Undefeated lightweight Andres "Savage" Cortes (25-0, 13 KOs) defeated Eridson Garcia (23-2, 14 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision (97-92, 96-93, 95-94) in the main event of Zuffa Boxing 05 in Las Vegas on April 5, 2026. Cortes dominated with superior inside fighting and higher punch output, landing 95 punches to Garcia's 67.
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#boxing #fullboxingreplays #boxingreplays #ufc #ufcreplays #ufcfullreplays #Andres Cortes #Eridson Garcia
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00documented that the vegas guy andres cortez loves gambling vegas guy who's a casino guy
00:00:06max what about tonight when it comes to gambling in the ring does he need to be a risk taker
00:00:11or can
00:00:12he play it safe i think he is a risk taker by nature whether or not that turns out to
00:00:17be the
00:00:17right strategy i always feel watching cortez that there's more there that he has this aggressive
00:00:23kind of uh mentality but doesn't necessarily always need to he looks to me like he has all
00:00:31the tools andre but he has the temperament of a guy who likes to press it yeah he's got to
00:00:36put it all
00:00:36together tonight though yeah you know when you're up betting table tennis at one in the morning
00:00:49we've seen this throughout i mean the two that come to mind in american sports michael jordan and
00:00:56pete rose where they were where they were you know gambling stories they're so super competitive
00:01:03they need an outlet for that competitiveness constantly mayweather too floyd too absolutely
00:01:08that's another one right i can't believe i would overlook that back back back spilled with cash up
00:01:12and down the strip and what you hear about cortez is not just that not just the gambling on table
00:01:17tennis at 1 a.m but he's gaming constantly he needs a constant outlet for his competitiveness
00:01:23that's what it is that fiery competitor who needs to compete let's look at the tail of the tape
00:01:28between andres cortez and garcia garcia has the reach advantage 71 to 65 and remember what we said
00:01:38about the funneling towards having a foundation of a lightweight division in zufa boxing the winner
00:01:45tonight will be in very good position with mark marcel rio valenzuela edwin de los santos let's see
00:01:52which way it goes up to joe we go and now ladies and gentlemen the moment we've all been waiting
00:01:59for is now
00:02:04live from the meta apex here in the fight capital of the world las vegas nevada this is the main
00:02:12event
00:02:1310 rounds of boxing this scheduled in the lightweight division it is sanctioned by the nevada state athletic
00:02:19commission executive director jeff mullen the chairman dallas haugh the three judges scoring at ringside
00:02:26max de luca patricia morse jarman and steve weisfeld and inside the ring your referee in charge of the
00:02:35action thomas taylor and now ladies and gentlemen the judges are ready the fighters are ready the boxing world
00:02:44is ready las vegas make some noise and you are ready
00:02:54introducing you first fighting out of the blue corner wearing white trunks trimmed in the flag of the
00:03:00dominican republic he weighted officially 135 pounds and in 24 professional fights holds a record of 23
00:03:09victories one defeat 14 wins coming by way of knockout fighting out of houston texas this is santo domingo
00:03:17de la republica dominicana here is edison garcia
00:03:28in the cross the ring stands his opponent fighting out of the red corner he wears solid black with the
00:03:35flag of
00:03:35the usa he weighed in also 135 pounds and in 24 professional fights he is perfect 24 victories no defeats
00:03:4713 wins
00:03:49coming by way of knockout fighting out of and representing las vegas nevada he is the undefeated andres
00:04:10courtes
00:04:11okay gentlemen listen up we got middle of the letters on this side middle of the letters on this side
00:04:15you both got my instructions in the back protect yourselves at all times listen to my commands touch
00:04:20him up touch him up back to your corner gentlemen so cortez is the undefeated fighter but we told you
00:04:25the late
00:04:25money came in on aaron garcia he's the favorite fighter of course he has that one big blemish and
00:04:32you say well what happened back in august of 23 the first round knockout to jordan white we went into
00:04:37depth talking about it he said listen i was going through a lot of problems at the time managerial
00:04:42problems dropped eight pounds and was really just training to try to make weight just dropping eight
00:04:48pounds like one of those nights he says where just everything went against him he doesn't even feel like
00:04:54it was a loss at this point it's so far in the rearview mirrors compared to where he is now
00:04:58these are two high level lightweights
00:05:02these are two high level lightweights are two high level lightweights are two high level
00:05:09beautiful beautiful beautiful
00:05:14garcia not going for the faints of cortez at the moment
00:05:18beautiful
00:05:23what is trying to thank garcia out of position to see if he can land a shot early in this
00:05:27first round
00:05:35watch for the explosiveness of garcia he bides his time he's an economical puncher but when he sees an
00:05:42opening he strikes very quickly as he did in that last fight back in december against amanaga
00:05:53it's best for cortez to keep motion even if it's subtle motion
00:05:59so when garcia strikes he's in position to get out of the way he took your advice as you were
00:06:05saying it
00:06:29quick combination from cortez and good defense from garcia yeah that high guard of garcia blocking the majority of that
00:06:42you have to be patient with garcia and you have to be alert at all times because
00:06:46he can lull you to sleep by not throwing punches and then he'll strike
00:06:52cortez doing the right thing not looking for anything too big just taking what garcia gives him
00:07:00two and three at this point a couple of the good fighters
00:07:07i mean they're doing things in there subtle things that are high level
00:07:17trying to bait each other
00:07:18four and three at this point
00:07:22four and four
00:07:26five
00:07:27five
00:07:27five
00:07:29.
00:07:49It looked like just then, like,
00:07:51through most of the round, they were saying,
00:07:53okay, that trick doesn't work on you,
00:07:55my little trick doesn't work on you,
00:07:56and at the very end, they're like,
00:07:57all right, let's mix it up.
00:07:58Hear the clap, but things change.
00:08:00Erickson Garcia back to his corner.
00:08:02Dominican Republic native.
00:08:04There is his wife, Marissa Heide.
00:08:07Yes, you know, I just spoke to Marissa.
00:08:09She's what Erickson calls his secret weapon.
00:08:12He told us that she watches more tape on boxing
00:08:15than he does and actually builds scouting reports for him.
00:08:20The two met at a boxing event.
00:08:23She asked for a picture with him,
00:08:25and then she posted it on her story.
00:08:28It was back during COVID,
00:08:28so they were wearing masks,
00:08:30didn't really get to see each other.
00:08:31He saw that story posted on the profile,
00:08:34slid into the direct mess, the DMs,
00:08:36I guess the kids call them these days,
00:08:37and the rest was history.
00:08:40She said she knew what she was getting into marrying a boxer,
00:08:42and she wouldn't want it any other way.
00:08:46She is locked in, focused,
00:08:48watching, seeing the tension.
00:08:51It was anytime you see the spouses,
00:08:53the loved ones watching ringside.
00:08:56You always look into the rise,
00:08:57and you see him taking those deep breaths,
00:09:00so much on the line,
00:09:03especially this career juncture for Erickson Garcia.
00:09:08Fans can relate to this.
00:09:10You get behind a fighter,
00:09:11you start to root for them,
00:09:12you identify with them, whatever,
00:09:13and they're in a top fight against a guy
00:09:15just as good as them.
00:09:16There's that nervous energy you have the whole time.
00:09:18Now imagine the position she's in.
00:09:20She's having a hard time breathing it looks like.
00:09:28Oh!
00:09:32Beautiful, champ,
00:09:33that's what I'm talking about!
00:09:34Sneak attacks coming from Garcia at the moment.
00:09:37Shooting Cortez.
00:09:39Cortez, patient,
00:09:40and then he explodes with twos and threes.
00:09:43And what's impressive is,
00:09:44yeah, he's throwing fast too, Andre.
00:09:47And they're mostly getting picked off.
00:09:50Both these guys can really fight.
00:09:55it's okay
00:09:57haven't really seen garcia open up yet in this fight
00:10:00it's true should say she can really box we'll see how well they fight
00:10:03this thing as this thing heats up
00:10:18cortez is so far nullify garcia's offense by not giving him an obvious time to
00:10:24counter anything you said sneak attack andre it comes out of nowhere he's you
00:10:31know garcia is too busy on defense
00:10:35garcia's got to start taking some chances
00:10:43southpaw comes forward with that long range left hand there
00:10:47tried to land the right uppercut once
00:10:50cortez crossed that threshold you know i mean not a lot of shots have landed so
00:10:54far in this round
00:10:58how many has cortez landed until now because garcia just landed a couple
00:11:03clean shots downstairs
00:11:07there's cortez getting to the inside
00:11:22good little shot upstairs from cortez and an uppercut and that short right hand as garcia was falling in
00:11:31keep fading into the work
00:11:34and then go gotta let's stop stop stop stop
00:11:38you gotta watch them here man come on
00:11:40cortez so far is carrying the fight on activity
00:11:42in bursts
00:11:49let them go let them go stop stop stop stop stop
00:11:52keep holding
00:11:52go
00:11:56listen for the bell
00:11:57get out of here
00:11:57get out of here
00:11:59get out of here
00:12:09breath keep breathing water ralph water
00:12:14good work keep going to the body all right
00:12:16one of them i'm holding just yes thank you that's going to have one lucky right now so
00:12:20keep breathing the feints you hear me keep feigning them keep jabbing keep finding keep
00:12:26feigning keep killing them with the feet beautiful work champs easy let's go two zero
00:12:33great scene here at meta apex for zufa boxing five and you can head to zufa boxing store.com
00:12:40to see some of the merch out there the latest fan here in styles and memorabilia
00:12:45be there from the beginning in zufa boxing history and gear up today some good looking stuff there
00:12:51had some great action earlier tonight spectacular one punch knockout by alexis
00:12:57de la cerda jorge maravilla had a tko moments ago the big power of mark maxio can go to paramount
00:13:06plus
00:13:06watch back the fights anytime you want saw garcia open up just a little bit
00:13:13for about a 30 second burst with some left to the body a few to the head he's got a
00:13:19strong
00:13:19offense he's got to start letting that offense warm up right now but sometimes andre his offense relies on
00:13:27making the other guy make a mistake and cortez so far has kind of limited contact at times then
00:13:34come in with a little flurry done a little good work not stuck around for the receipt
00:13:39it's it's he's kind of nullifying garcia's offense with his own
00:13:44kind of intermittent offense well garcia doesn't want to throw unless he knows he's going to land
00:13:49and cortez is doing the opposite he's punching himself into position yeah garcia needs to take
00:13:54some of what cortez is doing and use it against him
00:14:02every shot cortez is throwing is not landing but he's more active and he'll ultimately win these
00:14:07rounds and he has a more active style anyway yes
00:14:11just that right there the short right hand that possibly landed but it looks like he's doing more
00:14:16and garcia is not answering he's posturing and posing which is his style but he normally throws a
00:14:24lot more in spots like this because he's in with a fighter who's fighting intelligently and he's a moving target
00:14:55but what i like is even though there hasn't been furious action we haven't had anyone running we
00:15:00haven't had anyone clinching there has been posturing and feinting and everything there's a clinch but
00:15:08it's it's high level boxing with a little less contact maybe than you'd like but
00:15:12let him go that seems to be changing as the fight wears on too
00:15:18you gotta stop the holding all right go
00:15:22as i was saying not a lot of holding there exactly then there's the warning from thomas taylor
00:15:46the south pole orthodox thing is resulting in these weird positions
00:15:50where they're kind of tied up it's been eight years since cortez has been in against the lefty
00:15:55yeah it's also the way cortez is coming he's coming in very very hard he's dipping his head
00:15:58and if garcia doesn't manage that distance just right they'll have a catch
00:16:03not like that because once they're in that position you don't want the guy to hit you
00:16:19get into my limit on the holding he's got to stop holding listen he can clinch but as soon as
00:16:24i say
00:16:24he can't let go he's got to let go he doesn't it's going to start to cost him all right
00:16:33when you have to tell you to let go you have to like 30 seconds of it to go whenever
00:16:37you're
00:16:38close to it you always have to be shooting always have to be pushing this round we have to put
00:16:43some
00:16:44more strikes to this one okay in this round we need to be more active
00:16:48okay yeah whenever you let go let it loose okay more
00:16:56yeah be very alert all the time
00:17:00be very aware
00:17:03ericson garcia has a strong left hand he throws it over the top right then he lands
00:17:07but it's just too far and few in between at the moment
00:17:15start of round four according to copy box there have only been 23 punches connected in this fight
00:17:30total total 12 for cortez 11 for garcia
00:17:36you're not counting those little taps on the inside not at all
00:17:45let it go all right stop stop stop yeah and now the ref is right i retract my earlier statement
00:17:54garcia is one point holding one point holding one point holding bro you got to stop the holding
00:18:00i understand all the way back thought that was a little premature but he did warn him and he did
00:18:06hold again and the main thing is you can clinch but when i say break you gotta let go he
00:18:11also went
00:18:12over to the corner and was very direct after the round of setting up where he would then go the
00:18:17next
00:18:17time he sees it and you see the reason for the holding partly is there in an awkward position yeah
00:18:24and
00:18:25partly is as you said drey he's more careful with the placement of his shots and won't let his hands
00:18:30go as much yeah i like this rock but i'm not going to break anybody because you you yell and
00:18:37tell me
00:18:37to break that's an amateur thing when i say break you obey my commands you got to get in there
00:18:41and
00:18:41physically pride me apart i don't trust that he's going to do the right thing so no i'm not going
00:18:45to
00:18:45break just because you say break you got to get in there and you have to break us up
00:18:52it is producing a better fight it is so far there's no urgency from garcia
00:19:01well because what garcia was doing when he wasn't in position because he doesn't like to just move his
00:19:05hands
00:19:26garcia doesn't trust himself inside right
00:19:31i believe he's actually the faster fighter inside but he's not used to putting his punches
00:19:37together in longer combinations uncomfortable which is why he holds and he looks for the referee to come
00:19:43in but he can actually get a lot of work done in there start to let some of that punishment
00:19:47from the
00:19:48body shot soak in so he can land the cleaner head shots that he likes to throw right now garcia
00:19:53is
00:19:54giving this fight away one round at a time and what's impressive about cortez so far is
00:20:00he's a guy who can classically beat you you know and in a more kind of normal fight behind a
00:20:06jab
00:20:06behind high volume punching behind sharp shooting and this is sort of an uglier kind of fight
00:20:13all right stop that's up that he's also figuring out a way to win round by round told you cortez
00:20:19only
00:20:19had 12 punches landed in the first three rounds he's well over that number just here in round 4-1
00:20:24stop stop stop stop time time
00:20:27hey fight zero bro this is your fucking fight bro just stay sure stay sworn this is your
00:20:34fucking fight you hear me breathe put some of your good fucking work bro let's go keep breathing
00:20:42you locked it already slow down your breathing but keep finding that jab and keep going to the
00:20:47body see i told you he's gonna get frustrated your beautiful fucking work but stay smart bro please
00:20:52you have him keep making a miss this is your fight yes defense first and find your job now okay
00:20:58breathe
00:21:00andre's brother luis in the corner slow down and breathe
00:21:04wipe your gloves off for me yeah you got this fight on this it's your fight you hear me don't
00:21:09let him take it
00:21:10from you don't get this motherfucker break him stay smart though okay beautiful stay the
00:21:16fuck off for the ropes okay we don't need to be there beautiful defense let's go
00:21:19all right andres cortez who is top 10 ranked in ring magazine at 130 pounds of course in zufa the
00:21:36eight divisions with lightweight recognized so trying to be a top contending lightweight within
00:21:42zufa system which is really building out the lightweight division quite well we just saw moments
00:21:47ago mark mcsayo with an impressive tko victory
00:21:53i know cortez likes to throw the flashier quicker punches like that but he can slow his offense down
00:22:00as well too still be quick but he doesn't have to rush his offense and throw six seven punch
00:22:04combinations all the time a two or three a four piece here and there is just enough and he can
00:22:10put more power on those shots i thought um cortez's brother was a little bit all over the place in
00:22:16the
00:22:16corner but the thing the interesting thing he said to me andres he wanted to get that jab going
00:22:20it's not a bad idea because he hasn't really been dominating the fight behind the jab he's capable of it
00:22:26because he's facing a southpaw he hasn't faced a southpaw for seven or eight years and for an
00:22:31orthodox fighter they think they can't hit a southpaw with the jab but the head is closer
00:22:36being left-handed than it is if you're right-handed so it's a great idea he should pick his jab
00:22:40up
00:22:40his brother louise by the way was a great amateur standout he was giving him good instruction but it's
00:22:47like three or four different instructions it was it was also filled with a lot of emotion too you could
00:22:52see it and read it and hear it on him in terms of how much this means to these two
00:22:56well he's
00:22:57vacillating between being a brother and being exactly what you see on display yeah but the jab
00:23:02part stood out to me it didn't even really occur to me cortez is winning the fight and hasn't really
00:23:07unfurled the jab yet
00:23:21to cortez gets inside this pop pop pop and it can't be pop pop pop he can slow down the
00:23:27cadence
00:23:28and have a more placed shot that does more damage and you can rest assured that the judge will see
00:23:34that
00:23:35over a quick four five-piece combination well i don't see how a judge can be giving
00:23:41garcia these rounds because i just don't think he's active enough no i hear you but cortez can be
00:23:46more effective off the head off that stop stop see his brother cortez's brother in the corner is
00:23:52worried about garcia's power because he kept whenever you give an instruction in terms of picking up the
00:23:58base he can't keep the people that's right tight defense defense first
00:24:05there is louis
00:24:10but cortez is doing what he needs to do keep working 15 seconds chan close it out
00:24:17louis was a three-time national champion was andre who was four years old start going to
00:24:21gym to watch his older brother and that was the inspiration to become a fighter himself as we come to
00:24:26the end of round number five and our lightweight main event scheduled for 10. at the bell
00:24:40winning this fight bro halfway there breathe
00:24:48breathe how you feel good keep using that jab key state to the body faints faints don't let him come
00:24:55back into the fight bro you have this in the bag close it out hear me breathe breathe breathe
00:25:01so breathe again press his ass okay press his ass smartly defense first find that jab keep going to
00:25:10that body let's go breathe breathe again again stay smart though yes yes use that jab
00:25:21you feign him feign him be first okay almost close it out this fight's your fight he don't like the
00:25:28inside at all number six you're good right there
00:25:35round number six here between andres cortez and arison garcia cortez listening to his brother trainer
00:25:42louis making the comment that arison garcia doesn't like being on the inside at all to go there and take
00:25:48the fight there that's the true story yeah i was going to say he's not wrong
00:25:53garcia is very uncomfortable on the inside just hasn't learned to fight there he's not comfortable
00:26:00there and doesn't really know what shots to throw when he's on the inside between two high level boxers
00:26:07in a fight like this the question is who has a deeper bag and if you're a two distance fighter
00:26:13long and mid-range that's not the same thing as being proficient at all three distances
00:26:21cortez seems to have a deeper bag so far
00:26:26let's check in with heidi well we heard cortez's corners tell his
00:26:30tell his fighter that they were winning this fight but in garcia's corner they believe they've lost
00:26:35every single round they told their fighter we need to now win every round going forward they want him to
00:26:40change the rhythm and put more pressure on him joe see if he does that right here so one corner
00:26:46we
00:26:47we're winning and the other quarter we're losing
00:26:51seems like we're all seeing the same thing yeah i like a lot of what garcia has done before he
00:26:56got
00:26:57into this fight tonight max i can't give him the high level fighter tag because in moments like this
00:27:02even if things aren't going right for you you have something else to fall back on you do have a
00:27:07deep bag
00:27:08and right now i'm not seeing the depth of garcia's bag all right stop stop stop i mean part of
00:27:13it is
00:27:14his style of fighting is kind of more uh controlled and if you're not proficient on the inside and the
00:27:23other guy is willing to take some more chances and throw the combinations and that's not your style what
00:27:29you're left with is that where he resorts to what he knows which is control him anyway and that's
00:27:34tying him up but that's the problem you made my point for me you gotta you gotta have some answers
00:27:39for that yeah it's already been a point deduction in round number four with your mercy that's what
00:27:46you're talking about a lot of times andre separates the elite from the world class you know there are lots
00:27:51a really good fighters some of them have belts whose bags aren't quite deep enough because of this
00:27:57because maybe they have two distances but not all three cortes taking advantage on the inside again
00:28:03closing that range and smothering garcia yes he is and i think he needs to stay right there mid-range
00:28:09and in close i don't even think he needs to move as much as he's moving because if garcia doesn't
00:28:15like it here keep him right here mid-range and in close force him to show you that he's got
00:28:20something in
00:28:20his bag and if he doesn't it's gonna be a tough night for him you're pulling his head down that's
00:28:24on
00:28:25you go i don't know if garcia needed that shot right hand on the inside from cortez
00:28:34getting the best of it on the inside is andres cortez
00:28:52there's a little too much nothing everything's okay this is this is secondary
00:28:58he's very dirty he's very dirty
00:29:04he's doing oh he's not guys guys he's coming with his head low but he's coming with the head low
00:29:08that's a natural reaction i'll keep an eye and i'll keep an eye and i got a break and you
00:29:11can't relax
00:29:15relax relax right now we have to we have to do this we have to do right we got like
00:29:19three reps
00:29:20that's what's up we have to knock him out that's what we need to do
00:29:23we have to do this that's it that's it that's it that's it that's what we need to do
00:29:28oh
00:29:34see cortez right here getting garcia where he doesn't like to be inside yeah he threw one shot right
00:29:40there but cortez threw a lot more shots and he's dogging garcia on the inside he's bullying him he's
00:29:46hitting him with shots to the body which hurt and then short shots to the head that's not a place
00:29:50that garcia wants to be go back to boxing time in yeah cortez's bag back to the bags is deep
00:29:58enough
00:29:58that he can figure it out on the fly you can go in with an idea of what you want
00:30:02to do whatever your
00:30:03opponent presents you can reach for the tool in the bag that you need for that moment he's got a
00:30:08lot
00:30:09of them let's hear how our unofficial judge skip calpazzo test i have a 60 to 53 for cortez
00:30:15cortez is audible about three times he came out trying to box initially they cancelled each other
00:30:21out then he started darting in and out getting some points and then he figured out he can stay on
00:30:26the
00:30:26inside to win i haven't winning clearly and that round four you see the 10-8 round that is the
00:30:31point
00:30:31deduction so 60 to 53 keep in mind in the big win that garcia came up with last time out
00:30:39against the
00:30:39undefeated japanese fighter amanaga he was trailing big and then in round number eight that's when
00:30:46the power showed up and he was able to win those last three rounds scored with the power of the
00:30:52knock down there and pulled out the split decision win which is why cortez's brother in the corner
00:30:57always qualifies whatever he says defense defense that's on his mind and what skipper said that's
00:31:05cosine every single word i think that's exactly what's going on so far that's on you now you're
00:31:09starting to hold all right go give you an example of elite fighters who fought millions of world-class
00:31:15guys right on a different level than these guys canelo and caleb plant caleb plant excellent fighter
00:31:23at two distances canelo all three and that was the difference in that fight really
00:31:46so garcia having a little bit more success combination of him throwing more punches landing
00:31:53more punches which is giving him more confidence and maybe a little bit of a fatigue from cortez
00:32:01and also he's been forced to move his hands more because he can't get away with clinching as much
00:32:07and he's seen cortez now for seven rounds
00:32:10keep working
00:32:35right hand counter right hand from andres cortez here in the final half minute of round number
00:32:43seven trying to move his mark to 25 and 0
00:32:55you can see that confidence feels like we're building to a crescendo here doesn't it it does
00:33:01and cortez would agree with that as well breathe good fucking work he boxing the shit out of him
00:33:08bro boxing the shit out of him breathe rep we're not trying to hold thank you breathe breathe you're
00:33:17gonna clinch don't underhook because i got you i got you i'll let you clinch until i say let go
00:33:20breathe breathe breathe just like that three more rounds bro three more rounds close the fucking show
00:33:27breathe breathe one more round is your fucking fight well let's close this shit out let's close
00:33:34it out breathe breathe deep breaths through the nose
00:33:50let's go let's go let's go back and look at that right hand from cortez cortez lands this shot because
00:33:55he flicks that jab in the face of garcia blinds him garcia poses and takes a picture while cortez is
00:34:02working good shot right there from andres cortez
00:34:16to cortez taking a breather early in this round and giving garcia a different look a lot of movement for
00:34:25a breather
00:34:25yeah what's up but when you're in great shape you can get your breath back moving you should be able
00:34:30to get your wind back with outstanding station
00:34:45you see cortez is breathing through his mouth a little bit more right now
00:34:52he seems to want the breather as you said looks a little bit fatigued
00:35:00and garcia is not doing anything about it that's the problem right you've got to take advantage right
00:35:05now all fighters take moments off or rounds off the question is will the opponent allow them right
00:35:11now garcia is allowing cortez to do what he wants to do all right stop stop stop straight back straight
00:35:17back
00:35:17really an excellent performance by cortez so far if he's gassing garcia's got to go right now
00:35:23there you go let it go let it go work out of that guys work out of it hands are
00:35:33free hands are free
00:35:35appreciate the ref letting him work out of that
00:35:52good clean left hook yeah on top of the head i can throw off the equilibrium and just had garcia
00:35:58taking a step back for a moment
00:36:13let's go
00:36:15beautiful
00:36:28let's go
00:36:29great defense
00:36:36no those were arm punches just now from garcia he's not going to win the fight like that he's
00:36:40got to sit down on something andre and throw it like he means it he's never gotten to a good
00:36:45rhythm until this fight to even land a meaningful shot like that he's being reactive to everything
00:36:51that cortez is doing cortez has dictated and dominated this fight for most of the time
00:36:56and listen for the bell the next two rounds you have to put more combos on there and go ahead
00:37:16okay this is not this is the ninth round more combos i want you to pressure him
00:37:22you have to win this damn fight i don't want one one that guy with three four okay
00:37:27always set it up with the jab and go back we're going to win we're going to win this fight
00:37:33but
00:37:33you need to put some pressure you need to put some combos that's it this is good this is going
00:37:38to
00:37:38change everything these two rounds you have to go with everything leave everything in the ring let's
00:37:45we're going to leave everything here okay that's it this is for your mom for your dad this is for
00:37:52your
00:37:52family trying to bring about inspiration with ericson garcia to leave everything in the ring mentioning his
00:38:03family there is his wife marisa looking on beautiful she knows the fight game well she's clearly well
00:38:15aware of the circumstances here with two rounds to go when you hear a trainer test late in the fight
00:38:21going down the family tree exactly for motivation typically it means that things haven't been going
00:38:27their way yeah you're in a hole that needs a ladder
00:38:34garcia was practically choked with emotion when talking about this fight with mark creagle
00:38:42you know several days ago and he's got to let that out now and in the next round where he's
00:38:49going to
00:38:49lose the fight for sure stop stop stop i just don't think garcia's believed in himself in this fight i
00:38:56think he's been in his head i'm sure he had a good training camp and prepared like every other fighter
00:38:59that was on the car tonight but there's a threshold that you have to step over when you get in
00:39:04a ring
00:39:04it goes from i believe i can win to actually showing and and doing the work and executing what
00:39:11you've prepared for and he hasn't been able to cross that threshold tonight
00:39:16some a lot of that has to do with cortez as well getting a fast pace and while garcia is
00:39:22thinking he's
00:39:23punching and just giving him looks and movements that he's had no answers for tonight garcia cortez
00:39:29has fought a brainy fight and garcia's done a little better in the last several rounds
00:39:34but those kind of shots that he's landing as i said arm punches ain't gonna do it he's gonna have
00:39:39to throw it like he really means it yeah but he just missed three shots cortez lands a clean right
00:39:45hand ties him up and resets that's the kind of step that's been been garcia's had to deal with
00:39:50mentioned all right stop stop stop he's got cortez in the corner right there can't land let's see
00:39:55what cortez does it comes in there cortez has been the better fighter defensively offensively all
00:40:00around the board yep in terms of his pace ring generalship
00:40:08and though cortez can be accurate at times he's not a big puncher so there should have been space and
00:40:13opportunity for garcia to take a risk he's a sharp puncher he's not a big puncher right sharp is the
00:40:19right
00:40:27word and this is the real estate where the fight has been won by cortez right here
00:40:45he's not a big puncher he's not a big puncher he's not a big puncher he's not a big puncher
00:40:47tess as a fighter you have to believe in your stuff what you bring to the table in the biggest
00:40:53moments unfortunately garcia hasn't done that to you but we saw a fighter tony hurst jr against
00:40:58robert merriweather he did believe well also it's easier to believe when you have superior skills
00:41:04but he had to prove it
00:41:11last round it closes out great boxing bro stay smart as this round all right you already
00:41:17you already you already got the fight in the back breathe how you feel it's your night baby it's your
00:41:24night great defense he's coming out with everything stay sharp stay smart baby huh this fight's in the
00:41:31bag done this fight's in the bag great work baby proud of you my head how do you close this
00:41:39shit the fuck out close it out champ huh oh my god let's go wipe your gloves hands three give
00:41:47me the
00:41:48three but again almost champ almost last round boxing the shit out of him baby good fucking work
00:41:55big look in that body yes good fucking work three big brother luis cortez has said close it out for
00:42:03about ladies and gentlemen this is the final round three minutes remain let's hear you one more time las
00:42:10vegas now he can close it out last one guys keep it clean maintain that undefeated mark his status as
00:42:19a top
00:42:1910 fighter and put himself in position for what is a good group of lightweights contending within zufa
00:42:29yeah very good group de los santos by the way yes gave shakur stevenson the best fight of stevenson's
00:42:34professional career as a close fight no doubt about it neutralized him for most of that fight and we've
00:42:38seen ryo valenzuela a really good fighter got some good lightweights
00:42:48and our co-feature tonight's uh mark maxayo with a tko victory from a featherweight strap holder now
00:42:55contending at lightweight as well one of the things you do when you don't go junior divisions
00:43:00is you're forcing more good fighters into one division
00:43:08throughout the years of a lot of boxing fans have geeked out on this some magazines and used to do
00:43:13it sometimes imagine if you combine the junior divisions with the regular ones and it's just
00:43:18amazing how many good fighters you can get in the top ten and cortez certainly looks like he's in the
00:43:26top
00:43:26ten after tonight
00:43:35up the head up tonight it's now or never for garcia but nothing's changed dre it's now or never
00:43:47with sneaky right hand from cortez really was says we're looking for a big shot i'm looking for a big
00:44:06a big shot too
00:44:08right stop
00:44:21Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, no knockdown.
00:44:23Give me your gloves, give me your gloves.
00:44:33Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
00:44:39I think Troy Nash put on a great performance tonight, but Tony Hurst Jr. is my fighter of
00:44:51the night tonight.
00:44:52Agreed.
00:44:53I think that's a pretty...
00:44:54That's the bonus for me.
00:44:55Yeah, I agree.
00:44:56Considering who he was in with...
00:44:58And how he did it.
00:44:58And how he did it, that's the fighter of the night, and I will say this about Cortez,
00:45:04guys, he's gonna be tough to beat.
00:45:09He's got a lot.
00:45:11And he's about to be officially 25-0.
00:45:19Vegas-based Andres Cortez.
00:45:23We'll get the official decision.
00:45:25We'll hear from him.
00:45:26And then you've got the post-show coming up with Molly and the crew as well.
00:45:31Went out, executed the game plan, and had it his way, Andres Cortez.
00:45:40Thanks for being followed.
00:45:42So we're gonna talk to America.
00:45:44Bye.
00:45:44Bye.
00:46:01Bye.
00:46:45We'll go inside the numbers from our main event, a main event that was controlled by Andres Cortez.
00:46:52It was not the most offensive, friendly main event.
00:46:55Cortez did have a 95 to 67 advantage.
00:47:00Let's go up to the ring to Joe Martinez.
00:47:04Ladies and gentlemen, after 10 rounds of boxing, we go to the scorecards.
00:47:09The judges see it.
00:47:1197, 92, 96, 93, and 95 and 94, all for your winner.
00:47:18By unanimous decision, he is still undefeated, Andres Cortez!
00:47:30Perhaps wider spread scorecards than you would think, but unanimous decision win nonetheless.
00:47:35Congratulations.
00:47:36The judges had it closer than we did at ringside.
00:47:41That's a good young fighter you just distanced yourself from.
00:47:46How do you grade your performance?
00:47:48You know, it was not perfect.
00:47:50It was not an egg, because I didn't knock him out.
00:47:52You know, I come in here to knock him out, but, you know, there was moments where I felt
00:47:56like he was coming in with his head and elbows, so I had to keep it clean.
00:47:58But, everybody, happy Easter.
00:48:00Today's an amazing day.
00:48:02Happy Sunday, everybody.
00:48:04Ringside, Skipper Kelp, who is scoring the fight, said something I thought was right on
00:48:09the money.
00:48:10In every stage of the fight, you were figuring stuff out.
00:48:14Early, you were kind of sneak attack, you know, land a couple shots, but as the fight
00:48:19progressed, you started doing different things.
00:48:22Ultimately, you wound up on the inside.
00:48:24Can you take us through that?
00:48:25You know, they told me they was going to take me to school.
00:48:28I think I took Fahaz to school.
00:48:32It wasn't the most scintillating fight, but you did get to show a lot in your repertoire.
00:48:37You seemed to just have a deeper bag than him.
00:48:41You know, on the books, you know, the sports, you know, they had me as a dog, so, you know,
00:48:46I just wanted to prove that I could win, and I was not supposed to be a dog tonight.
00:48:51We talked about that, too.
00:48:53So, now you look at the lightweight division shaping up at Zufa.
00:48:56There are names like Delos Santos, Ryo Valenzuela, good lightweights, along with you.
00:49:05Who do you have your eye on?
00:49:07You know, I signed this contract to be a Zufa champ, so I definitely want to, you know,
00:49:11go in there and fight for the title.
00:49:13I don't care who it is.
00:49:15Anybody, if the title fight's already in line, I mean, I would love to fight the co-main event tonight,
00:49:20which was Mark Manezio.
00:49:21I would love that fight.
00:49:23Mark Zio.
00:49:24Mark Zio.
00:49:25Anybody.
00:49:27Does it feel to you like you've entered into a kind of tournament, even though it's not being called one,
00:49:32that tonight the lightweights were shown, and, hey, the winners advance,
00:49:36and you're looking at some of the other names I mentioned?
00:49:38Man, I've been chasing the biggest dogs.
00:49:41You know, Emmanuel Navarrete, all the big names.
00:49:44So, man, this shit ain't nothing to me.
00:49:46Congratulations.
00:49:47That was an impressive win.
00:49:49We'll see you soon, I'm sure.
00:49:51Dre, it'd be pretty good to see McSire against Cortez.
00:49:54Hey, and everybody who put the bets on me, cash it.
00:49:56Let's go back and take a look at Andres Cortez and his body of work tonight, Dre.
00:50:01Yeah, Cortez started the fight very, very fast.
00:50:03Garcia had a few moments.
00:50:05He landed a few shots right there, but Cortez, being the veteran that he is,
00:50:09he weathered those moments, and he just continued to maul and take Garcia to a place in the fight
00:50:16that he didn't want to be, which was inside, in mid-range.
00:50:19And then Cortez would pop shot Garcia like that and land single big shots.
00:50:25And then all of a sudden, he's back on him again with inside work like that.
00:50:28And he just had Garcia bewildered, bebuttled, confused, discouraged, you name it.
00:50:35Cortez gave Garcia that feeling tonight.
00:50:38He did what he had to do to get his hand raised.
00:50:4025-0 is Cortez.
00:50:42It was a good night of boxing, Azufa Box.
00:50:44We're going to wrap it all up in moments with Molly Karam and the crew on the Zufa Boxing post
00:50:50-show.
00:50:50Don't go anywhere.
00:50:52Andres Cortez dismantles Aritzan.
00:50:55Garcia handles him with ease for the unanimous decision win in the main event.
00:51:03Welcome to Zufa Boxing 5!
00:51:18What a knockout!
00:51:21You're going to leave me now.
00:51:23My soul won't break down.
00:51:26It's the best out of now.
00:51:28Until it all breaks down.
00:51:31You're going to leave me now.
00:51:52Andres Cortez.
00:51:54Andres Cortez.
00:51:55You're going to leave me now.
00:51:55Andres Cortez.
00:51:56Yes, release your� thisxt.
00:51:56Andres Cortez.こちら
00:52:07with Synghara. Well,
00:52:10he said, Oh,
00:52:11yeah. Andresor.
00:53:18Thank you for being with us where it all went down at the meta apex.
00:53:21I'm with my guys per usual Mark Kriegel and Antonio Tarver.
00:53:26Gentlemen, happy Easter once again.
00:53:29Heck of a night.
00:53:30And let's kick things off with the main event.
00:53:32Let's show folks some highlights.
00:53:34You want to walk me through it, Antonio.
00:53:35Andres Cortez stays undefeated at 25-0.
00:53:40How impressed were you with him tonight?
00:53:42Well, I think he could have been a little bit more impressive, but, you know, styles make fights.
00:53:47And these guys were struggling to get their distance and timing all night long.
00:53:51But it was the dog in Cortez that kept him ahead in this fight.
00:53:56But you said it was a style class.
00:53:57Styles do make fights, and it was precisely because of that that Andres Cortez was able
00:54:06to impose his style on Erickson Garcia that he won and won cleanly, 25-0.
00:54:12He is the more resourceful fighter.
00:54:14He's the guy who was able to impose his will.
00:54:16And as it was said on the broadcast, he has a deeper bag.
00:54:19This is what Andres Cortez is.
00:54:22He was able to make this into a mauling, brawling style.
00:54:26But that's his technique.
00:54:27There's a craft to what he does inside.
00:54:29But, Antonio, you thought he was rushing a little bit and still needs to master his
00:54:32distance a bit more.
00:54:33Well, we always can get better.
00:54:35You know, that jab was ineffective tonight.
00:54:37You know what I'm saying?
00:54:38If that jab would have been working effectively, he could have managed that range and distance
00:54:42a little bit more to put more combinations together.
00:54:45But he'll develop more as he goes on.
00:54:47Did you feel like Garcia wasn't trusting himself tonight?
00:54:50No.
00:54:50I thought Garcia trusted himself.
00:54:52I thought that what he scouted, what he thought he would see, was not there.
00:54:56He thought he was going to see a reckless guy.
00:54:59What he saw was classic Andres Cortez style.
00:55:02You may not like it, but it is effective.
00:55:05I've seen it again and again and again, 25-0 again.
00:55:09All right.
00:55:09Let's see if Dre and Tess agree with that.
00:55:12Gentlemen, any final thoughts on the evening for us?
00:55:15Molly, I do.
00:55:15And it's something I want to follow up on because it's always interesting when a fighter gets
00:55:19in there with Max post-fight and they talk about what's next.
00:55:22The name Mark McSail came up immediately with Andres Cortez.
00:55:26McSail was very impressive with his TKO victory.
00:55:29What would you make of that at 135 pounds?
00:55:31I like that.
00:55:32That's a great fight.
00:55:33They both have momentum.
00:55:35And just stylistically, man, that's a hard one to call.
00:55:40So that's one that needs to be made.
00:55:42A lot of takeaways from Zufa Boxing 5.
00:55:45Chief among them was a major upset we had on the prelims.
00:55:49And this is really where Zufa is gaining its reputation.
00:55:53And that is prospects being tested tough.
00:55:56And then fighters who you think something of are even better than you realize.
00:56:00That was the case with Tony Hurst Jr. defeating Robert Merriweather.
00:56:05Tony Hurst Jr. watched him grow up in the gym.
00:56:09Just very tough.
00:56:10And what he didn't have in amateur pedigree, he made up with toughness and, you know,
00:56:16just cutting his teeth in the gym and just learning the hard way.
00:56:19And Robert Merriweather, he had more, you know, amateur background and more polish,
00:56:24but he had a limit tonight.
00:56:26There was a place he wasn't willing to go that Tony Hurst Jr. was willing to go,
00:56:31and that's why he got his hand raised.
00:56:32And for me personally, he was the fighter of the night for me tonight.
00:56:36I hope he gets that bonus.
00:56:37Listen, Merriweather was a minus 2,400 favorite.
00:56:40You and I have called thousands of fights in various promotions
00:56:44where when you see a 10-0 guy with pedigree,
00:56:47you're not getting situations like that developing.
00:56:50That is great matchmaking and good for Tony Hurst Jr.
00:56:54Molly, back to you.
00:56:55I just got one thing, Tess, for Dre there.
00:56:58Town business.
00:56:59That's what it was.
00:57:00He's really from Oakland.
00:57:01Tony Hurst Jr. is really from Oakland.
00:57:03There's no bias.
00:57:04I mean, it was certainly the performance of the night.
00:57:07I agree with you.
00:57:08Happy Easter to you both.
00:57:09Happy Easter.
00:57:10Exceptional job per usual.
00:57:11We'll talk to you soon.
00:57:12Let's pick up where they left off, guys,
00:57:14because like they said, 8-1 underdog, and Hirsch got the job done.
00:57:18And that was big, and it came.
00:57:20I think his father was instrumental in getting him ready and prepared for this fight
00:57:24because he knows boxing.
00:57:25He's lived with Andre Ward for 20 years in his camp.
00:57:28So he was very familiar with his son,
00:57:30and he got his son ready for the biggest upset win tonight.
00:57:34You know what?
00:57:36Yeah.
00:57:36Stand by on that because we've got our Heidi Andrell with Andres Cortez right now.
00:57:40Let's send it out to Heidi.
00:57:41Thank you very much, Molly.
00:57:42Well, we were just chatting off camera.
00:57:44Andres, I know you wanted the knockout so badly,
00:57:47but how did you judge this performance?
00:57:50You know, it was a solid performance.
00:57:52I knew he was tough and hungry, and obviously he was coming off a really big win
00:57:55where me, you know, I've been off the radar for a little bit.
00:57:59So it was a great win to put me right back to where I need to be.
00:58:02We spoke this week about your preparation,
00:58:04being that you were so disciplined for eight weeks.
00:58:08You had the Performance Institute, the meals.
00:58:10You took advantage of those three meals a day.
00:58:12Just how did you feel,
00:58:13and how did that manifest itself inside the ring here tonight?
00:58:16I think it manifested amazingly in just how I pictured it.
00:58:20I mean, you know, I thought I would be able to hurt him a little more.
00:58:23But, you know, it was just, you know, a tricky fight.
00:58:27So my thing was just to win and move on to the bigger fights.
00:58:32And, yeah, that's exactly what I did.
00:58:34You mentioned a tricky fight.
00:58:36He's the first southpaw you faced in eight years.
00:58:39The guys are talking about your jab.
00:58:40I have to imagine that was part of the challenge for you.
00:58:44I know you sparred solely southpaws for this training camp.
00:58:47Was it trickier than you thought it was going to be?
00:58:49Absolutely.
00:58:50You know, southpaw orthodox, you know, I spar orthodox.
00:58:53I can go in and fight orthodox today without no sparring.
00:58:57Southpaw you definitely have to prepare for.
00:58:59But it's one of those things also I haven't fought in so long,
00:59:03especially at a high level.
00:59:05It's different.
00:59:06But, you know, I adjusted well.
00:59:08Other than the jab, nothing else threw me off.
00:59:11Well, you get the W here tonight.
00:59:13Mark McSio is who you called out.
00:59:14How do you think you would match up against him?
00:59:17I think I knocked his ass out.
00:59:20I'm just being honest.
00:59:21You know, he's a smaller guy.
00:59:23I know he's moving up in weight, and so am I, but I feel much bigger.
00:59:28I mean, that's just my opinion.
00:59:30You know, I feel like I'll knock him out.
00:59:31Well, the lightweights are fun here at Zufa Boxing.
00:59:34Congratulations.
00:59:3525-0.
00:59:36Molly, take it away.
00:59:37They certainly are exciting.
00:59:38Congrats to you, Andres.
00:59:40Heidi, thank you so much.
00:59:41Before we get into that potential matchup of him and McSio, I want to give you a chance.
00:59:45I cut you off earlier in talking about just what we saw in terms of that Robert Merriweather getting handed
00:59:51his first loss.
00:59:52Well, again, you know, it was minus 2,400.
00:59:55Hirsch was an 8-1 dog.
00:59:58One of the things-
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