ANDRES Cortes remained undefeated after defeating former world champion Mark Magsayo by unanimous decision on the undercard of the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn fight on Sunday in Las Vegas.
All three judges scored the 10-round lightweight bout 97-93 in favor of Cortes, who improved his record to 26-0 with 13 knockouts.
Magsayo, a former featherweight world champion, dropped to 29-3 with 19 knockouts.
Cortes controlled much of the fight and built an early lead, despite an unusual sequence involving multiple apparent knockdowns.
Referee Celestino Ruiz twice ruled that Magsayo had been knocked down, only to reverse both calls. The Filipino boxer was also visibly sent to the canvas on two other occasions without receiving official knockdown counts.
Magsayo showed more urgency in the later rounds and attempted to rally, but his late surge was not enough to overcome Cortes’ advantage on the scorecards.
The victory marked Cortes’ second straight win under Zuffa Boxing after moving from Top Rank. (Adrian Co)
