By John DiSanto at ringside
Photos: Sumio Yamada
In the 12-round co-feature bout, Brooklyn’s Chris Colbert, 14-0, 5 KOs, captured the vacant interim WBA junior lightweight title belt with a lopsided decision over Jezreel Corrales of Panama, 23-4, 9 KOs on Saturday night at the Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
After nine slow-moving rounds, the fight finally picked up in round ten when Colbert dropped Corrales with a left hook-right cross combo. Then in the eleventh Colbert shoved Corrales completely out of the ring, prompting referee to Shawn Clark issue a warning. The two boxers closed the fight with an active final round. Colbert took the decision by scores of 116-111 and 117-110 twice.
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I saw a documentary that featured Colbert a few years ago when was just turning pro and I really didn’t think he had the maturity or discipline to become a world champion. He looked and sounded like a new man tonight! (despite the purple hair) He’s come a long way!
He’s still not a world champion…
The commentators made Colbert sound like the second coming of Roberto Duran. He has about as much ability as a rank amateur. I thought he lost the fight. The Philly fans let him know what they thought booing both of them throughout. He wants Santa Cruz? He couldn’t beat Santa Claus!
Corrales is an extremely cagey fighter and gave Colbert a hard fight. It was uneventful till the later rounds when Colbert finally broke through for the knockdown. It was not an exciting performance by Colbert and I expected much more from him.
I’m not sure what I think about Colbert at this point. He was highly touted by the announcers, but I sure don’t see the potential for him to be a great fighter. He doesn’t have the “wow” factor and I don’t get excited when I see his name on a boxing card.
He is a good fighter and may eventually become elite. However, based on this fight, I just don’t think so. He just doesn’t hit hard enough to beat the top junior lightweights. He’s good and may win a title with careful matchmaking. However, I don’t expect him to be dominant in his weight division. Time will tell. We’ll see what happens in his future fights.