In a battle of undefeateds, Venezuelan Angelino Cordova tangled…literally… with Puerto Rico’s Yankiel Rivera for the vacant interim WBA flyweight title. It became evident in the opening moments that their undefeated records were the only thing in common between these two fighters.
Cordova’s style was so uncomfortable to watch, one had to wonder how he was undefeated, let alone in a “title” fight. He lunged wildly, threw off the wrong foot and missed punches by a mile. For perspective, only five of Cordova’s twenty opponents had winning records, with eleven having no wins at all!
In the fourth round, an accidental clash of heads opened a nasty cut in the left eyelid of Rivera. Incensed, Rivera decided to try and end things legitimately, rocking Cordova who clinched so relentlessly, that both fighters fell to the canvas. Another tackle followed. Finally, a hard left followed by a shove, caused Cordova to take another trip to the canvas, this one ruled a knockdown by referee Luis Pabon.
Round six saw referee Luis Pabon take a point from Cordova for punching the back of the ducking Rivera’s head. Round eight saw a lunging Cordova smash his forehead straight into the nose of Rivera which immediately began pouring blood, prompting another visit from the ringside physician.
In the latter portion of the eighth round, referee Pabon called time to admonish the corner of Cordova who were complaining that their man was being fouled by Rivera!
The tenth round was possibly one of the cleanest in the entire fight, based shearly on the lack of warnings from the referee! Incredibly, Cordova landed a barrage of, dare I say it, clean shots to the head, wobbling Rivera late in the eleventh.
The fight ended as recklessly foul-filled as it began, with another trip to the canvas, not ruled a knock down, headbutts, clinches and more. Somehow the judges were able to come up with a score: 115-111 for Cordova and 113-113 twice, for a majority draw! Normally in a case like this, a rematch would be ordered to settle the vacant title. Not sure if anyone wants to see again this though!
In a candidate for fight of the year, WBA interim super welterweight champion Yoenis Telles took on European champion Abass Baraou in the co-main event.
The southpaw Telles took a clinical approach against the determined and durable Baraou, choosing to counter and move against the forward moving German-born Togolese.
Baraou had a nice third round, pinning Telles In the corner, pounding away. He then landed two nice uppercuts to close out the round. Round four saw phone booth warfare as Baraou once again pressed and seemed to outwork Telles.
Round six turned into a fire fight, with Baraou relentlessly turning up the heat keeping Telles on the ropes and ripping combinations to the head and body. Telles finish the round marked and bleeding from his right eye.
The seventh round was more of the same and Telles tried to steal it at the 10-second warning with a flurry, but Baraou matched him punch for punch, unbowed.
Rarely does a fight get better and better the longer it goes, but this this was one such case. Telles boxed neatly in the first half of round eight, but then, Baraou kicked it into high gear and in the last ten seconds, rocked Telles with several vicious head shots just before the bell.
The pattern was repeated again ninth, Telles getting nailed with head snapping shots to end the round. Telles drew from somewhere deep to rally and seemingly win the tenth on sheer volume, despite Baraou landing the harder, if not fewer shots.
Telles perhaps barely won the eleventh by being just a tad busier as both fighters were clearly spent at this point. In the final round Baraou, finally put it all together with a double-digit punch flurry, flooring Telles in the Baraou corner with fifteen seconds left! That was the 214th and final punch landed for Baraou and in the fight.
The judges saw it 116-111, 115-112 and 117-110, for the NEW champ- Abass Baraou! He improves to 17-1, 9 KOs, while Telles loses his first at 10-1, 7 KOs. Telles looked like his face went through a meat grinder, while Baraou was unmarked.
Depending on what Terence Crawford decides to do, win, lose or draw against Canelo, Baraou could very well wind up the full WBA champion. WBO champ Xander Zayas congratulated Baraou in the ring afterward, both men doing perhaps a preliminary face-off for their next fight?
WBA female lightweight champion Stephanie Han made her first defense against Colombia’s Paulina Angel. In shocking fashion, Han found herself on the canvas only 23 seconds into the first round, courtesy of an Angel right to the jaw.
Han was unfazed by the knockdown and regained control in rounds two and three. An accidental clash of heads in the fourth opened a bad cut about an inch above Han’s left eyebrow. However, the blood flowed down the left side of Han’s face, not affecting her vision.
Although Angel was the aggressor for much of the fight, it appeared the aggression was ineffective as she was not throwing nor landing as much as Han. For her part, Han falls into the category of “vocal puncher,” yelling “Ha!” with each blow she threw, perhaps incentivizing the judges to score in her favor.
Round nine became a clinch-fest as every aggression from either fighter wound up with the fighters needing to be separated. This was understandable as both ladies expended a ton of energy throughout the fight.
Angel seemed to have her best round since the first, in the tenth and final round. All three judges agreed, seeing the fight 98-91 in favor of Han, who moves to 11-0, 3 KOs. Angel has no cause to hang her head, dropping to 7-2, 3 KOs.
In a WBA lightweight title eliminator, Niagara Falls, Canada’s “Prince” Lucas Bahdi and Maracaibo, Venezuela’s Roger Gutierrez faced off in the scheduled 12-rounder.
The first two rounds were a lackluster chess match, with Bahdi perhaps doing just enough to edge both. In rounds three through through most of the sixth, Gutierrez seemed reborn, using his reach and showing some initiative.
Gutierrez kept Bahdi at the end of the jab and likely taking those rounds until near the end of the sixth. Bahdi walked Gutierrez into a thunderous right hand, dropping him. The Bell saved Gutierrez, who was in bad trouble.
Bahdi failed to capitalize in the seventh, and allowed Gutierrez to gradually crawl back into the fight, with rounds seven through ten falling back into the pedestrian pattern again. Gutierrez appeared to control the eleventh with bursts of speed and combinations.
The most significant moment of the twelfth and final round was when Bahdi badly missed were the wild looping right, prompting Gutierrez to mock him by flailing both of his own hands like a blind novice. Both men finished with a mouse around their left eyes, courtesy of each other’s right hands.
The final scores were: 116-111, 117-110, 115-112, for Bahdi, now 20-0, 15 KOs. Gutierrez plummets to 29-7-1, 22 KOs.
Light heavyweights Chris Avila and Ariel Perez opened the main event portion of the MVP Fight Night in Orlando. The crafty Avila, made Perez work hard over the entire six rounds.
Perez had things going his way for the first four rounds, via his work rate coming forward throughout. In the fifth however, Avila landed three consecutive overhand rights to the head of Perez, definitely getting his attention.
Despite both fighters coming in with seven fights, each on their dockets, Avila seemed to be craftier and more experienced survival and befuddling his foe, while Perez seemed determined to be the aggressor over the long haul.
The scores were 58-56 twice and 59-55, all for the “Golden Hulk,” Ariel Perez, who moves to 8-0, 4 KOs, while Avila falls to 6-2.
