Omar Rosario nearly knocked out Raekwon Butler in the first round Saturday night, but Butler recovered, made their fight reasonably competitive and went the distance.

Puerto Rico’s Rosario remained undefeated, however, as he out-pointed Brooklyn’s Butler unanimously in their six-round junior welterweight bout in Verona, New York. Judges Glenn Feldman (59-54), Eric Marlinski (59-54) and Don Trella (58-55) all scored their fight for Rosario (6-0, 2 KOs) on the Joe Smith Jr.-Steve Geffrard undercard at Turning Stone Resort Casino.

Butler (4-2, 2 KOs) lost a unanimous decision for the second time in his past three fights.

Rosario’s right hand landed flush with just over 1:10 to go in the sixth round, but Butler was otherwise effective in those final three minutes of the fight. He established distance and landed several straight left hands on Rosario in the sixth round.

The third, fourth and fifth rounds were competitive, despite that Rosario overwhelmed Butler with power punches in the opening round and early in the second round.

Butler’s trainer nearly stopped their bout early in the second round, but he hesitated and Butler responded by getting back into the fight. Bulter landed several hard shots of his own toward the end of the second round, when Rosario didn’t protect himself well.

Rosario rocked Butler with two right hands just after the halfway point of the first round. An aggressive Rosario bombarded Butler with power shots for the remainder of the first round, but he couldn’t finish him off.

In the bout before Rosario’s victory, Jahi Tucker showed Akeem Black that his power is different than anything Black had experienced in any of his first 10 professional fights.

Tucker became the first opponent to drop Black and stopped him in the second round. He sent Black to the canvas late in the first round and battered him in the second round, until referee Mark Nelson stepped in and halted the action at 1:18 of that round.

The 18-year-old Tucker, of Deer Park, New York, improved to 6-0 and produced his fourth knockout. Black, a Milwaukee resident raised in Chicago, slipped to 6-5 (2 KOs).

With under two minutes to go in the second round, Tucker caught Black with another right uppercut that stunned him. Nelson stepped between them after Tucker connected with several more power punches.

Black took numerous flush right hands from Tucker until Tucker finally sent him to the canvas with 13 seconds to go in the first round after landing a right uppercut. Black went down for the first time in 11 professional fights.

In the previous bout, Troy Isley didn’t get the knockout he wanted, but he continued the strong start to his pro career.

The junior middleweight prospect basically beat up Harry Keenan Cruz-Cubano for six rounds and remained undefeated. The 2021 U.S. Olympian hammered the courageous Cruz-Cubano with various head and body shots on his way to winning unanimous decision by scores of 59-53, 59-54 and 59-54.

The 23-year-old Isley, of Alexandria, Virginia, improved to 4-0 and went the distance for a second time. Cruz-Cubano, an awkward southpaw from Jacksonville, Florida, dropped to 6-3 (2 KOs).

Referee Benjy Esteves deducted a point from Isley for another low blow with just under 1:40 remaining in the sixth round. Isley drilled Cruz-Cubano with a left uppercut that connected with just over 30 seconds on the clock in that final round.

With just under 1:20 to go in the fifth round, Esteves warned Isley for a low blow. A right-left combination by Isley landed with approximately 45 seconds on the clock in the fifth round.

Isley was the busier, more effective fighter again during the fourth round. He landed several uppercuts during the final 40 seconds of the fourth round, but Cruz-Cabano just kept pressing forward.

Isley landed an array of head and body shots during the third round, but Cruz-Cubano never stopped coming forward and trying to land shots of his own.

Isley caught Cruz-Cubano with a right uppercut approximately 30 seconds into the second round. A left hook to the body by Isley also affected Cruz-Cubano with just over two minutes on the clock in the second round.

With just over 40 seconds to go in the first round, Isley blasted Cruz-Cubano with a left hook that rocked him. Less than 20 seconds later, Isley nailed Cruz-Cubano with another left hook.

Just before the first round ended, Isley landed two hard right hands that backed up Cruz-Cubano.

In the opening bout Saturday night, Lyubomyr Pinchuk out-worked and out-pointed Jose Mario Flores in their eight-round cruiserweight fight.

The Ukrainian-born, Pittsburgh-based former heavyweight beat the game Flores by unanimous decision. Pinchuk won by scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73, and improved to 14-2-1 (8 KOs).

Flores, of Woodbridge, Virginia, slipped to 8-3-2 (4 KOs).

Back-to-back left uppercuts by Pinchuk rocked Flores with just over two minutes on the clock in the eighth and final round. Pinchuk clipped Flores with a right hand that knocked out his mouthpiece with just over a minute to go in the eighth round.

Pinchuk caught Flores with a right uppercut with just over a minute to go in the seventh round. He snapped back Flores’ head with another right hand when there were just about 30 seconds on the clock in the seventh round.

Flores landed a right hand to Pinchuk’s body early in the sixth round. Both boxers landed shots on the inside during the sixth round, when Pinchuk bled from a cut around his left eye.

Pinchuk connected with back-to-back right hands to the side of Flores’ head that hurt him in the middle minute of the fifth round.

Pinchuk continued to work well off his jab during the fourth round, when he out-landed Flores. Just before the midway mark of the fourth round, though, Flores drilled Pinchuk with a right hand to the body that hurt his opponent. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.