Ringside Report: Trailing on the Cards, Machado Torpedos Corrales

VERONA, NY –This was a weekend Jezreel Corrales (22-2, 8 KO’s) will probably want to forget. First, he lost his 130 pound belt on the scales the day before squaring off against Alberto Machado (19-0, 16 KO’s) in Verona, NY. Then Corrales, after knocking down Machado and building a lead on the cards, would suffer a surprising knockout loss in round eight that derailed any momentum he had recently built in his career.

Machado came in with the reputation of a puncher. In the early stages of the fight though, it was Corrales who seemed to be the bigger puncher. Time and time again, Corrales found a home for hard left hands that seemed to get the attention of Machado. The speed and awkwardness of Corrales also seemed to befuddle Machado.

In round five, a big overhand left from Corrales hurt Machado. A couple follow up lefts from Corrales put Machado on the canvas. At this point, Corrales was in complete control of the bout and had built a nice lead on all the scorecards.

However, round six saw a shift in momentum. Machado hurt Corrales badly with a counter right hook. Corrales was desperately holding onto Machado after getting hurt and even wrestled him down to the canvas at one point. Though no official knockdown was scored, Machado unquestionably grew in confidence knowing he could crack the chin of Corrales.

Corrales came back though with a strong seventh and even wobbled Machado with a left. Entering the eighth round he was ahead by four points on two of the scorecards and by two points on the other. But Machado, undeterred, came out in a more aggressive posture in the eighth and with one perfectly timed left hand sent Corrales face first to the canvas. Corrales would rise to his feet just beating the ten count but the fight was wisely waived off by referee Mark Nelson as Corrales was in no shape to continue.

The win puts Machado in line for several big possibilities at what is quickly becoming a very deep 130-pound division. He certainly could face Francisco Vargas (23-1-2, 17 KO’s) next in what would be a classic Puerto Rico versus Mexico match. Keeping with the Puerto Rico versus Mexico theme, Machado could also face the winner of the proposed bout between Miguel Berchelt (32-1, 28 KO’s) and Orlando Salido (44-13-4, 31 KO’s) in what would be a big unification fight. Machado is now sitting in a very enviable position with his big win on Saturday.

ANDRADE

In the co-feature, Demetrius Andrade (25-0, 16 KO’s) scored a wide unanimous decision win against Alantez Fox (23-1-1, 11 KO’s) in a middleweight tilt. Andrade came in looking to put on a performance that would create demand for bigger fights. Well, that will have to wait for next time as he had to settle for a workmanlike win against a slick defensively minded opponent.

In the opening moments of the fight, Andrade hurt Fox with a left hand. Andrade was a bit wild in his attempt to finish Fox in the moments that followed and Fox survived the round. After being hurt, Fox seemed a bit gun shy during the next couple rounds. Andrade controlled what little action there was with his right jab coming from the southpaw stance that was often followed by a left to either the head or body of Fox.

The seventh round saw some controversy as Fox would be credited with a knockdown that actually appeared to have been more of a slip by Andrade. Possibly inspired by the knockdown that was called, Fox started the eighth much more aggressive and had his moments landing some quick straight right hands. But Andrade righted the ship in the ninth and coasted the last four rounds easily outworking Fox in those stanzas to take any question out about the outcome of the contest.

OTHER BOUTS

In a bizarre fight, Lamont Roach Jr. (15-0, 6 KO’s) scored a first round TKO win against Luis Hinojosa (30-13, 17 KO’s) in a fight contested in the lightweight division. In the middle of an uneventful first round, Hinojosa appeared to twist his ankle with the two fighters apart and went down in obvious pain. He was unable to continue resulting in the TKO win for Roach.

D’Mitrius Ballard (18-0, 12 KO’s) scored a ten round unanimous against Jaime Solorio (11-3, 8 KO’s) in a light heavyweight contest. Ballard was in control throughout but Solorio came to win and made this a fairly entertaining, albeit one sided affair.

Alex Rincon (3-0, 3 KO’s) stopped Steven Andrade (3-3, 2 KO’s) in the second round of their middleweight bout. A straight left to the head, which was set up by a vicious body attack, put Andrade down in round two and the follow up attack from Rincon forced the referee to stop the fight.

Golden Boy prospect Luis Feliciano (4-0, 1 KO) scored his first professional knockout victory with a second round stoppage of Istvan Dernanecz (10-7, 7 KO’s) in a super lightweight contest. Feliciano battered Dernanecz throughout and scored a knockdown in round two with an overhand right. The follow up barrage from Feliciano forced the stoppage.

Decorated former US amateur star Ruben Villa (9-0, 4 KO’s) scored a lopsided six round unanimous decision against veteran German Meraz (58-45-1, 35 KO’s) in a super featherweight contest. Villa put forth a workmanlike effort against Meraz who was in survival mode from the opening bell.

In the opening bout of the evening, undefeated lightweight prospect Michael Dutchover (7-0, 5 KO’s) scored a TKO victory against the tough Anthony De Jesus Ruiz (2-4, 2 KO’s) when the corner of De Jesus Ruiz asked that the contest be stopped in the middle of round four. It was a dominant performance by Dutchover who showed good combination punching along with a consistent body attack to control the fight.

Photo credit: Matt Heasley / Hoganphotos/GBP

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