Cayman Islands Charles (the Killa) Whittaker lost his big fight against Gabriel Rosado on Friday (21) at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, when the fight was stopped in the 10^th round after Whittaker had down on the canvas three times during the fight.

Rosado (21-5, 13 KO) started a bit slow in the first round, and that looked the only round that went to Whittaker (38-13-2, 23 KO).  Whittaker’s jab was dominant in that round and Rosado was having difficulty in finding a way around it.

However, during the second round, Rosado started to come on strong, and was able to figure out how to sidestep the Whittaker’s jab and it soon became clear he was the stronger of the two boxers.

The much younger man, who is 26 years old to Whittaker’s 38, first dropped Whittaker in the fifth round, but as he rushed in trying to close the show with the clock running down, Whittaker cracked him with a left hook that shook Rosado badly, and affected him into the next round.

After Rosado got his legs back, it became mostly one-way action. He knocked Whittaker down again in 6^th but the veteran boxer was very game and fought back. The pace Rosado set favoured his younger body, and he was able to pressure Whittaker to the ropes consistently. When the fight got into close quarters, it was all Rosado.

When it got to the 10^th, Whittaker looked tired, and went down for the third time after being staggered by a vicious hook to the head, almost from the start. A minute later it was all over when referee Steve Smoger was forced to stop the fight for the technical knockout.

With the win, Rosado became the mandatory No. 1 contender for Cornelius Bundrage’s IBF light-middleweight title.

Rosado has now won seven straight fights and hasn’t lost since September 2010.

This was Whittaker’s first loss since 2004, as he stretched to 14 straight wins.

What Whittaker will do now remains to be seen. At 38 it is a time when most boxers think about hanging up their gloves. Whittaker never got the breaks he deserved. Friday’s fight was televised live on NBC’s Sports Network and I cannot remember seeing him box live on any other US television station. I have seen many, many lesser talented boxers than Whittaker and one of the NBC commentator’s said “Whittaker slipped under the radar.”

Whittaker did not disgrace himself by any means and whilst he is not in the top echelon of the junior/light middleweight division now he could have been.