Fighters Alberto “El Explosivo” Machado and Jezreel “El Invisible” Corrales clashed a year ago in New York, USA. That night luck smiled on Puerto Rican Machado, who came down from the ring as WBA Super Featherweight Champion of the world, but after his triumph a friendship began to flourish with Corrales.
The product of that friendship has shown recently, with Machado traveling to Panama to reconnect with his old rival and continue to support the dream of Corrales, which is to see his sister Yinelis Corrales become a professional.
Through the founding of Machado and his team, they made an economic donation to contribute to the education of Corrales’ sister, who has great qualifications.
Machado’s gesture is a small sign that boxing is more than a sport, pugilism being synonymous with family, part of the values practiced by the WBA super featherweight champion, making it clear that it is a worthy pride for the WBA, which is the oldest organization that governs professional boxing.
The impressions of this encounter were magical; Corrales and Machado gave each other a fraternal hug, which was done in the presence of Panamanian parents Alejandro Corrales and Mary Gonzalez, who were surprised and at the same time grateful for this action.
This emotional act was culminated with the statements of both fighters.
Machado said: “I come from a humble place with low resources, with my foundation we seek to help those young people who want to improve themselves.”
“When I was preparing to challenge Corrales in 2017, we had the opportunity to watch a report made by Panamanian television, where they showed that Corrales boxed to contribute to his sister’s education. We identified with that and my team and I decided to continue supporting that dream and providing a grain of sand for their improvement.”
For his part, Corrales said the following: “This act grabbed me by surprise, I did not expect it. I thank Machado’s willingness, contributing to my sister’s future through her foundation is priceless.”
“This motivated me to return with encouragement and return to be a champion to continue supporting my family,” said the Panamanian boxer.
The event took place in Panama during the 31st annual Convention of the WBO, a body allied to the World Boxing Association (WBA), both of which being entities that serve as a vehicle for youth to have opportunities beyond bad upbringings and drugs, thus following the foundations of the “KO DRUGS” program that the WBA has promoted for many years.
