Undercard Results for Cotto vs. Ali at at The Garden: Acosta, Rios, Vargas Victorious
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 03 Dec 2017
New York -- Madison Square Garden, The Mecca of Boxing, hosts the final appearance in the ring of one of New York?s favorite fighter - Miguel Cotto.
Cotto, 37 will fight the 47th fight of his legendary career against Sadam Ali of Brooklyn, New York in defense of his WBO Junior Middleweight title in the city that has adopted him as their own.
Here are the results of the undercard bouts prior to the main battle.
OCHOA TOPS MARTINEZ
In the first bout of the night, unbeaten welterweight Zachary Ochoa (17-1, 17 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York won a lopsided 6 round Unanimous Decision over Erick Martinez ((14-9, 8 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico.
Ochoa dominated all 6 rounds with effective jabbing followed by multiple combinations - topped with an exclamatory right hook to earn a perfect tally of 60-54 in all three judges at ringside.
This is Ochoa?s third fight this year of which he was 2-1. After the win , he stated that he would want to have a busier 2018 in the ring.
?I was shaking off a lot of dust since I haven?t been able to fight consistently, but this proves to me that I?m still worthy of the sport. I still have work to do, but when I was able to land my shots I was able to connect them crisp and effectively. I hope that I?ll be able to fight a lot more this year.?
RIOS SURPASSES DEIVIS
Ronny Rios (28-2, 13 KOs) of Santa Ana, California scored a 10 round Unanimous Decision victory against Deivis Julio (19-3, 11 KOs) of Monterio, Colombia.
Rios, a losing challenger to the WBC super bantamweight belt held by Rey Vargas last August bounced back from that loss by fighting aggressively against the fighter from Colombia who despite his agility, presented Rios zero risk in the course of their fight.
Scores were, 99-91, 97-93 and a perfect 100-90.
?I?m just glad to get back in my groove.? Rios said after the much needed win.
Incidentally, his former foe Vargas fights in the co-main event in defense of the above-mentioned title.
ACOSTA KOs ALEJO TO WIN INTERIM WBO 108 TITLE
Angel Acosta (16-1, 16 KOs) of San Juan, Puerto Rico won the interim World Boxing Organization Junior Flyweight title by stopping Juan Alejo (25-4-1, 15 KOs) of Nuevo Le?n, Mexico in the 10th round of their interim title match.
Acosta unleashed a hard two-hook combo from both of his fists to stun and halt Alejo who never got up from the twin hits as Referee Benjy Esteves reached the count of 10 at the 1:33 mark of the 10th round.
Acosta, an unbeaten knockout artist before his UD defeat to WBO Junior Flyweight Champ, Kosei Tanaka of Japan last May - led in all of the three judges? scorecards prior to the stoppage. He returned to the winning circle with the impressive KO and another future shot at the title.
?I?ve learned a lot since my last fight for a world title against Kosei Tanaka and this fight proves that I learned and fixed all I needed to win a world championship. My next steps will be up to my promoters, but I know I am in good hands.? the victor commented.
VARGAS DEFENDS WBC SUPER BANTAM BELT AGAINST NEGRETE
Rey Vargas (30-0, 22 KOs) of Mexico City, Mexico remained unbeaten and more importantly retained his World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Bantamweight title against a very determined challenger in Oscar Negrete (17-0, 7 KOs) of Los Angeles, California.
Vargas used his 2 and a half inch height advantage and a 3 and a half inch edge in reach to ward off Negrete who pestered him all night with his bull-rushing attack on the champion.
The champion who suffered a cut on both of his eyes due to head clashes brought about by his foe?s style of fighting, utilized effective jabbing, excellent body work and hard uppercuts against his challenger who never buckled despite getting hit.
Negrete found some success with his aggressive maneuvering but that was not enough against the defending champion who did not succumb to the pressure and who kept him at bay with his punches.
Vargas retained his belt with scores of 119-109 twice and a shutout score of 120- 108.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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