Alberto “El Topo” Rosas turned the House of Blues into the house of black and blues for Federico Catubay en route to winning their IBF super flyweight title elimination bout by unanimous decision. Presented by Top Rank Boxing, Rosas v. Catubay headlined a nine bout fight card held at The House of Blues inside the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.

Catubay (25-16-3) started strong and played to the pro-Filipino crowd in town to support Pound-4-Pound king Manny Pacquiao. Catubay motioned Rosas (31-5) to engage and mouthed “come on” several times in the early rounds. Holding his hands at his sides, Catubay dared Rosas to attack and countered successfully when he did. Catubay sliced a cut across Rosas’ right eyelid near the end of round three.

Rosas closed the distance in the middle rounds and forced Catubay to fight in close quarters. With their heads pressed against one another, Rosas out-gunned and out-toughed Catubay. By the seventh Rosas beat the braggadocio out of a tiring Catubay. Catubay lowered his head and slung punches toward Rosas. For his part Rosas looked for openings and landed chopping right hands when he found them. And when Catubay lifted his head for an occasional peek, Rosas greeted him with a jab, right cross.

Rosas landed the cleaner, more effective blows and was rightly rewarded for doing so. Judge Duane Ford favored Rosas 116-112 while judges Dick Houck and Jerry Roth both scored the fight 117-111 for Rosas.
 

Filipino southpaw Mark Melligen built an early but could not hang on against hard-charging Mexican welterweight Michel Rosales. Melligen (16-2) moved well early, keeping Rosales off balance and ineffective. Working behind a straight left, Melligen built a lead on two of the three scorecards mid way through the fight. As the fight progressed however, Melligen began backing straight away allowing Rosales (25-3) to land his long left. Rosales picked up the pace over the second half of the fight and chased Melligen around the ring.

The pressure affected Melligen and he threw fewer and fewer punches. Rosales winged hooks from near and far and landed enough of them to earn the split decision victory. Judges Paul Smith and Eric Cheek scored the fight 96-94 for Rosales. Judge Burt Clements saw the fight differently, scoring it 98-92 for Melligen. Pound-4-Pound scored the bout 97-93 for Melligen.
 

Z Gorres impressed the judges and the crowd by dominating fellow bantamweight Luis Melendez over nine and a half one-sided rounds. But that final half round stunned the once boisterous crowd when Melendez (26-4-1) dropped Gorres in the 10th with a straight right. Gorres got to his feet and survived the round, but barely. Through nine rounds Gorres (30-2-2) controlled Melendez with a steady diet of jab, left cross. Gorres nearly ended the fight early when he floored Melendez with a left cross in the third. The schooling continued into the 10th when Melendez landed the punch that nearly changed the outcome. Following the fight Gorres collapsed in his corner and was taken out on a stretcher. The final scorecards read 98-90, 98-90 and 97-91.
 

Unbeaten super flyweight Angel Magdaleno defeated previously unbeaten Rafael Miguel Tapia by TKO at 1:58 of the fourth to kick off the evening’s action. Throughout the four-round bout Magdaleno (3-0-2) walked Tapia (4-1-1) to the ropes where he softened him with left hooks and uppercuts. Yet it was an overhand right that proved to be the fight ending blow. Referee Tony Weeks stepped between the fighters to spare Tapia more punishment.