BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Keep coming back here for running updates from ringside on the undercard of the PBC show on ESPN in the Barclays Center, headlined by Danny Garcia vs Paulie Malignaggi.
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Pritchard Colon Vs Micahel Finney – Junior Middleweight
After a solid opening round, Pritchard Colon (14-0) turned up the heat in round 2 and scored a scintillating knockout over Michael Finney, landing a straight right that buckled his legs. A follow up left-right combo finished him off and put him down along the ropes. The referee called the fight off as an unsteady and glass-eyed Finney was in no position to defend himself upon rising.
Colon stays undefeated and improves to 15-0.
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Danny Jacobs Vs Sergio Mora – Middleweight Division
In a dramatic 1st round of the opening bout of the PBC on ESPN broadcast, Danny Jacobs (29-1) and Sergio Mora (28-3-2) traded knockdowns in front of a slow to fill but fiery crowd. The fight’s end would come suddenly in round 2 by way of controversial injury to Mora, halting what was looking to be a dynamic fight.
Midway through the 1st round an aggressive Mora got caught with a sweeping hook that connected with his chin and sent him sprawling on his back. He quickly popped up and Jacobs came hard charging after him.
After retreating to the opposite ropes, Mora connected with a short hook inside that sent Jacobs to the mat. He too seemed unfazed, and the two finished out the round each trying to re-establish control in the seesaw stanza. All three judges would score the round for Jacobs.
Round 2 saw Jacobs pushing the action, trying to corral the shifty Mora along the ropes. Towards the end of the round in an exchange that saw little connect, Mora’s right leg slid out from beneath him and bent awkwardly. The referee ruled it a knockdown and Mora was immediately wincing on the mat in extreme pain. He rose to beat the count, but could do little more than hobble a few paces before telling the ref he couldn’t continue.
Mora, extremely frustrated with the injury, said to his cornerman, “I know it’s broken, I heard it pop.” It took the better part of 15 minutes to get the hapless Mora on to a stretcher and conveyed out of the arena. Well-wishers cheered him as he was wheeled out.
The bout was officially ruled a technical knockout at 2:55 of the 2nd round in Jacobs’ favor, though there will likely be an appeal by team Mora.
The win could hardly be satisfying for Jacobs or the partisan crowd who had come to see the Brooklyn native . With little sympathy for Mora, Jacobs lamented, “I wanted to stop him on my own. I didn’t want him to quit on his stool.” He notched his 30th win and called out fellow stablemate Peter Quillin after the fight.
Mora falls to 28-4-2 suffering another downturn in what has been a roller coaster of a career with triumphs, tragedies and controversial results. His next fight will be with the commission to see if he can have this result overturned.
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Lenin Castillo Vs Travis Peterkin – Light Heavyweight Division
In a clash between undefeated fighters, both Lenin Castillo (12-0) and Travis Peterkin (15-0) looked confident and promising to start the bout. Castillo fought loose with a little grin in the early rounds, in the face of aggression from Peterkin that typically fell a little short.
They fought on relatively equal terms until a furious back and forth flurry sent blood streaming down Castillo’s face at the end of the 3rd round. Peterkin’s southpaw stance may have contributed to a clash of head. Castillo came out with urgency in the 4th and pushed the action. The fight got testy as Peterkin hit the mat after a solid cross was ruled a slip. Elbows, holding and head clashes punctuated the round and peaked near the end as Peterkin was admonished for hitting on the break.
Another referee intervention came on a low blow from Peterkin, who seemed to feel the fight was slipping from his grasp in intangible ways. Castillo maintained his cool throughout and swept a low right hand repeatedly at his foe, who had a penchant for bending over in his attempts to avoid shots.
Castillo went to the body with success in the 7th, landing several telling shots to the ribcage as Peterkin looked to be wearing down. Both came out feeing they needed the 8th and final round for victory — both with urgency but not very effective. The round came back inconclusive.
Going to the scorecards after eight rounds, the judges seemed similarly indecisive on the affair as a whole, submitting scores of 76-74 for Peterkin and two knotted up at 75-75. The majority draw leaves both men undefeated, but unsatisfied. Ringside, fans seemed to have Castillo the winner and showed their displeasure by booing the result.
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Adam Kownacki Vs Morenzo Smith – Heavyweight Division
Adam Kownacki (10-0) fought with laudable aggression as his upper-deck support of a 65 or so fans in matching t-shirts raucously cheered him on in a preliminary bout. Looking soft around the middle but determined, he landed a crushing right that sent the overmatched Smith (12-9-3) to the mat with 26 seconds remaining in the 2nd round, stopping the bout. Kownacki remains undefeated with 10 KOs in 11 fights.
