on Manuel “Gucci Manny” Flores during their fight at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California.
(Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy via Getty Images)
A five-fight card became four fights when news broke on the DAZN broadcast that the scheduled Joel Iriarte vs. Jireh De Los Santos eight-round welterweight matchup would not take place.
The bout was canceled just hours before the pair were supposed to walk into the ring. Iriarte missed weight at Thursday’s weigh-in, and so De Los Santos was offered financial compensation — including double his purse and a comeback fight — but refused to accept it.
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According to DAZN’s Chris Mannix, the deeply religious De Los Santos said that God told him it was not safe to fight, and so he chose not to go through with the contest.
In super lightweight action, Ruslan Abdullaev (4-0, 2 KOs) ended the 10-fight unbeaten streak of Eduardo Javier Abreu (14-1-2, 10 KOs).
To his credit, Abreu was aggressive and pressured Abdullaev all night long — but ultimately he paid the price for his willingness to be in punching range with the Uzbek amateur star.
Abdullaev floored Abreu with a brilliant chopping right-hand counter just before the two-minute mark in R3. Abreu took heavy punishment after the knockdown but managed to see out the round. Abdullaev continued his assault of power shots on Abreu, who was game and tough, but was slowly being broken down.
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A second breakthrough came for Abdullaev early in the final minute of Round 5 when he rocked Abreu with a right hand to left hook two-piece, and followed it up with a right hand through the middle that sent Abreu to the canvas. Abdullaev had 40 seconds to look for a stoppage, and this time he decided he was going to capitalize on his success. A sustained attack from Abdullaev forced Abreu onto the ropes, where a barrage of punches forced the referee to call a halt to the action in the final few seconds of Round 5.
In the DAZN opener, Cayden Griffiths (7-0, 6 KOs) dominated and beat up Lesther Espino (10-8, 8 KOs) but was forced to go the distance for the first time in his young career. Griffiths won a shutout unanimous decision (60-53, 60-53, 60-53) over Espino.
Main card
158-pound catchweight: Raul Curiel def. Jordan Panthen via unanimous decision (97-93, 97-93, 98-92)
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Super bantamweight: Jorge Chavez def. Manuel Flores via unanimous decision (96-94, 97-93, 98-92)
Welterweight: Joel Iriarte vs. Jireh De Los Santos (canceled)
Super lightweight: Ruslan Abdullaev def. Eduardo Javier Abreu via fifth-round TKO | Watch video
Welterweight: Cayden Griffiths def. Lesther Espino via unanimous decision (60-53, 60-53, 60-53)
Prelims
Super flyweight: John “Scrappy” Ramirez def. Byron Rojas via majority decision (95-95, 97-93, 98-92)
Middleweight: Fabian Guzman def. Jose Gabriel Rodriguez via sixth-round TKO | Watch video
Welterweight: Ricardo Ruvalcaba def. Jonathan Jose Eniz via unanimous decision (79-73, 80-72, 80-72)