Gomez cruises to decision against Lane

Frankie Gomez turns 21 on Monday. On Saturday, he decided to treat himself to an early birthday present at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

The welterweight from East Los Angeles, who is being touted by Golden Boy Promotions as one of its future stars, picked up an impressive 10-round unanimous decision over Lanard Lane.

Judges Duane Ford and Jerry Roth both had Gomez pitching a shutout, 100-90, while Burt Clements scored it 98-92 for Gomez, who improved to 15-0 (11 knockouts).

"I'm very happy," Gomez said. "I tried to be patient and follow the game plan, and it worked really well."

Gomez never had been in a 10-round bout until Saturday. But he fought a smart, consistent fight, not letting Lane hit him while tagging Lane when he'd miss time after time. Gomez kept his composure throughout and did a good job of putting his combinations together.

Gomez's trainer, Freddie Roach, said it was a good showing by his fighter.

"I was really happy with Frankie," Roach said. "He got some rounds in, which he needed, and he fought a smart fight."

Lane (13-3, eight KOs) tried to be cautious as well as aggressive, and the game plan didn't work. What few punches he landed, he took four or five in return.

"I was a little frustrated that the ref (Jay Nady) didn't call some of the holding," Lane said. "He's a good fighter, but he wasn't that strong. I was off tonight."

Perhaps the most impressive part of Gomez's performance was how strong he finished, even though he had never fought that many rounds. He still had plenty of steam behind his punches in the ninth and 10th rounds and had Lane reeling with a flurry in the final round.

"I trained to go 12 (rounds)," Gomez said. "I felt great."

And even though he saw his knockout streak end at three, Gomez had nothing to be disappointed about.

"I tried to save some energy for the late rounds," Gomez said. "I was expecting him to come after me toward the end, but he really didn't."

In the co-feature, Las Vegas lightweight Mickey Bey Jr. didn't show much rust from nearly 15 months away from the ring, scoring an impressive third-round knockout of Robert Rodriguez.

Bey, who last fought Nov. 19, 2011, was supposed to fight Aug. 3 at Texas Station. But he walked out on his fight after it was taken off ESPN and moved up early in the card.

There were no such issues Saturday. He came out winging, landing effective right hands behind his left jab and backing Rodriguez up. By the third round, he was in control, and he decked Rodriguez with an overhand left early on.

Rodriguez (7-3) beat the count. But as soon as the action resumed, Bey landed an identical punch. This time, Rodriguez stayed down, and referee Kenny Bayless ended the fight at 1:07.

"It felt great to be back in the ring," said Bey, who improved to 19-0-1 (10 KOs). "Usually, I'm taking fights at the last minute. But this time I had a real chance to prepare, and I was ready. I stayed in the gym the entire time I was off, so I didn't think there'd be any ring rust."

Las Vegas' Badou Jack improved to 12-0 with a first-round knockout of Jonuel Tapia in their eight-round super middleweight bout. Jack landed a hard liver shot early in the fight, then dropped Tapia with a right to the body as he was counted out at 1:47 by referee Robert Byrd.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter @stevecarprj.