WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) made it look easy, stopping an overmatched #2 Sergio Chirino (22-2, 13 KOs) by a fourth-round knockout on Friday night in the main event at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
The 6’1″ Espinoza dropped Chirino three times in the contest, knocking him down in rounds one, three, and four. In the fourth round, Espinoza nailed Chirino with uppercuts, causing him to bend over in a defenseless manner.
The referee then checked him out and chose to wave it off. The time of the stoppage was at 2:45 of round four.
After the fight, Espinoza said in the post-fight interview that he was interested in giving a rematch to former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez, who was in the crowd and fights next week.
Undercard results
– In the co-feature, unbeaten super featherweight Andres Cortes (22-0, 12 KOs) won a controversial 10-round unanimous decision over Abraham Nova (23-3, 16 KOs).
The highly controversial decision tarnished a good card, as Cortes lost the fight in the true sense, but was gift by the Nevada judges by an embarrassing set of scores.
The scores were 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94. Boxing News 24 had Nova winning 98-92. Cortes had come in overweight at the weigh-in, and he had very little in the gas tank after the third round.
Nova outworked the sluggish and heavy-looking Cortes from the fourth round, throwing twice as many punches as him. In the first three rounds, the shorter fighter Cortes crowded Nova, hitting him with uppercuts and rabbit punches.
Nova was allowing Cortes to get inside on him and maul against the ropes. From the fourth round, Nova began pressuring the chubby-looking Cortes, outworking him by a wide margin, forcing him to hold frequently.
Cortes needs a lot of work if he’s going to pan out, as he can’t depend on getting controversial decisions like this when he gets to the title fights. From this performance.
The 26-year-old Cortes doesn’t look like championship material. If he continues to have weight problems, he might need to move up to lightweight. He was overweight at Thursday’s weigh-in and looked flabby tonight.
– Middleweight contender Troy Isley (13-0, 5 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten southpaw Javier Martinez (10-1-1, 3 KOs) by a ten-round unanimous decision to win the NABO belt. The scores were 97-91, 97-91 and 96-92.
The 2020 U.S Olympian Isley, 25, landed the cleaner and harder shots against Martinez. However, it was hardly an impressive performance from Isley, who was hit a lot, an showed very little power in the fight.
Both fighters were hitting low all night long, making referee Tony Weeks’ job a lot harder than it should have been. In the seventh, Martinez was penalized a point for a low blow. Isley had a point deducted in the ninth for his own low blow.
Martinez was hurt by a body shot in the ninth round, but came back to get the better of a defensive Isley in the tenth.
– Unbeaten bantamweight prospect Floyd ‘Cashflow’ Diaz (12-0, 3 KOs) won a grueling eight-round unanimous decision over veteran Francisco Pedroza (18-12-2, 10 KOs). The scores were 78-73, 78-73 and 78-73. Pedroza was penalized a point in the sixth round for hitting on the break.
Pedroza was on the move for the first four rounds, rarely stopping to throw shots. Starring in the fifth, Pedroza attacked, nailing the weaker-punching DIaz with hard combinations and hurting.
Diaz came back and dominated the seventh and eighth rounds with body punching, hurting Pedroza in both of those rounds.
The tall 6’1″ Espinoza (24-0, 20 KOs) surprised many people last year when he upset WBO 126-lb champion Robeisy Ramirez, beating him by a 12-round majority decision on December 9th at Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Espinoza got off the deck in the fifth to come back to dominate the remaining rounds with activity and dropped Robeisy in the 12th round to seal the victory. Before that win, Espinoza was an unknown in the eyes of fans, but he surprised the two-time Olympic gold medalist.
The eight-year professional Chirino Sanchez (22-1, 13 KO) has been mostly little-known opposition himself during his career, but somehow, he’s reason to be #2 in the World Boxing Organization’s rankings without a victory over anyone notable.
Other fights on tonight’s card:
– Unbeaten super featherweight Andres Cortes (21-0, 12 KOs) battles the tough slugger Abraham Nova (23-2, 16 KO) in a 10-round contest for the vacant NABO title. Nova, 30, is coming off a loss earlier this year to O’Shaquie Foster and is in a must-win situation.
– Middleweight prospect Troy Isley (12-0, 5 KO) fights Javier Martinez (10-0-1, 3 KO) in a ten-round bout for the NABO belt. Isley, 25, has punching power, but he gets hit a lot and hasn’t always looked the greatest. It’s unclear whether he will go far in the sport unless he makes major improvements.
– Bantamweight Floyd Diaz (11-0, 3 KOs) faces veteran Francisco Pedroza (18-11-2, 10 KOs) in an eight-round contest.
Rafael Espinoza will have his newly won WBO featherweight title on the line tonight in his first defense against Sergio Chirino in the main event on ESPN+ at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
