In the official main event, the usually always interesting Victor Ortiz bucked the odds by managing to find a fight in which there was nothing interesting at all. Ortiz was always going to destroy a low level fighter like Saul Corral, so he did. In a much, much more interesting fight, top prospect Justin DeLoach was upset by late replacement and fellow one loss prospect Nathaniel Gallimore. 2016 US Olympian Karlos Balderas was also in action.
There isn’t a ton to say about the supposed main event of this card. For all his flaws, Victor Ortiz (32-6-2, 25 KOs) is a world class talent. He is not a world class fighter due to deficiencies in many aspects of his game, but the talent has clearly always been there. Saul Corral (25-10, 16 KOs) is a journeyman at best, but probably really only a club fighter. Only two of this twenty five wins had come against fighters with winning records.
The only intrigue here was found in the minor chance that Ortiz can always melt down, even against an extremely low level opponent. It didn’t happen. Because Ortiz is a pretty broken fighter, Corral was able to land a bit in the middle of Victor’s constant aggression in the first round and a half. He couldn’t do any real damage though. The former world titleholder just kept punching until Corral basically folded.
The Mexican club fighter basically had given up in the third, holding so much that he had a point deducted. The ending came in the fourth with an Ortiz dropping Corral hard, flurrying to force a stoppage with Corral surprisingly back on his feet after beating the count. Victor Ortiz won a fight he will always win here. He looked no different, better or worse, than the flawed fighter he has always been. Remember that that next time they try to sell you that he is “back”.
The real main event saw promising prospect Justin DeLoach (17-2, 9 KOs) face a fight week opponent switch and, at least in my estimation, a result switch too. Originally he was supposed to face former title challenger Fernando Guerrero, a talented, but fragile and fading opponent that I thought was made for DeLoach. Instead, five days out from the fight, Guerrero withdrew due to illness.
Enter Jamaican power puncher Nathaniel Gallimore (19-1-1, 16 KOs). On paper this was a really great, once beaten prospect fight that would have made an ideal PBC on FS1 main event. If I had the opportunity to preview this fight, I would have been expressing a lot of excitement. I would have favored DeLoach with his full training camp for the fight and more diverse skillset, but I also would have noted that his loss was a surprise, early knockout and Gallimore is a real puncher.
After a great first 2:30 for DeLoach, one Gallimore left hook changed everything. DeLoach was down and really hurt, but it was late enough in the round to survive. Unfortunately, the second round did not get much better. An even bigger left hook put him down even harder. Again, he survived at the end of the round, even landing his own giant, desperate shot that seemed to hurt Gallimore right before the final bell. The third was a recovery round for both fighters.
In the fourth round, DeLoach recovered in terms of landing more offense and winning the round, but it became very clear here that his legs were still not nearly under him. He looked shaky every time Gallimore landed and he also just showed none of the dynamic movement that had many excited at his status as a real prospect. Instead, all he could do was stand in the pocket and brawl. While this won him the fourth, it was a recipe for disaster in the fifth. Beat up for the last two minutes and hurt badly again in the last fifteen seconds, the ringside physician pulled the plug on the fight in DeLoach’s corner. When Justin tried to sit on his stool, he fell over and that was clearly enough.
For Nathaniel Gallimore, this is a career changing win. This is his second straight stoppage broadcast on a PBC card and by far his most profile win. The Illinois based Jamaican is a sturdy, come forward pressure fighter with some serious power in his hands, especially in his left hook. He has also been at least a little wobbled in both of his PBC fights too, a combined recipe for an exciting emergent contender.
For DeLoach, this was a disaster. Looking as good as he had over this current winning streak, it was easy to dismiss one early career stoppage loss as just one of those fluke results that happens in the ring. Given how he was totally unable to recover his legs in this fight, however, there are now serious durability questions concerning his future in the sport. If he can’t deal with shots that land in return, this is probably his ceiling.
2016 US Olympian Karlos Balderas (2-0, 2 KOs) took his second career fight to open the card. As he is a significant 20 year old prospect in only his second bout, he predictably and reasonably was in against a very low level opponent that he smashed inside a round. All it took here was one left hook to the body to end Mexican club fighter Eder Farajdo (3-4, 2 KOs) night.
21 year old local featherweight prospect Adam Lopez (8-0, 3 KOs) narrowly outpointed Paul Romero (7-1-1, 1 KO) via six round majority decision in a televised swing bout as well.
