GLENDALE, Arizona — Lindolfo Delgado was given the chance to shine in an unexpected, televised slot.
He instead settled for a win at the expense of deflating a rabid fight crowd.
The unbeaten junior welterweight struggled to pin down Jair Valtierra, who didn’t show any interest in putting up a fight in their ESPN-televised co-feature. The end result was a lopsided points win for Delgado, who prevailed by scores of 98-92, 99-91 and 99-91 Saturday evening at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The bout was moved up from the preliminary undercard to the chief support when Raymond Muratalla suffered an injury and had to withdraw from his planned clash versus Diego Torres. The boxing match that developed through two-plus rounds did not immediately resonate with the packed crowd who came to see a fight. Monterrey’s Delgado—who represented Mexico in the 2016 Rio Olympics—began to dial up the pressure midway through round three. Left hooks from the unbeaten prospect caught the attention of Valtierra, a 21-year-old from Leon, Mexico who used movement to minimize the damage but was unable to offer much more than a jab in return.
Delgado landed his left hook in round four but the momentum was short-lived. Valtierra was intent to move around the ring, no matter how loud the boos increased over the lack of in-ring action. A similarly dreadful pace spilled over into rounds five and six, as Delgado walked forward and Valtierra jabbed only to keep his unbeaten opponent at bay.
Delgado thought he scored the bout’s lone knockdown when Valtierra hit the deck one minute into the tenth and final round. The sequence was waved off as a slip, though Delgado was able to land a right hand and a couple of left hooks later in the frame. Valtierra reached with his jab but Delgado went on the move, drawing more boos which drowned out the capacity crowd as the final bell sounded to end the dreadful affair.
Delgado advanced to 18-0 (13KOs) but did little to create future demand. Valtierra (16-3, 8KOs; 1NC) remained winless in his past three starts.
Headlining Saturday’s show, three-division and reigning WBO junior lightweight titlist Emanuel Navarrete (37-1, 31KOs) attempts his first defense versus former two-division champ Oscar Valdez (31-1, 23KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox