By Jim Slattengren: World Boxing Council light flyweight champion Edgar Sosa (31-5, 16 KOs) won an easy 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night, defeating a badly over-matched Jesus Iribe (13-5-3, 7 KOs) at the Domo De La Feria, Leon, in Guanajuato, Mexico. Iribe, 25, had lost two out of his last four fights going into Saturday night’s title match with Sosa, and clearly didn’t belong in the same ring with him. However, due to his rankings, #13 in the WBC, Iribe was given a shot due to this being a non-mandatory bout by the champion Sosa.
The fight had little suspense, as Sosa was able to control every round of the fight with his superior work rate as he pounded out a clear decision win over Iribe. In the first four rounds of the fight, both fighters uncharacteristically – for light flyweights, that is – threw a low amount of shots, but the most of the punches were being thrown by Sosa. Sticking mostly to his jab, Sosa would repeatedly tag Iribe in the face as he came forward trying to press the action.
By the 6th round, Iribe decided that this wasn’t working, and began using more movement, circling the ring to prevent getting hit by Sosa. This was partially effective, for it made Sosa turn into the chaser, allowing Iribe to land an occasional shot as he was coming in.
However, Sosa continued to land the far more telling blows, pinning Iribe to the ropes, whenever he could catch up to him, and hitting him with a flurry of combinations. In the 8th round, Sosa really began stepping up the amount of punches he was throwing, tagging Iribe over and over again with left-right shots. It appeared that he could take him out at any time if he chose to, but Sosa would let off on Iribe, as if wanting to keep the fight going as long as possible so as not to disappoint the large Mexican crowd.
Iribe’s face began to turn red by the 10th round, showing swelling around both eyes from the numerous punches he had absorbed at the hands of Sosa. By this time, Iribe was hopelessly behind in the right. However, instead of coming forward and trying to knock Sosa out in the 11th and 12th rounds, Iribe continued circling the ring, trying to avoid getting hit. It looked as if he was just trying to survive. In the end, he just didn’t have enough skills or fire power to compete with the champion Sosa.