Sometimes important victories aren’t pretty.
That was the case on Saturday for Chris Colbert, who was frustrated much of his fight against slick, yet reluctant Jezreel Corrales but emerged with a unanimous-decision victory on the Julian Williams-Jeison Rosario card Saturday in Philadelphia.
With the victory, Colbert claimed the “interim” WBA junior lightweight title. Leo Santa Cruz is the actual WBA 130-pound champion.
Colbert (14-0, 5 KOs) was the aggressor throughout the fight Saturday but Corrales, an excellent boxer, did everything possible to avoid engagement – run, hold (excessively) and only occasionally throw counter punches.
As a result, Colbert had to work hard for every punch he was able to land. And he landed more than enough to win the fight.
Corrales (23-4, 9 KOs) came out of his defensive posture at times during the fight, which allowed him to land some clean punches and win a few rounds, but not enough to seriously challenge Colbert.
To his credit, Colbert never stopped charging forward. And his persistence paid off most in the 10th round, when a short left-right combination put Corrales down.
He also wobbled Corrales in Round 11 and, a few seconds before the end the round, he tossed the Panamanian through the ropes and out of the ring.
The final scores were 116-111, 117-110, 117-110.
“Corrales is a great fighter,” Colbert said. “… He’s very awkward, he’s slick, he’s fast. I was kind of hard to catch him because he was running.”
Was it a great performance by Colbert? No. At the same time, Colbert worked with what Corrales gave him, which wasn’t much. And he had his hand raised.
Colbert said he would like to fight Santa Cruz for the title but, if it doesn’t happen, he’ll be patient. He’s only 23 years old.
“I’m not ducking nobody,” he said. “I’m not dodging nobody. I’m here to stay.”
Also on the card, in a six-round junior middleweight bout, 19-year-old prospect Joey Spencer (10-0, 7 KOs) defeated Erik Spring (13-4-2, 1 KO) by a shutout decision.