Chris Colbert says No rematch for “sore loser” Rayo Valenzuela

By Boxing News - 03/26/2023 - Comments

By Jake Tiernan: Returning from a long thirteen-month layoff and a bitter defeat, former WBA interim super featherweight champion Chris “Primetime” Colbert (17-1, 6 KOs) defeated the hard-hitting talented lightweight contender Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) by a narrow 10 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in a fight in the 135-lb weight class at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The scores were 95-94, 95-94, and 95-94. The Brooklyn, New York native Colbert, 26, was knocked down in the first round and had problems early on before settling down to dominate the second half of the contest with his boxing skills.

In the tenth round, Rayo appeared to hurt Colbert in the final seconds of the fight, but there wasn’t enough time for him to finish him off.

After the fight, the 23-year-old ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela was bitter about the loss, which was his second in a row, putting his career on shaky ground.

Rayo believes he deserved win

“I beat him,” said Rayo. “I want to thank everyone who came out here to support me. I thought I won. I was hitting him with the harder shots. I dropped him. I dominated.”

Rayo definitely landed the harder shots, but he was getting countered a lot by Colbert, and the judges were impressed by that.

“When are they going to respect me? I came off a thirteen-month layoff, got in the ring with a 135-pounder that’s way bigger than me, and swam with sharks. I got dropped, got up, and won the fight,” said Chris Colbert at the post-fight press conference after beating Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela by a 10 round unanimous decision.

“People don’t respect me. Everybody got an opinion, and it’s like an a**hole. We all got one. I knew it was a close fight. I’m an honest critic to myself. I knew it was a close fight,” Colbert said when asked what was going through his head as the scorecards were being read.

“I said, ‘Damn, that knockdown might be a draw. I don’t want a draw. I need to win. In boxing, sometimes you’re going to win pretty, and sometimes you ain’t. Today, it wasn’t a pretty win, but it don’t matter. I got the win.

“I can’t really say that his power was nothing crazy. Every time I could say he caught me with those unleashing shots because every time he would throw his left hands, it would thumb me in the eye, and it would blind my vision. Every time, it would blind my vision.

“I would tighten up, and he would start throwing. Every time he did that, he would get tired. 135 was just to come back and prove something, but I’m going back down to my weight class [130],” Colbert said.

Colbert says no rematch for sore loser

“F**k, no. He shouldn’t have been a sore loser. If he would have taken the loss like a man, I would have given him a rematch,” said Colbert. “Like I took my loss when I lost. I would have given him a rematch, but he was being a sore loser, so now he ain’t getting nothing,” said Colbert, making it clear that he’s not going to give a rematch to Rayo Valenzuela.

“I’m very convinced, and I said it. He ain’t getting a rematch because he’s a sore loser,” said Colbert when asked ‘How convinced are you that you won the fight, and why no rematch?’

“In this sport, you’re either going to win, lose or get a draw. You got to take your loss like a man like you take your wins. You see the way I did in my last fight? I took it on the chin. There was nothing I could do.

“I could have went out there and cried and made excuses. ‘That wasn’t me. That wasn’t me. I was sick.’ I didn’t make no excuses. I took my loss on the chin like a man. So why didn’t he take his? Now he’s not getting a rematch, and I’m going back to my weight class.

“No,” said Colbert when asked if he ever had any concerns during the fight. “When I got dropped, I didn’t even know what hit me. It was so quick that I didn’t even know what hit me.

“I opened my eyes, ‘Oh s**t, he dropped me.’ I said, ‘No problem. Stay composed. Stay composed. Stay relaxed.’ I’m from the trenches. I’m from the mud. I been through worse than that. So that ain’t about nothing.

“It’s about how you get up and handle the situation. I got up, and I started backing him up. He caught me with good shots, I ain’t going to lie, but I started dictating the fight with a jab and started backing him up, touching the body.

“There’s no question there if I won or not. He could have an opinion. Yes, I’m going back to get my belt. I ain’t no 135-pounder, naturally. I just went up to prove something, and I got the victory.

“Like I said, I would have given him the victory. I don’t care. I’m in this sport to create a legacy, and that’s a fight to create a legacy me and him.

“But him being a sore loser, talking crazy. I’m not with all that. I’m a professional. I want my belt [WBA super featherweight title]. I want my rematch [against Hector Luis Garcia]. If I can’t get my rematch, then whoever Al Haymon sends to me, I’m going to take it,’ said Colbert.

YouTube video