Mexican World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza appears fully intent on remaining a world champion for a while yet as he stormed to a dominant 4th round technical knockout (TKO) victory over fellow Mexican Sergio Chirino Sanchez. The two headlined a Top Rank card at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday, June 21st.
Rafael Espinoza (25-0, 21 KO’s) had won the WBO featherweight (126 lbs) title last December after beating the previous holder of the title, Cuban fighter Robeisy Ramirez (13-2, 8 KO’s), by majority decision (MD) in an upset win.
Matched against Sergio Chirino Sanchez (22-2, 13 KO’s), who had remained unbeaten since his first career loss in 2018, Espinoza still went into the match as a favorite given his last performance against Ramirez, and the Mexican champion arguably exceeded expectations when he oversaw a 4-round beatdown over Sanchez.
The match started off on the wrong foot for Sanchez as minutes into the first round he threw a right hook that narrowly missed Espinoza who threw a right uppercut of his own. Left completely open, Sanchez couldn’t prevent himself from getting knocked down; starting the beginning of what would become a domineering match for Espinoza.
The rest of the rounds saw Espinoza make use of his height [6’1 ft as opposed to Sanchez’ 5’9 ft] and reach advantage, remaining active with jabs and crosses that Sanchez struggled to defend against. Combined with the fact Sanchez also failed to counter Espinoza’s longer reach in particular and did not appear to have the footwork to close the distance, a second knockdown followed in the 3rd round when a slew of combinations―that ended in a body shot―from Espinoza forced Sanchez to briefly fall on his knees.
The 4th round proved to be even more dominant, with Espinoza’s punches appearing sharper as he waded forward in an attempt to stop Sanchez. Proving unable to deal with the constant onslaught of blows, Sanchez was eventually knocked down for the third time of the match, forcing the referee to stop the match and allowing Espinoza to be ruled the winner by TKO in the 4th round.
With Rafael Espinoza having completed his first successful title defense, he has now emerged suddenly as one of the candidates, which includes the rest of the champions in the division, to be considered the best in the division. However, plenty of challenges still await the Mexican champion to prove this notion; most prominently through unifications with the other available champions.
For now, prime candidates for potential unifications appear to be Mexican IBF 126 lbs champion Luis Alberto Lopez (30-2, 17 KO’s) and British WBA champion Nick Ball (20-0-1, 11 KO’s). Like Espinoza, Lopez is attached to Top Rank, making a fight between them more feasible, while the British champion is promoted by Queensberry Promotions who itself is also associated to Top Rank. However, it still remains to be seen whether Espinoza will launch genuine attempts to unify against the aforementioned champions.
The most notable match prior to the main event between Rafael Espinoza and Sergio Sanchez was undoubtedly the co-main event which featured a super featherweight (130 lbs) title match for the [vacant] WBO NABO (North American Boxing Organization) title between American contenders Andres Cortes (22-0, 12 KO’s) and Abraham Nova (23-3, 16 KO’s).
The fight was close, with both Cortes and Nova having their moments during the match, but it was Cortes who landed the more significant punches, eventually leading to a unanimous decision (UD) in his favor with scorecards of 96-94 and 97-93 twice.
While Abraham Nova was not considered a top 10 contender at the time of the bout due to previously suffering a loss to WBC 130 lbs champion O’Shaquie Foster (22-2, 12 KO’s), Cortes’ victory helped establish him as a genuine contender in his own right; perhaps leaving Cortes as the more likely contender to face Foster or any of the other 130 lbs champions depending on whether Foster makes it past Brazilian contender Robson Conceicao (18-2-1, 9 KO’s) who he will fight on July 6th.
