Andres Cortes took the victory against Abraham Nova on Friday, June 21 at BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The pair went head to head in the co-feature to Rafael Espinoza vs Sergio Chirino live on ESPN+.
The North Las Vegas native defeated the former title challenger of Puerto Rico by unanimous decision. Nova was on point in the late rounds, but it wasn’t enough in the eyes of the judges to secure the win. After 10 rounds the scores were 97-93, 97-93 and 96-64, all in favor of Cortes.
As a result, Andres Cortes improved to 22-0, 12 KOs and remained unbeaten. The 26-year-old was ineligible to lift NABO title as he missed the required junior lightweight limit.
“It was a tough fight,” Cortes said. “I knew he was a tough competitor. He just went 12 rounds with a world champion. So, I knew it would be a tough one.”
“He was very dirty in there. He called me a dirty fighter, but he was really dirty in there. All these headbutts and stuff. But it was a good fight. No excuses. I dug deep and got the victory.”
Abraham Nova dropped to 23-3, 16 KOs. The 30-year-old suffered his second defeat in a row.
“This is boxing. This is what happens,” Nova said. “I started a bit slow. But then I got my rhythm. I went in there, and I did what I had to do. He hit me a lot behind the head.”
“This is boxing. All I’ve got to go is back to drawing board, fix a couple things and come back.”
Get Espinoza vs Chirino full fight card results.