Boxeo Telemundo: Ricardo Espinoza Franco vs. Brandon de Jesús Valdés Daza RBR

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Reminder: all Boxeo Telemundo cards start with the main event, with after-card to follow.

 

Ricardo Espinoza Franco vs. Brandon de Jesús Valdés Daza, 10 rounds @ super bantamweight

 

This is for the vacant WBO Youth 122lb title.

 

We have a young unbeaten yet untested Colombian in "El Metrallo (The Shredder, or Machine Gun)" Valdés taking a big step up against Mexican banger "Hindu" Espinoza, who is fourteen months removed from his only stoppage defeat in a failed world title bid against Jhonriel Casimero.

 

Apparently this is airing on ESPN Knockout as well, if you have that channel but not Telemundo (check your listings).

 

10-9 Hindu, eating some beefy down-the-pipe counters on the way in as Valdés plants himself on the backfoot to sit down on each punch, but the heaviest stuff landed is Espinoza's wide hooking rips into the waistline.

 

Good fun war so far. No way it goes ten.

 

10-9 Valdés, managed to mix up his movement, using lots of diagonals, and lower his elbows to intercept a number of Espinoza's whipping body shots. Valdés' job offensively made very easy, barely having to aim to land counters flush as Espinoza leaves himself wide open wading in looking to deliver his low-altitude payloads.

19-19.

 

Valdés continues to use the jab from a tight guard and lots of rhythm-breaking erratic steps to hold a lid on the brawl Espinoza has kept simmering with his nonstop pressure. The only inside action is stifled in clinches, where Valdés gets fouled with some elbows in the chest and shoves Espinoza off before jabbing his way out again.

10-9 Valdés

29-28 Valdés

 

Espinoza getting jabbed stiffly in the face and neck, looking to pin Valdés on the ropes and open up on him with crash-bang roundhouses from hip to head. Valdés doing a decent job avoiding getting trapped, either pivoting clear of corners or briefly tying up when necessary, and taking pot shots at Espinoza from mid-range.

10-9 Valdés

39-37 Valdés

 

Valdés has fallen in love with the jab-and-grab a bit overmuch to my liking, but hard to blame him when a) it works and b) the determined and heavy-handed Espinoza could be mightily dangerous otherwise. I do wish that Espinoza could find a more creative way to attack, if only to force Valdés to exchange fire more as he did in R1. Because this pattern we have lapsed into has been...not quite as fun.

10-9 Valdés

49-46 Valdés

 

...omg. The unofficial tarjeta (scorecard) of the Boxeo Telemundo commentators has it a clean sweep for Espinoza. 50-45. That's nuts.

I know the network is Mexican and everything, but still. I'm not seeing anybody else scoring it like that on Twitter. Most have Valdés up by some margin or another.

 

Espinoza ramping up the aggression in the sixth, a few stray haymakers got through but he also wolfed down plenty of counters. Rough and tumble round, lots of dirty clinching, both men violently shaking and throttling each other. First round you could give the Mexican so far, IMO.