By Thomas Gerbasi

Madison Square Garden, New York City - In the final bout before the pay-per-view broadcast, Gennady Golovkin stablemate Ruslan Madiyev sailed to an easy four-round unanimous decision over Sean Gee in welterweight action.

After a close first round, Madiyev scored a knockdown in the second and began lowering the boom with thudding hooks in round three. At the very least, Chicago’s Gee had a sturdy chin and was willing to fight, marching forward after Madiyev even though he had little in the way of firepower to threaten the Karaganda native, who easily took the unanimous nod via scores of 40-35 (twice) and 39-36.

Madiyev moves to 6-0 (3 KOs) with the win; Gee dips under the .500 mark to 2-3.

Lightweight prospect Lamont Roach Jr. got some solid rounds out of Mexico’s Jose Bustos, but the up and comer was never threatened as he kept his unbeaten record intact via six-round unanimous decision.

Scores were 59-55 across the board.

Roach had little trouble missing Bustos in the opening round, but to the Juarez native’s credit, he took everything and kept moving forward and was in the fight by the second stanza. The aggressive Bustos continued to press Roach in the third, the DC product not getting rattled by anything though, as he potshotted Bustos and avoided much of his incoming fire.

The unbeaten Roach began to pull away in the fourth, and he did it by staying in the pocket and fighting Bustos’ game at close range. The fifth was one-sided, as Bustos finally began backing up under Roach’s assault, and Roach nearly ended matters in the sixth with a barrage of flush shots, only to see the Mexican recover and hear the final bell.

With the win, Roach moves to 9-0 with 3 KOs; Bustos falls to 7-6-3 with 4 KOs.

Junior welterweights Maurice Hooker and Ghislain Maduma put on quite the opener at Madison Square Garden to kick off the Golovkin vs. Lemieux show, engaging in an ultra-competitive 10-rounder, with Hooker emerging victorious with a 10-round split decision that allowed him to keep his NABO title.

Scores were 95-93, 95-94 and 93-95 for Dallas’ Hooker, now 19-0-2 with 14 KOs; Montreal’s Maduma falls to 17-2 with 11 KOs.

Both fighters battled at a measured pace in the opening frame, but it was Hooker’s clean 1-2s that rattled Maduma on a couple occasions. Maduma was still having difficulty with his foe’s rangy style in the second, but he began getting closer thanks to some stiff shots to the body, and he opened the third with some power shots downstairs and up, but wasn’t getting the Texan’s attention for any extended length of time.

That changed in the fourth, as Maduma’s thudding blows forced Hooker to tighten up his defense as the Montrealers in the crowd roared, but Hooker got back on top in a big way with a little over 90 seconds left as he sent Maduma to the deck for a quick count. Maduma recovered well though, and he was slugging with his foe by the time the round ended.

The pace dipped a bit in the fifth, both settling into a predictable groove, with Maduma stalking and Hooker using his jabs to keep his opponent at bay.

In the sixth, Maduma made his charge, rocking Hooker with a minute left and nearly stopping him with a series of right hands. Hooker refused to clinch with his foe, instead opting to spit out his mouthpiece with 20 seconds left before holding. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the clock but didn’t penalize Hooker, who was able to make it to the bell.

Hooker took the seventh off as he tried to clear his head, allowing Maduma to take the frame behind his now effective aggression, but in the final three frames, it was a highly-competitive chess match again, as Hooker re-established his jab while Maduma still looped enough right hands over the top of it to keep the Texan from running away with the rounds.