Jessie Magdaleno (28-1) endured multiple low blows and ended up getting a disqualification victory over Yenifel Vicente (36-5-2) in the main event of ESPN’s Thursday night card at the MGM Grand Conference Center Grand Ballroom in Las Vegas.
It was an ugly fight that progressively got worse as Vicente simply couldn’t keep from punching Magdaleno south of the border.
It was clear early on that Magdaleno was of a different class than his opponent as he shredded Vicente with a counter combination in the first round to send his opponent down. From there, Vicente resorted to dirty tactics that would culminate in a bizarre scenario in the fourth round.
After Vicente landed a clear low blow on Magdaleno, referee Robert Byrd attempted to step in to stop the action. Instead of backing off, the Dominican uncorked a right hand that dropped Magdaleno hard to the canvas. It was a clear foul that cost Vicente two points in the round as Magdaleno needed time to get his senses back together.
Vicente would lose another point for low blows for a rare 10-6 round. The 34-year-old continued to fight dirty but left himself open for a well-timed right hand from Magdaleno that dropped him in the fifth round.
Yet another low blow in the 10th round dropped Magdaleno and cost Vicente another point. At this point, Robert Byrd had seen enough and disqualified Vicente at the 1:38 mark.
The former WBO junior featherweight champion has been on the comeback trail since his stunning knockout loss to Isaac Dogboe in April 2018 and is looking to reclaim gold. Afterward, he called out WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. in hopes of getting a title opportunity in the near future.
It wasn’t a dominant performance due to Vicente’s low blows, but a win is a win for the 28-year-old who is looking to prove that he’s one of the best fighters in the featherweight division.
Adam Lopez (14-2, 6 KOs) returned to action after a hard-fought loss to former WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez to get back on the winning track against Louis Coria (12-2) with a narrow majority decision victory.
Coria started off fast by pressuring Lopez with a straightforward attack. But Lopez made the proper adjustments in the middle rounds and appeared to begin to pull away by using a stiff jab and lateral movement.
However, Coria wouldn’t be denied and showed impressive conditioning as he continued to plow forward and nearly outworked Lopez.
But it was Lopez and his superior boxing ability that allowed him to take the fight with scores of 96-94 96-94 95-95.
In four-round lightweight action, Eric Mondragon (3-0-1) and Mike Sanchez (6-0-1) battled to a majority draw. After exchanging knockdowns in the first round, the two had a back and forth battle that was deserving of a draw as neither fighter was able to pull away. One judge saw it 39-37 for Mondragon but was offset by the other two judges seeing it even with 38-38 scores.
In bantamweight action, preschool teacher Gabrial Muratalla (3-0, 3 KOs) scored a first-round knockout against Fernando Robles (2-3) with a blistering right hand that ended the night at the 2:33 mark.