Andy Vences remains undefeated with dominant…
SportsBoxing/MMA
Andy Vences remains undefeated with dominant win on ESPN
By Martin Gallegos |
PUBLISHED: July 8, 2018 at 11:15 a.m. | UPDATED: July 27, 2018 at 7:42 a.m.
Andy Vences did not get the stoppage victory he was hoping for, but it was an impressive performance nonetheless.
The San Jose native retained his WBC Continental Americas super featherweight title with a dominant unanimous decision victory over tough Puerto Rican fighter Frank De Alba Saturday night from the Save Mart Center in Fresno on the ESPN-televised Top Rank boxing card.
From the opening bell in the first round, Vences quickly asserted himself as the aggressor in the fight. He established his distance by using his jab to keep De Alba (22-4-2, 9 KO) at bay and even hurt the southpaw fighter in the about halfway through the first.
Vences (21-0-1, 12 KO) would go on to hurt De Alba again in the fifth with a flurry of punches to the body, and again with some sharp straight right hands in the final two rounds of the 10-round bout as he ultimately coasted to a one-sided decision. The three scorecards read 99-91 twice and 98-92 all in favor of Vences.
"I needed to put more punches together," Vences said. "He was still there and countering back, but I still should have put more punches together."
Vences, 27, noted that De Alba was the second southpaw in a row he has faced after having fought fellow unbeaten fighter Erick De Leon to a highly-disputed majority draw in March, a tough task for an orthodox fighter like himself. Though Vences was surprised by De Alba's ability to recover after the multiple times he had him hurt, he also believes that ability to finish unwilling opponents will come as he evolves as a fighter. De Alba has never been stopped in his career.
"It comes with experience," Vences said. "I tried my best to go for the knockout and get him to engage, but he was just fighting to survive."
Moving forward, Vences has his sights set on the July 28 fight between undefeated Christopher Diaz and Masayuki Ito for the vacant WBO super featherweight world title. He expects Diaz to come away victorious, and would like to challenge him for the world title before the year ends.
"I'll be watching that fight," Vences said. "I want to fight (Diaz) for that world championship if he wins."
Martin Gallegos
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