By Raffaele Fratto
Andres Cortes built a big lead early and held off former WBC featherweight champ Mark Magsayo in the opening bout of the main card of Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn.
Magsayo and Cortes wasted little time getting acquainted, trading hooks from the opening bell. Action picked up after a slip in the second; when Magsayo rose, he landed his cleanest shots of the fight to close the round.
Magsayo hit the canvas again later in a sequence that looked like a slip, but a body shot landed as he collapsed and the referee issued an eight-count. He found a home for his uppercut in the fourth, then went to a knee after a clinch. The “knockdown” was over-ruled by the commission after video replay.
Magsayo came out with urgency in the fifth, timing Cortes on the way in with awkward shots. Cortes still landed the cleaner punches more often and kept the edge. The sixth belonged to Cortes: he boxed from the outside to control the pace, and his strength inside seemed to discourage Magsayo most.
The seventh started with Magsayo on the canvas again in another slip, then another as both men tired — Cortes the fresher of the two. The eighth was more of the same: Cortes on cruise control, Magsayo finding the canvas once more.
Magsayo landed a crisp four-punch combination late for his best moment, but the fight went the full 10. All three judges scored it 97-93 for Andres Cortes by unanimous decision. Cortes remains undefeated at 26-0, 13 KOs while former champ Magsayo falls to 29-3, 19 KOs.
