Chris Colbert survives knockdown to defeat Jose Valenzuela by questionable decision
Unanimous decision for Chris Colbert?
The boos that emanated from the MGM Grand when Colbert was awarded the nod over Jose Valenzuela after their 10-round lightweight bout on the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant fight Saturday might’ve been justified.
Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) couldn’t have gotten off to a better start, putting Colbert (17-1, 6 KOs) on the canvas and hurting him with a wide left about 30 seconds into the fight.
Colbert survived the rest of the round and never took a shot quite as big as the one that knocked him down but he absorbed many more hard, eye-catching shots from the hard-punching Valenzuela, who generally pushed the action.
To his credit, Colbert, the quicker, slicker boxer, had some success when he jabbed and fired off combinations from the outside and he got the better of some inside exchanges, too.
However, Valenzuela continued to land heavy punches with consistency, which is why Boxing Junkie scored it 96-93 for him, six rounds to four.
The judges saw it differently, evidently favoring Colbert’s jab and quick combinations over Valenzuela’s heavy blows. All three had the same score: 95-94, six rounds to four for Colbert.
Valenzuela, who was shocked when the decision was announced, made it clear to Colbert that he believes he was cheated out of a victory.
“At the end of the day, I’m not the judge and I’m not a sore loser,” Colbert said. “I’m a man. I can take it on the chin like a man. He’s a sore loser. I out-boxed him and hit him with more jabs.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m a man and he had his spurts. He hit me with some good shots but then he stopped and I jabbed and I jabbed and I jabbed. He got the knockdown but it’s a 10-round fight.”
Said Valenzuela: “I beat him. … I thought I won. I was hitting him with the harder shots. I dropped him. I dominated. But it is what it is. It’s boxing.
Colbert, who moved up from 130 pounds to 135 for the fight, bounced back from his one-sided unanimous decision loss to Hector Luis Garcia in February of last year.
Meanwhile, Valenzuela has now lost two in a row. He was stopped by Edwin De Los Santos in September.