Cherry (35-7, 19 KOs) moved well and picked his foe apart from the outside. The two-time world title challenger didn’t take too many chances over the course of the allotted 10 rounds, though his gameplan prevented Rhodes (23-2-1, 11 KOs) from ever getting into a rhythm. While the fight was rather ordinary, Cherry was more than effective in winning easily via tallies to 98-92 and 97-93 (twice).
In the co-featured bout, unbeaten junior lightweight contender Omar Douglas continuously pounded on Alexei Collado and eventually put him away in the eighth round. “Super O” employed a relentless body attack that wore down Collado (19-2, 17 KOs) and finished the Cuban native when the intestinal attrition was too much, forcing Collado to take a knee for good. Collado was counted out at the 2:51 mark of the frame, allowing Douglas to improve to 17-0 with his 12th pro knockout.
Finally, junior featherweight prospect Antonio Russell (7-0, 5 KOs) dominated Rudolph Hedge (10-4-3, 4 KOs) over six rounds, winning a lopsided unanimous decision. Russell, who is the younger brother of current WBC featherweight titlist Gary Russell Jr., was too accurate and fast for Hedge to keep pace and won by the margins of 60-54 and 59-55 (twice).