Saturday was a good day for combat sports.
We saw Leon Edwards upset KO against Kamaru Usman at UFC 278, and earlier in the day, we saw Oleksandr Usyk defend his heavyweight title rematch against Anthony Joshua in a split decision.
The biggest knockout, though came in the 7th round of the lightweight match between Ruben Torres and Cristian Baez.
Torres delivered a huge knockout after knocking Baez down seconds before but some think it was dirty. After Baez gets up from being knocked down, the two touch gloves, and before Baez could even think about anything else, Torres hits him with a vicious left hand.
“Number one rule in boxing is protect yourself at all times,” said Torres after the fight.
“It’s obvious we have some sharpening up to do. You go into the fight and your confidence is high, then you touch the canvas, then you think, ‘I have some work to do.’ We have to go back to the drawing board. We’re still undefeated and we’re still coming. I have to get sharper.”
Baez, who resides in San Juan, Venezuela, drops to 18-2, 7 KOs. The 30-year-old had not fought since December 2019, when he was stopped by current featherweight contender Luis Lopez.
In the co-featured bout, Luis Lopez of Corona defeated Elias Diaz by unanimous decision.
Scores were 77-75, 77-75, and 78-74 for Lopez, who improves to 12-1-1, 4 KOs.
It looks dirty, but you must always protect yourself and never let your guard down when you’re in the ring. On the one hand it was dirty because Torres was the one who intitated the touching of gloves, but you have to understand that when the refs gives the OK to fight everything is fair game in the ring.
I know a lot of boxers who wouldn’t resort to these type of tatics and others who will win by any means necessary.
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