Carlos Adames Ups His Record To 14-0 on ESPN

Carlos Adames looked to impress his new crew at Top Rank, as he gloved up with Alejandro Barrera in a welterweight plus tango which kicked off the ESPN TV portion of the Madison Square Garden show Saturday night.

He did, to a point; Adames pretty much dominated, and showed some good building blocks. He's 24, and young, and can improve with refinement. Is he special, as some were saying in some quarters while this scrap unfolded? I didn't see “special” in the making, but time will tell.

The assembled at MSG were pretty muted, save for six or so periods during the tenner which had them erupting. The eruptions came mostly from Adames' work, but Barrera in the second half of the fight offered up more intensive offense. Not enough to sway the judges, though. After ten rounds, Adames (14-0) got the W, by scores of 97-93, 96-94, 98-92.

In the first, Adames got crackin’ late in the round. Barrera (now 27-5) was being a mover, sliding, being crafty and evasive. He lost the round.

In round two, Adames edged closer. He wanted to work in tight, press the issue. They traded late in the round and the crowd perked up hard.

In the third, Barrera made Adames miss, made him reach, was being a crafty ring general. The Mexican backed up, mostly sliding left, and he had some like slipping in sneaky counters or leads while Adames advanced.

In the fourth, the Dominican kept advancing, and he buzzed the loser with a straight right. The crowd, mostly muted, perked up a notch. A right hook as he backed Barrera in a corner also landed with solidity. Barrera threw after the bell, after Adames got some body work done on him. To round 5—Barrera picked it up, working hard while backing up, because he sensed Adames was going to be on him nasty if he didn’t. A one-two landed very solid and Adames’ corner picked up on it. They told him to attack, keep up the momentum.

In the sixth, Adames went lefty some, stalked more, and was in total control. To 7..Adames won the round, then Barrera flurried and landed a few and the fans (over?) reacted. In round 8, we saw a lefty stance work for Adames. Then Barrera tried to be the aggressor; he bulled Adames into the ropes, or maybe Adames let him do so, to try and change the rhythm.

In round 9, Adames again won the round, but Barrera was not solely in survice mode. He’d look to land with some authority, assert himself…just not enough to get that 10-9. Barrera got em buzzing late in round ten, but were two flurries a round enough to snag him enough rounds to win?