Rising prospect Joshua Pagan remained unbeaten on Saturday night as the Salita Promotions sensation dominated veteran Braulio Rodriguez across six rounds to walk away with a unanimous decision by the score of 60-52 three times in action at Motor City Casino in Detroit.
Pagan (9-0, 4 KOs) dropped Rodriguez (20-8, 17 KOs) twice throughout the bout that marked his fifth victory of a busy 2023. After fighting at 140-pounds on Saturday, Pagan declared his intention to begin campaigning at 135 pounds and set his sights on a championship run in a star-studded division that includes the likes of Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson and more.
“It was a great fight on Saturday against an experienced opponent that gave me a good test,” said Pagan. “It felt great to get the rounds and experience in and see what I need to work on for the next camp. I’m going to focus on fighting at lightweight and I really feel as I keep improving, I’m going to be ready to face the best 135 pound champions and contenders.”
The 23-year-old Pagan will look to remain sharp as he now prepares to leave imminently to Puerto Rico with his trainer Theo Chambers to once again work alongside Jake Paul ahead of his announced ring return in December.
The Grand Rapids, Michigan native first burst onto the national scene as an amateur when he won the 2021 U.S. Amateur Welterweight National Championship with a unanimous decision over Keon Davis. Now just a couple of years removed from that triumph, he’ll continue to make his case for contender status, now at lightweight.
“Joshua is improving with each fight and getting faster, stronger and sharper,” said Dmitriy Salita, President of Salita Promotions. “I believe that he’s a force to be reckoned with in the lightweight division and is going to add a lot of flavor to a very talented weight class in the very near future.”
