A week ago, Angel Fierro was an unknown Mexican fighter. Now he’s a player in the lightweight division.
Fierro, who agreed to face lightweight contender Alberto Machado on less than two weeks notice, survived knockdowns in each of the first two rounds to stop Machado in Round 6 on Thursday at Albergue Olimpico in Salinas, Puerto Rico.
And the resident of Tijuana has his daughter to thank for it.
“He dropped me twice early on in the fight,” Fierro said through a translator. “I told my corner, ‘Remind me of my daughter because with this fight, I can change her life.’ And that’s exactly what they did after the third round.
“My daughter motivated me. … I said at the fighter meetings that I didn’t come to Puerto Rico to be a tourist. I came to win. And that’s exactly what I did.”
Machado is ranked by two of the four major sanctioning bodies even though he was 1-2 going in his previous three fights, both losses coming by knockout against Andrew Cancio in 2019.
And the 30-year-old southpaw once again proved to be vulnerable on Thursday night in his home country, although things certainly didn’t start that way.
Machado, boxing behind his jab, put Fierro (18-1-1, 14 KOs) down with a right hook about midway through Round 1. The Mexican, who is trained by Hall of Famer Erik Morales, wasn’t hurt but Machado got his attention. Then, with seconds remaining in Round 2, Fierro went down again from a harder right hook.
Machado (22-3, 18 KOs) continued to do good work in Round 3, particularly with body shots that seemed to hurt Fierro.
At that point, with his daughter in mind, Fierro decided enough was enough. He suddenly attacked Machado with abandon and began to turn the fight around, outworking the favored fighter from then on.
The end came in an instant. Fierro punctuated a wild flurry of punches with a left hook that caught Machado on the chin and put him on his back, under the lowest rope. That’s where Machado lay when the count reached 10.
The official time was 47 seconds of Round 6.
Fierro, who started jumping up and down before the count was complete, gave out a yell when it was clear he had won the scheduled 10-round bout.
“I’m ecstatic I could face a fighter of his caliber and come out victorious,” Fierro said.
Fierro, 22, had taken part in only one scheduled 10-round fight going into Thursday. He could have some 12-rounders in his near future.
