A great night full of action with exciting fights was the result of the Econo Championship Series 2023 at Wyndham Grand Río Mar in Rio Grande puerto Rico where Bryan ‘Chary’ Chevalier successfully defended his WBO Intercontinental Jr. Lightweight Championship with a solid performance defeating the hard-hitting Dominican Ranfis Encarnación (21-4, 17KOs) by technical knockout in the eighth round.
Chevalier, the pride of Bayamón began by putting out fire, exchanging shrapnel with Encarnación, hurting him in the same first round with various power combinations to the body that made him back down. After the first 2 rounds, ‘Chary’ seemed in total control of the fight until the fourth round, where an accidental headbutt caused a serious injury to Chevalier’s left eye, who had tense moments during the round as bleeding was imminent.
In the fifth round, Encarnación looked like a shark looking for his prey, he smelled blood and began to put pressure on a Chevalier who was in serious trouble because the bleeding did not stop. Already in the sixth round, the fourth classified of the WBO at 130 pounds resorted to his fine boxing, using his distance very well and punishing Ranfis badly.
The second wind arrived and by the seventh round he punished the Dominican with strong straight blows that badly wobbled Encarnación which caused him to not come out in the eighth round.
“I keep learning, I worked for the victory and I got it. In every fight we learn new things. I looked for that cut because the corner was asking me to follow the plan we worked on, which gave me the victory in the second part of the fight. Boxing is like that, I like to fight, I’m ready for the world title and I’m telling you, I’ll be world champion, you’ll see”, commented Bryan Chevalier who improves his professional record with 20 wins, one loss with one draw and 16 knockouts. It is expected that he will soon have a chance for the World Championship with the winner of Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdéz who will face each other on August 12 in Arizona.
Impressive ‘Tito’ Sánchez
Mexican José ‘Tito’ Sánchez continued his overwhelming stride at 122 pounds when he defeated Carlos ‘Purin’ Caraballo (15-3, 14KOs) via third-round TKO in a thrilling bout. Sánchez began by putting pressure on ‘Purin’ Caraballo who displayed his fine boxing and power by landing solid punches on the Mexican in the first 2 rounds. But the end came when ‘Tito’ Sánchez, a pupil of veteran coach Joel Díaz, changed his guard to the left, combining a powerful right hook to the body with uppercuts and a left fly that sent Caraballo badly injured to the canvas. The experienced referee Luis Pabón gave the protection count but ‘Purin’ was not ready to continue and thus the end of the fight where Sánchez was crowned as the new Latino Continental champion of the World Boxing Council at 122 pounds.
“I am very happy, I did the job that my corner asked me to do. I worked very hard for this fight, Caraballo is a great fighter and very strong but I am very happy to come out with the victory. I am ready for the big fights”, said ‘Tito’ Sánchez who improves his record to 11 wins without losses with 7 knockouts.
Solid wins for Yan Carlos Santana, Yair Gallardo and Yariel Santiago
Dominican super prospect Yan Carlos Santana displayed his skills by stopping José O.Benítez in 2 rounds. From the opening bell, Santana placed solid combinations that pushed Benítez back. Already in the second round, several upper crosses hurt Benítez badly, who was bleeding incessantly, which caused the referee Moisés Riverea to stop the fight. Now Yan Carlos Santana improves his mark to 8-0, with 8 knockouts.
The Mexican Yair ‘Manotas’ Gallardo only needed 30 seconds to annihilate the humanity of the veteran William Lorenzo in the same first round. ‘El Manotas’ placed strong combinations that left Lorenzo lying in the corner, who could not recover from the imminent punishment. Gallardo improves his record to 4-0, 4KOs.
Yariel Santiago maintained his undefeated by defeating the warrior Carlos Matos by unanimous decision with identical scores of 60-54 from judges Gerardo Martínez, Luis Ruíz and Nelson Vázquez. In an action-packed match where Santiago displayed his fine boxing dominating Matos throughout the match.
Big WBC Amateurs amateur bouts
The World Boxing Council successfully debuted its ‘WBC Amateurs’ program in Puerto Rico. The matches were exciting from start to finish. Yahdiar Cabrera and Gracemarie Quiles were unanimous decision winners while Juanma López looked impressive as he earned a first-round TKO victory over Alberto Alamo.
