HBO Boxing After Dark results: Corrales escapes with title against Castellanos

Jezreel Corrales’ U.S. and Golden Boy debut fight didn’t go quite as smoothly as he likely hoped, but he escaped Inglewood tonight with his WBA super featherweight title.

Corrales (22-1, 8 KO) came off the canvas twice to score a majority technical decision after 10 rounds against Robinson Castellanos (24-13, 14 KO), on scores of 96-92, 94-93, and 94-94. BLH’s two cards were both even, 94-94, and both myself and Patrick L. Stumberg scored the truncated, 31-second 10th round even, 10-10.

Castellanos, 35, dropped Corrales twice in the fourth round, once a debatable flash knockdown and the other a clear flooring. Corrales, 26, came back to put Castellanos down in the seventh round.

But head clashes were a frequent story in the fight, too, which was mostly entertaining despite some holding problems from Corrales. And it was a head clash that ended things, as Corrales drilled Castellanos with a headbutt in the 10th, causing a bad cut and immediate swelling under Castellanos’ eye. The fight was stopped, and we went to the scorecards.

Fans in Inglewood booed the decision, and had mostly booed Corrales during the fight, in large part due to the aforementioned holding issues.

This was a very even fight that probably deserves a rematch, but in a sense it would be surprising to see Golden Boy send Corrales back out there with someone like Castellanos, who is tough and dangerous and not a glory opponent. Most likely, they expected Corrales to make a grand HBO debut with a flashy win, and instead they got a dogfight.