By: Sean Crose
Chris Colbert battled Jose Valenzuela Saturday night on the pay per view undercard of the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant supermiddleweight throwdown. Colbert entered the ring for the scheduled 10 round lightweight battle at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with a record of 16-1 while Valenzuela answered the opening bell with a record of 12-1. An explosive shot sent Colbert to the mat at the beginning of the first. Colbert got up, but Valenzuela instantly went in for the kill. Colbert gamely fought back, but the opening chapter clearly went to Valenzuela. Colbert had a much better second as he employed speed effectively and landed well.
Colbert put his punches together well in the third. Both men fought fast and hard in the fourth. Neither man landed a great deal in the fifth, as each appeared to be trying to find his openings. Colbert appeared to have an injured eye in the sixth, something Valenzuela immediately took advantage of by firing furiously at his man. Colbert, whose eye the ring doctor said was merely spasming, went to work on Valenzuela in the seventh, moving forward and landing well. Valenzuela responded by viciously unloading on Colbert in the eighth.
The ninth was another fast and intense round, but Valenzuela appeared to edge it through effective aggression. With that being said, the man appeared drained in his corner in between rounds. The tenth and final round saw fighting at a surprisingly fast and crisp rate. Colbert did good work with his jab…but Valenzuela appeared to hurt Colbert just before the final bell. It was undoubtedly a close bout, but the victory went to Colbert courtesy of a controversial unanimous decision, which led the crowd to boo and the two fighters to exchange unpleasantries after the scorecards were read.