Unbeaten super welterweight “Capitán” Gabriel Maestre of Venezuela (2-0, 2 KOs), who participated in five World Amateur Boxing Championships and two Olympic Games before turning pro, stepped up and defeated former WBA world champion Diego “La Joya” Chaves (27-6-1, 23 KOs) of Argentina by fourth round TKO on Thursday night at the Sugar Baby Rojas Coliseum in Barranquilla, Colombia.
It was a short fight but had a lot of heavy exchanges that the much physically bigger Maestre was getting the better of. Near the end of round one, Maestre dropped Chaves, who beat referee Tony Weeks’ 10 count to get out of the round. Chaves used his professional experience by tying Maestre up and throwing back as well for the next few rounds. In round four, things got a bit sloppy with Chaves going down multiple times complaining of a clash of heads and being hit behind the head. No knockdown was called but in the midst of the drama, the corner of Chaves threw in the towel ending the fight.
A dominant performance by the 33-year-old Maestre, who is being moved quickly. He retained his WBA Fedebol title that he won in his pro debut.
In the co-feature local fan favorite Jeovanis “Meke” Barraza (21-1, 14 KOs) of Barranquilla, Colombia rebounded with a majority decision win over a very game and competitive Fernando Silva (19-14-3, 8 KOs) of Mexico. The official scores were 98-92, 96-94, for Barraza and 95-95. Fair decision in favor of Barraza as he was the more accurate and the heavier puncher hurting Silva at times. Silva had his moments though and landed several punches on Barraza throughout the fight. Good two-way action as the bout had many heated exchanges. This was the first fight for Barraza since suffering his first career loss by knockout to then debuting amateur standout Gabriel Maestre of Venezuela this past July.
Local Jose Sanmartin (30-5-1, 20 KOs) of Barranquilla upset WBA #9 world ranked featherweight Maikol Beaumont (15-4-1, 7 KOs) of Venezuela. Sanmartin was the aggressor from the beginning as he maintained a constant boxing attack. This slowed down Beaumont considerably, who was completely outworked by Sanmartin. The official scores were all 98-92 in favor of Sanmartin the victor. Sanmartin was much more experienced having had fought much better competition. He has only been stopped once in his five losses. That a 12 round stoppage at the hands of now world champion Emmanuel Navarrete.
2016 Olympic silver medalist Yoel Finol (2-0, 1 KO) of Venezuela unanimously decisioned Carmelo Marmol (1-3-1, 1 KO) of Colombia over six rounds. Finol dominated the action but was unable to stop the game but outclassed Marmol. All three judges scored the fight for Finol 60-54.