In one of the poorer ESPN2 cards, undefeated featherweight contender Javier Fortuna (22-0-1, 16 KO’s) slapped and clinched his way to a 10 round draw against Luis Franco (11-1-1, 7 KO’s) on Friday night at the Buffalo Run Casino, in Miami, Oklahoma, USA. The southpaw Franco showed good speed and decent power, but he so wild, sloppy and wide on defense that he took away from the two things he had going for him. The judges scored it 99-91 for Franco, 96-94 for Fortuna and 95-95 even.
The fight definitely looked like a draw. Franco could have easily won had he let his hands go a little more instead of waiting on Fortuna. The times that Franco did take the fight to Fortuna, he did well and seemed to overpower him. Fortuna looked vulnerable in close and he would leave himself wide open each time he’d come forward looking to throw looping shots.
All Franco needed to do was throw right hands and he would have had Fortuna, but he looked like he couldn’t pull the trigger. At 31, Franco fought like he was just there to survive for 10 rounds instead of to try and win.
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Former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (34-5-2, 28 KO’s) beat Jonathan Batista (14-2, 7 KO’s) by a 10 round unanimous decision by the judges scores of 99-88, 98-89 and 98-89. Cintron should have been able to dominate this fight, but he ended up making it a lot tougher than it should have been by failing to fight aggressively.
Cintron got credit for a knockdown in the 8th round when Batista tripped and Cintron hit while he on his way down to the canvas. Don’t know how the referee could have missed that one, because Batsista clearly tripped.
In the 10th, the referee took a couple points away from Batista for hitting on the break and throwing a rabbit punch. Cintron hardly needed the extra points, as he had the fight in the bag by then.
It’s difficult to see where Cintron can go. He doesn’t seem to be getting any better, and I can’t see him beating anyone good at 147 or 154.