Jessie Magdaleno Drops Rivera, Wins Technical Decision.
Jesse Magdaleno is two fights removed from his stoppage loss to Isaac Dogboe back in April 2018. Since losing his WBO super bantamweight title, he has migrated to the featherweight division.
Here, he would be looking to go 2-0 in his new weight class, as he takes on Rafael Rivera.
The Breakdown
In the high-pace first round, Rivera appeared to temporarily stun Magdaleno with a combination. However, it didn’t take long for the experience of the former champion to kick in as he would slowly begin dictating the pace with the use of his jab.
Magadaleno would suffer a cut on the nose following an accidental head-butt in round four. To follow up, Rivera would increase his aggressiveness and begin landing some thudding shots in close range.
Rounds five and six appeared to go in the favor of Magdaleno, who boxed nicely using good foot movement, combination punching and effective head movement on defense to offset the aggressive Rivera.
Round seven was huge for Magdaleno, as he would hurt his opponent badly with a hard left hook! Sensing an opportunity, he would go in for the kill. However, Rivera did well by holding and causing his opponent to smother his punches. This allowed him to survive the round.
In the opening moments of round nine, Rivera would suffer a knockdown from a short left hook. In the waning seconds of the round, an elbow thrown by Rivera would open a new cut, this time over the left eye of the former champion.
A break in action was called to assess the severity of the cut. After consulting with the ringside doctor, referee Thomas Taylor would wave the fight off.
Magdaleno would win a technical unanimous decision. The scores read 89-81, and 88-82 twice. The kid from Las Vegas improves his record to 27-1, 18 KOs and moves closer to another world title opportunity.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
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