Friday roundup: Lundy, Morel impress

Published Apr. 2, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Conn.: Henry Lundy (20-1-1, 10 KOs) is working hard to overcome the effects of his upset loss to John Molina in July of last year. He’s also working to make the transition from being known as a “good, regional fighter” to a real world class lightweight.

Against Patrick Lopez (20-4, 12 KOs) on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights telecast, he found a crafty, solid veteran opponent who could definitely provide a learning experience.

Fighting as aggressively as ever, and mostly from the southpaw stance, Lundy didn’t take long to find his rhythm while Lopez jockeyed for position and employed a tricky head feint to try and throw off the 27-year old Philadelphia native.

Lundy landed a beautiful left hand lead at the end of the second to drop Lopez, but the native of Venezuela never seemed too shaken by any of the hard punches landed.

Cut from a clash of heads in the third, Lopez would keep plugging forward, but find himself falling further behind as Lundy found the rhythm and the pace to take a definitive, but competitive ten-round decision by scores of 95-94, 97-92, and 99-91. The Boxing Tribune scored the fight 97-92 for Lundy.

Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, Calif.: Fighting with an eye on lucrative fights down the line in a stacked bantamweight division, Puerto Rico’s Eric Morel (44-2, 22 KOs) came into Friday night’s contest especially sharp.

Luis Maldonado (35-6-1, 26 KOs), a late substitute for the injured Martin Castillo, had a tough time shaking off the ring rust from nearly two years of inactivity and was dropped by a Morel shot in the first round.

By the third, Maldonado seemed to be finding his legs and giving Morel a bit more competition, but was caught with a counter that opened a deep gash over his right eye. The cut would eventually result in the stoppage of the contest at the end of round four.

Morel looked sharper and more motivated than at any point in recent memory. After the contest, the 35-year old bantamweight called out Nonito Donaire, Anselmo Moreno, Joseph Agbeko or Abner Mares. He also expressed a desire to fight his originally-scheduled opponent, Martin Castillo, who had decisioned Morel back in 2005.

Other noteworthy fights:

(Welterweight) Selcuk Aydin KO 1 Dzmitry Lubachkin; (Welterweight) Jackson Bonsu UD 8 Karlo Tabaghua; (Cruiserweight) Firat Arslan TKO 3 Michal Bilak; (Super Flyweight) David Quijano UD 10 Juan Mercedes; (Super Flyweight) McWilliams Arroyo TKO 5 Erickson Martell; (Jr. Featherweight) Randy Caballero TKO 2 Felix Perez; (Super Middleweight) Vladine Biosse TKO 5 Tim Connors; (Light Heavyweight) Elvin Ayala RTD 4 Joe Gardner; (Super Middleweight) Don George TKO 8 Maxell Taylor