By Ryan Burton
Last night former title challenger Diego Magdaleno (28-1) earned his second shot at a title with a 7th round technical knockout victory over Jose "Chelo" Gonzalez (24-2) of Puerto Rico. With the victory Magdaleno becomes the mandatory challenger for the WBO lightweight title that will be up for grabs when Terry Flanagan faces Jose Zepeda on July 11th in the United Kingdom.
Magdaleno was ahead on all three scorecards when he dropped Gonzalez with what appeared to be a clean body shot. However, referee Luis Pabón ruled the punch an accidental low blow. Moments later television replays confirmed that the punch was legal.
Gonzalez was given five minutes to recover from the unintentional low blow but didn't attempt to get up. When the five minute recovery period ended Pabón had no choice but to rule the fight a TKO victory for Magdaleno.
"It was (a clean punch) and my reaction after was to get to the neutral corner so that the ref could count him out and not give him 5 minutes," Magdaleno told BoxingScene.com. "I knew I landed a clean body blow but after the 5 minutes was up I thought we'd go at it again. It took him even longer to get out of the ring."
As for facing the Flanagan-Zepeda winner, Magdaleno didn't have a preference saying, " Let the best man win."
The 28-year-old Magdaleno has reeled off 5 consecutive vicious since falling short against Rocky Martinez in 2013 when he lost a split decision for Martinez's 139 pound title. He said that experience will make him even better when he challenges for the title again.
"It helps a great deal. Every fight is different and I learn something new each time. I'm constantly learning as fights get bigger and bigger. I'm loving it," said Magdaleno.
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