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Rashiem Jefferson displayed poise and precision Saturday night in Las Vegas.
The 19-year-old prospect picked apart Jose Martinez with straight left hands and right hooks, mostly defended himself well and easily won their four-round featherweight fight. Judges Adalaide Byrd (40-36), Patricia Morse Jarman (39-37) and Ricardo Ocasio (40-36) scored the fight for Jefferson, a southpaw from Philadelphia who improved to 2-0.
Los Angeles’ Martinez slipped to 2-2.
ESPN+ streamed Jefferson’s win as the first of seven fights on the Jamel Herring-Jonathan Oquendo undercard at MGM Grand Conference Center.
An aggressive Martinez tried to pressure Jefferson in the final round, but Jefferson handled it well. He hit Martinez with numerous counter right hooks in those final three minutes.
Jefferson’s counter left hit Martinez 25 seconds into the third round. Mora called for a break with 54 seconds to go in the third round, so that Martinez could reinsert his mouthpiece.
Martinez tried to rough up Jefferson during the third round, but Jefferson remained composed and stuck to boxing.
A short, right hook by Jefferson caught Martinez with about 1:05 to go in the second round. Jefferson landed another right hook with approximately 25 seconds to go in the second.
Jefferson landed several left hands during the first round, when Martinez tried to get inside, often with his head down.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.