Friday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Javier Fortuna (28-0-1, 20 KOs) decisioned Bryan Vasquez (34-2, 18 KOs) by scores of 116-112 and 117-111 twice to win the vacant WBA World super featherweight title.
A lean southpaw with power in both hands, Fortuna isn’t a perfect fighter. He doesn’t throw straight punches. He doesn’t move his head. His hands dangle at his sides. But he is athletic. He is fast. And his doggedness is off the charts.
Vasquez had his moments. He came into the fight as the guy who could box against a guy who could punch. But Fortuna defied categorization. He fought on the inside and outside. His looping punches found the mark. He wore down Vasquez bit by bit, round by round, punch by punch.
It was an exciting, all-action fight. Vasquez is more rugged than refined tough and needs to return to the drawing board. All Fortuna needs to do is keep on doing what he’s doing.
In an attempt to cover all the bases in this championship fight, the WBA hired six anonymous professional judges to watch the fight live on Spike TV with the sound muted. Their scores were entered after each round into a website application and streamed in real-time to the WBA.
All six review judges scored the fight in favor of Javier Fortuna. One judge had it close, at 115-113. While the other review judges scored it more comfortably for the winner.
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
