Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

On the undercard

- Sam Gordon Review-journal

The boo birds circled lightweigh­t Chris Colbert after his unanimous 95-94 victory over Jose Valenzuela.

Didn’t bother the New York City native a bit. Colbert (17-1, six knockouts) scored a controvers­ial victory on the second fight of the undercard, recovering from a first-round knockdown to win the battle of former 130-pound prospects.

Colbert, 26, prevailed despite Valenzuela (12-2, eight KOS), 23, of Renton, Washington, having a 132-124 edge in total punches and a 117-77 edge in power punches, per Compubox.

The crowd vigorously booed the decision — and Colbert as he celebrated in the ring.

“I love the fans,” said Colbert, who rebounded from his first career loss to hand Valenzuela his second straight defeat. “If he wants his rematch,

then let’s get it.”

In the first fight on the undercard, welterweig­ht Cody Crowley (22-0, nine KOS), a Las Vegan by way of Canada, earned a 116-112, 115-113, 114-114 majority decision over Abel Ramos (27-6-2, 21 KOS) to preserve his unbeaten record.

Crowley, 30, functioned as the aggressor and operated on the inside, landing 227 punches per Compubox compared to 164 for the 31-year-old Ramos, who hails from Casa Grande, Arizona.

Ramos’ 22-year-old nephew, Jesus, redeemed his uncle in the co-feature against 23-year-old Joey Spencer (16-1, 1o KOS).

The younger Ramos (20-0, 16 KOS), a premier prospect in the junior middleweig­ht division, bludgeoned the fellow 154-pound prospect to force a stoppage from his corner midway through the seventh round after dropping him with a short left late in the first round.

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