Alexis Rocha, Raul Curiel battle to majority draw in brutal Fight of the Year candidate

ONTARIO, California – Golden Boy Promotions’ 23rd and final show of the year featured a 50-50 main event matchup between Alexis Rocha and Raul Curiel, two Los Angeles-based welterweight contenders of Mexican heritage who it has promoted ever since the beginning of their careers.

On Saturday night here at the Toyota Arena, neither fighter could separate themselves by securing a statement win in a brutal bout that could certainly be short-listed as a dark horse candidate for Fight of the Year winner.

The highly competitive firefight was ruled a majority draw. Judges Lou Meret and Fernando Villarreal had it 114-114, while Pat Russell had it 116-112 for Rocha. Both fighters left the ring agreeing to a rematch.

Curiel, 15-0-1 (13 KOs), came into the fight as a slight betting favorite, having knocked out each of his 10 opponents over the past five years, but Rocha, 25-2-1 (16 KOs), showed early on that he was not going to be just another statistic.

The razor-thin, evenly matched fight was tit-for-tat from the onset, and the punch statistics through five rounds further proved that, as the faster Rocha landed 54 of 282 shots, while the heavier-hitting Curiel connected with 55 of 227. 

By the end of the fight, Rocha had landed 205 of 818 of his shots, and Curiel 232 of 731 of his punches.

“It was a super-competitive fight,” said Rocha. “My hat goes off to Raul and his team. They did a good job, but I felt like I personally could have done more. I felt like I landed the harder shots and he landed the more pitter-patter shots. I wanted to take him to deep waters and test him. It was an all-out war. I respect him. I was never hurt and I felt like I pulled it off, 7-5.”

Coming into the fight, Rocha said he had to fight smarter after getting knocked out by Giovanni Santillan last year. Rocha didn’t get dropped in the fight and fought responsibly, but Curiel simply did not stop with his furious onslaught. 

After Rocha banked early rounds, Curiel started separating himself a bit in the seventh round with incredible output by engaging in a brawl as the crowd ooh-ed and aah-ed. Sticking and moving was substituted with an all-out slugfest, and it was Curiel who got the better of the action with crushing uppercuts, which helped set-up his combinations.

Rocha countered wonderfully, but it wasn’t enough to keep Curiel off of him.

Curiel carried the momentum in the ninth and 10th rounds and kept chopping away with combinations. Rocha slugged back with vicious one-shot counters. The judges certainly had their work cut out for them trying to determine who got the better of the back-and-forth exchanges. 

The 11th and 12 rounds were razor-close as both fighters realized the fight was hanging in the balance.

They gave everything they had to get the win.

And it appears they’ll do it again next year.

“I promised a war, and we got a war for the people,” said Curiel. “It was a tremendous fight. I think the people are going home happy. Let’s do it again.”

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, The Guardian, Newsweek, Men’s Health, NFL.com, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Magazine and more. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.