By Jake Donovan
Jorge Solis rode a pair of knockdowns to pound previously unbeaten Francisco Cordero into submission midway through the sixth round of their 12-round main event bout Saturday evening at the Coliseo Olimpico in Guadalajara, Mexico.
It appeared as if everyone’s night would end early when Solis came flying off of his stool to hammer Cordero with vicious power shots. A series of right hands upstairs had the untested Colombian in trouble, but it was a body shot that led to the bout’s first knockdown, barely a minute into the bout.
To his credit, Cordero didn’t come all the way to Mexico just to serve as a punching bag. The challenger fought back bravely, making a fight of it in the second and third rounds as Solis was just slightly less intimidating in each round.
Things swung back in favor of the Mexican McNulty in the fourth round, pounding Cordero with power shots before scoring his second knockdown of the night, depositing his foe into a corner with a straight right hand.
It appeared as if Cordero had enough in the fifth, as Solis was relentless with his attack, so confident in fact that he fought most of the round with his hands by his sides and wailing away to his opponent’s body. Cordero was on the verge of submitting, only to be saved by the bell.
While not quite a world beater, one thing Solis does very well is close the show. Recognizing he had wounded prey in front of him, the alphabet titlist kicked it into high gear in the sixth, pounding a retreating Cordero with right hands upstairs and raking left hooks to the body.
A left hook under Cordero’s right hand set up a flurry of head shots by Solis midway through the round. The sequence went unanswered long enough for the referee to intervene, rescuing Cordero from further punishment.
The official time was 1:45 of the sixth round.
Solis improves to 40-2-2 (29KO) with his third straight win, while making the second successful defense of an alphabet 130 lb. title he picked up earlier this year.
Cordero suffers his first loss as a pro, falling to 23-1 (15KO).
With Rocky Martinez suffering a stunning upset loss at the hands of Ricky Burns earlier in the day and Mzonke Fana returning to the title picture, the 130 lb division becomes wide open at the top level.
Whether or not Solis can run the tables remains to be seen, though he does bring enough notoriety and excitement to a division that has been long starving for star power. The jury is still out on what he can accomplish, as he is only three fights deep into his stay at the weight after having spent the majority of his career as a featherweight.
The Mexican first gained attention in 2007, though for the wrong reasons in suffering an eighth round knockout loss at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. Despite the fight representing his first loss as a pro, he was credited for giving the current pound-for-pound king with a stiff challenge before eventually wilting.
It was believed with the departure of Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez that Solis would be next in line to take over the featherweight division. Those hopes were dashed after dropping a hard-fought decision at the hands of Cristobal Cruz last summer.
With the way things have shaken out in the past week, Solis is in the perfect position to atone for his past shortcomings.
In the televised co-feature, Omar Nino-Romero made the first successful defense of his second tour as junior flyweight titlist with a stoppage win over battle-tested challenger Ronald Barrera after six one-sided rounds.
Nino was in control from the opening bell, never allowing Barrera to get into a rhythm as he punished his foe to body early before bringing the attack upstairs.
Barrera never left his feet in the bout, but Nino did a brilliant job of breaking him down with each passing round before beating the fight out of him halfway through their scheduled 12-rounder.
A series of right hands and left hooks had Barrera in serious trouble at the end of the sixth, with the referee looking on but allowing the action to go to the bell before examining him in between rounds.
It was decided prior to the seventh round that Barrera was done for the night, giving Nino his first successful title defense spanning over two reigns as he improves to 30-3-2 (12KO).
Barrera falls to 27-8-2 (17KO), as he heads back to Colombia having won just one of his past five contests. The one win came in an upset in his last fight, upending previously unbeaten Arturo Badillo in nine rounds.
There was no threat of an upset here, as Nino appears to have kicked his career into a higher gear even at his advanced age (by boxing terms).
Nino’s first reign came in 2006 with a stunning upset over Brian Viloria, surprisingly dominating the Hawaiian in a bout that served as an early edition of the now defunct Versus Fight Night series.
The rematch came three months later, where the two fought to a controversial draw, only for the verdict to be changed to a no-contest after Nino flunked the post-fight drug test. He was granted an immediate title eliminator bout after serving a year-long suspension, but squandered that opportunity by shockingly dropping asplit decision to Juanito Rubilar in 2008.
He has since gone unbeaten in his last six contests, having avenged the aforementioned defeat along the way in a fight that led to his title shot against Rodel Mayol earlier this year. The bout ended inside of just three rounds when Nino caught the Filipino with a low blow and then drilled him while on a knee.
He was lucky to escape with a technical draw and not a DQ loss, but made the most of his second chance, dominating Mayol in their rematch this past June to annex the very alphabet title he never truly lost in the ring.
The show was presented by Top Rank Inc and aired live on Fox Sports Espanol.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
