Undefeated WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs) made it look easy in a voluntary defense of his title by obliterating Sergio Chirino (22-2, 13 KOs) by a fourth-round knockout on Friday night at the BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
The tall, stork-like Espinoza caught an overly aggressive Chirino with a short left uppercut in round one to knock him down.
In round three, Espinoza, 30, caught Chirino with a right-hand body shot that put him down late in the round.
The final knockdown came in the fourth when Espinoza caught Chirino with a series of uppercuts that put him down. The referee then stopped the fight at 2:45 of the fourth.
Espinoza’s pressure, high work rate, uppercuts, and body shots proved to be too much for Chirino.
More than anything, I think the uppercuts were too much for Chirino because he left himself open for them by loading up on long right-hand power shots. However, even the other punches that Espinoza was throwing gave Chirino huge problems throughout the short four-round contest.
Espinoza expressed interest in fighting a rematch against Robeisy Ramirez in the post-fight interview.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, Robeisy, had lost his WBO 126-lb title to Espinoza last December by a 12-round majority decision in a competitive fight. Robeisy had Espinoza down in the fight in the fifth but could not put him away.
Andres Cortes Defeats Abraham Nova
In the chief support bout, hometown fighter, super featherweight Andres Cortes (22-0, 12 KOs) won a disturbingly controversial ten-round unanimous decision against Abraham Nova (23-3, 16 KOs).
The fight was a textbook example of a total robbery, as Nova dominated an out-of-shape-looking Cortes, appearing to win the last seven rounds after getting off to a poor start in the first three rounds.
Nova pressured Cortes nonstop from the fourth round on, throwing twice as many punches than him and forcing him to hold due to the fast pace. The scores were 97-93, 97-93, 96-94. I had it 7-3 for Nova.
Cortes threw a lot of rabbit punches throughout the fight without the referee warning or deducting points It’s unclear how the ref didn’t take notice of the rabbit shots because they were incessant and a big part of Cortes’ game on the inside.
“I started a bit slow. But then I got my rhythm. I went in there, and I did what I had to do. He hit me a lot behind the head,” said Nova after the fight.
Troy Isley Beats Javier Martinez
Middleweight Troy Isley (13-0, 5 KOs) beat Javier Martinez (10-1-1, 3 KOs) by a 10-rounder in a contest filled with low blows by both guys. Both landed frequent shots below the belt, making referee Tony Weeks earn his pay tonight. Martinez lost a point in the seventh, and Isley was docked a point in round nine.
The scores were 97-91, 97-91, 96-92. Neither fighter looked particularly impressive, but Isley was a little less bad.
Floyd Diaz Beats Francisco Pedroza
Undefeated bantamweight Floyd “Cash Flow” Diaz (12-0, 3 KOs) had a surprisingly tough fight against journeyman Francisco Pedroza (18-12-2, 10 KOs), needing to battle hard to beat him by an eight-round unanimous decision. The scores were 78-73 3, 78-73 and 78-73. Both fighters were hurt in the contest.
