Justin Figueroa stops Omar Rosales inside four rounds in Atlantic City

Junior middleweight Justin Figueroa proved too strong for Omar Rosales, blasting him out in four rounds at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday night.

Figueroa, 25, commenced the fight on a bright note, landing clean shots against the 34-year-old Rosales. Figueroa took over in the third round by troubling Rosales with right and left hooks that prevented his opponent from attacking.

In the fourth round, Figueroa, 11-0 (8 KOs), made sure the fight ended abruptly after a dangerous combination sent Rosales, 9-4-1 (5 KOs), to the canvas and forced the referee to end the bout.

Figueroa said he was relaxed throughout the fight because he was so well-prepared.

“I was so calm in this fight because I had over a hundred rounds in sparring,” Figueroa said. “I got an insane fucking work ethic and that’s how I got here.”

In the co-main feature, Baltimore’s Dominique Crowder, 31, stopped 33-year-old Duke Micah, 24-3 (19 KOs), of Ghana, in one round after a straight right sent Micah down and he failed to beat the count in their bantamweight contest. An excited Crowder, 34-8 (10 KOs), said after the fight, “I threw it hard, but I don’t know what he felt. I was just warming up.”

Welterweight Avious Griffin, 16-0 (15 KOs), destroyed Adrian Gutierrez, 12-3-1 (6 KOs), in three rounds with a powerful right that knocked his opponent out.

In other undercard fights, Bruce Seldon Jnr, 4-0 (3 KOs), recorded a four-round unanimous decision win over Julio Mendoza, of Florida, in a heavyweight contest, and New York’s Donte Layne, 5-0 (5 KOs), bested Shaquille Cameron, 7-4 (6 KOs), of Alabama, at super middleweight.

Bernard Neequaye is a sports journalist with a specialty in boxing coverage. He wrote a boxing column titled “From The Ringside” in his native Ghana for years. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) at @BernardNeequaye, LinkedIn at Bernard Neequaye and through email at [email protected].