Maciej Sulecki Survives Late Comeback From Gabriel Rosado, Eyes WBO Middleweight Title Shot

Maciej Sulecki walks out of Philadelphia one step closer to a world title shot after surviving an incredible comeback effort by Gabriel Rosado.

After 10 hard-hitting rounds, Sulecki defeated Rosado by unanimous decision (95-91, 95-91, 95-93) to win the WBO International middleweight title. The fight took place on the main card of a Matchroom Boxing USA on DAZN show from from the Liacouras Center.

Sulecki opened things up with a devastating right hand to the back of Rosado’s left ear to knock him down in the first round. Afterwards, both Sulecki and Rosado engaged in a war of right hands with Sulecki winning most of the exchanges. Sulecki scored a second knockdown in the eighth round, starting with a check left hook and landing another hard straight right to drop Rosado.

Everything seemed to indicate a comfortable win for Sulecki on the scorecards, but Rosado caught fire in the ninth round and dropped Sulecki twice, nearly stopping him as the Polish fighter was dazed and confused after the second knockdown. Rosado then tried to knock out Sulecki in the final round, but was unable to land the decisive blow.

Although the fight was not an actual eliminator for the WBO middleweight world title, the winner is likely next in line to face titleholder Demetrius Andrade. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said before the fight that the winner could fight Andrade next either on a boxing card in Providence or on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin‘s DAZN debut, set for this summer.

The prelim card featured a number of contenders and highly-touted prospects in action. In the first fight shown on DAZN’s social media platforms, Avery Sparrow won a tough majority decision against Henry Lundy in an all-Philadelphia bout.

The DAZN undercard officially kicked off with Daniyar Yeleussinov, one of Matchroom Boxing’s top prospects, winning an eight-round decision against Silverio Ortiz. Yeleussinov dominated Ortiz, dropping him in the seventh round, but was deducted a point for hitting Ortiz while he was down. Yeleussinov now moves to 6-0 as a pro.

Also on the undercard was the pro debut of former top amateur Raymond Ford as he defeated Weusi Johnson by unanimous decision. Luke Campbell, the mandatory challenger to Mikey Garcia‘s WBC lightweight title, stopped Adrian Yung in the fifth round in a stay-busy fight while Garcia fights IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. on March 16 in Arlington, Texas.