By: William Holmes
The Fantasy Springs Resort Casino was the host site of tonight’s Golden Boy Boxing on DAZN offering as two world title fights were on the line.
The undercard featured victories by Joseph Diaz Jr., over Charles Huerta and Avat Hovhannisyan over Lolito Sonsona.
Tureano Johnson and Fernando Castaneda fought a rugged bout to the end with an unsatisfying draw with scores of 77-75, 77-75, and 76-76.
The co-main event of the evening was between Rey Vargas (32-0) and Franklin Manzanilla (18-4) for the WBC Super Bantamweight Title. Manzanilla, a Venezuelan, had 17 of his wins come by way of knockout. Vargas had stopped 22 of his opponents.
Both fighters looked to be in excellent shape and Vargas was the taller fight of the two. Manzanilla did well fighting on the inside but Vargas found his range by the end of the first and was able to land some good left hooks.
Vargas continued to land some good shots to the body and head in the second round, before Manzanilla landed a vicious left hook to the chin that sent Vargas crashing to the mat. Vargas was able to get back to his feet, but had to frantically hold on in order to survive the round.
Vargas stayed behind his jab and straight right hands in the third round and had Manzanilla hurt from combinations including a vicious right hand left hook combo in the fourth.
Vargas maintained control in the fifth, sixth, and seventh rounds and was able to maintain a safe distance with his jab and body shots, though Manzanilla was able to rough him up in tight and land some decent shots to the body.
Manzanilla rough fighting cost him two points in the fight, including for throw a punch after a break in the eighth round. Vargas had cuts by both of his eyes in the eighth round.
A doctor had to check Vargas in the ninth round, but Vargas was able to battle on and continue to outbox Manzanilla. Vargas did eat a heavy straight left hand in the eleventh round, but was placed in any trouble for the remainder of the fight.
The final scores were 117-108 on all three scorecards for Rey Vargas.
The WBA Super Featherweight Title was on the line in the main event as Alberto Machado (21-0) faced off against Andrew Cancio (19-4-2) in the main event of the evening.
Machado, a southpaw, was a heavy betting favorite in this fight and was able to drop Cancio early with a right uppercut to the chin. Cancio was able to get up by the count of nine, and had to hold off a pressing Macahdo for the remainder of the round.
Machado was looking for the uppercut in the second round but Cancio looked recovered from the earlier knockdown and was landing good punches to the body. His body work opened up some heavy shots to the head of Macahdo and was able to end the second round very strong, but not without having a cut near his left eye.
Cancio had all the momentum in the fight in the third round as he was battering Machado with combinations to the body and head and pressed forward with heavy shots. He had a very dominating third round and was able to attack from all angles.
Macahado started off the fourth round by circling away from Cancio, but Cancio pressed forward with his body attacks and was able to knock Machado down with a right to the body. Machado go up before the count of nine but succumbed to another body attack for the second knockdown of the round. Machado barely beat the count and was still badly hurt before another combination to the body sent Machado down for the final time as the referee quickly waived off the fight.
Cancio wins by KO at 2:16 of the fourth round in a stunning upset.