Rocky Hernández vs. Thomas Mattice Ends in Controversy After Doctor Stoppage

On Friday, September 13, at the Arena Sonora in Sonora, Mexico, Eduardo “Rocky” Hernández (36-2, 32 KOs) defeated Thomas Mattice (22-4-1, 17 KOs), winning by technical decision in their super featherweight main event, live on DAZN in over 200 countries across the globe.

Eduardo “Rocky” Hernández Defeats Thomas Mattice

Hernandez vs. Mattice Recap

It was a quiet start, with Hernández looking to close the distance, while Mattice looked to keep it long. Over the next two rounds, there were brief moments of joy for Mattice, but the Mexican fighter was getting in close effectively and letting his hands go to the body.

Round five saw Hernández continue to be the aggressor and walk his American opponent down, while Mattice picked his shots impressively as the round progressed. Round six saw the volume continue to come from “Rocky” but Mattice was now landing the more telling shots, making the American fighter look comfortable.

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Before the seventh round, the ringside doctor encouraged the referee to wave off the fight due to an accidental clash of heads, leaving many at ringside confused, including the DAZN commentary team. Looking at the replays, it seemed the fight ending cut came from an uppercut. The stoppage came at a terrible time for the American who was starting to control the fight, picking his shots impressively. The fight went to the scorecards for a technical decision, with “Rocky” announced the winner with the cards reading 59-55, 58-55 and 58-56.

Post Fight Quotes

In the post-fight interview through an interpreter, Hernández was critical of his opponent and said: “I’m very disappointed but I’m disappointed by the way he’s behaved.” 

He continued: “We got the win but it’s not the way we wanted to get it.”

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Talking about his opponent he said: “He came out to make sure he cut me and he did.” 

“Rocky” added: “In the future, I want to go and get that world title shot.”

Undercard

Sergio Mendoza (24-0, 21 KOs) won by third-round stoppage against Angel Serrano (32-2-2, 19 KOs) in their flyweight fight. The KO came from a beautifully timed short, sharp left uppercut, which left Serrano unable to continue, with the referee waving the fight off.

Julio Porras (12-0, 8 KOs) defeated Isaac Torres (10-1, 10 KOs) in their super-middleweight fight. Porras scored a knockdown in round two with a huge left hook. Despite some success early on for Torres with his quick feet and fast hands, Porras was the aggressor, making some smart adjustments and dominating the second half of the fight to win unanimously. The judges scorecards read 100-89 and 99-90 x2.

Leonardo Rubalcava (9-0, 3 KOs) defeated Jesus Castorena (5-2, 2 KOs) by unanimous decision in a dominant performance in their six-round super-lightweight bout with the judges scorecards reading 60-54, 59-54 and 59-55.