Michel Rivera Stops Fernandez In Eight

Michel Rivera kicked off Saturday night’s boxing action from The Dignity Health Sports Complex in Carson, California, and he was able to stop Jon Fernandez in the eighth round on Showtime’s co-feature.

The time of the stoppage in the WBA Title Eliminator was 44 seconds in the eighth round.

However, Rivera had a few rounds to figure it out, as Fernandez was the aggressor early on. Rivera’s corner asked him after the third round if there was something wrong with his hand and when he said “no,” his trainer German Caicedo thru an interpreter, stated, “then start throwing!”.

He did.

Rivera picked up the action and started landing some hard shots on Fernandez that stunned him early. Up until the start of the fourth round, it looked like Fernandez’s plan of coming in was beating Rivera to the punch. By the end of the fourth round, you can see that Rivera and his right hand were the equalizers to anything that Fernandez was doing early on.

WOW. Michel Rivera with a devastating KO in his @showtime debut! pic.twitter.com/bghXKJrBjo

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) July 4, 2021

As the fifth round started, it was more like Rivera pressed on, but the action stayed toe to toe as Fernandez still kept pressing forward. This worked to his advantage as he dramatically knocked down Rivera with a straight right in the sixth round for the first time in Rivera’s career. Rivera was able to beat the count, but the attack to the body from Fernandez was making it a clear round for him in the fight.

That success would be ended shortly after the start of the eighth round. Rivera returned the favor with a devastating right hand on the ear that dropped Fernandez for the first time in his career and wouldn’t get up after that. Rivera promised us a knockout in this fight, and he delivered.

With the victory, Rivera stays undefeated (21-0, 14 KOs) in a contest where he didn’t look too sharp early on, but closed out tremendously.