Patrick Teixeirais officially a world titleholder…
Despite a bloodied face, the 28-year-old Brazilian professional boxer and junior middleweight won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Carlos Adames to win a vacant interim world title on Saturday night at The Chelseaat The Cosmopolitanof Las Vegas.
The judges scored the fight 116-111, 114-113 and 114-113 for Teixeira, who earned the winning margin on two scorecards on the strength of a knockdown in the final moments of the seventh round.
“It was tough with the cuts, but I was able to get through it because of my experience,” Teixeira said. “It was a little harder, but my corner did an excellent job on the cuts. I am very happy to bring a world title back to Brazil. I want to make boxing bigger in Brazil. Soccer is our biggest sport, and this is a great moment for boxing in my country.”
It was an action-packed battle that began as a boxing match as Teixeira, a southpaw, gave Adames trouble with his movement and jab in the early going. But the aggressive Adames got into the fight in the third round when he found a home for his body shots. He also landed stiff, straight right hands and looked like he would be able to overpower Teixeira.
The Robert Garcia-trained Adames (18-1, 14 KOs), 25, of the Dominican Republic, opened a cut under Teixeira’s swelling left eye in the fourth round and continued to force him back with heavy shots. He opened a cut under his right eye in the fifth round even though Teixeira rebounded in the round to land combinations that had Adames a little shaky.
The seventh round was a wild one. Adames was pounding Teixeira and landed three tremendous uppercuts that rocked his head back. It looked like he might stop Teixeira at any moment when the Golden Boy-promoted Teixeira (31-1, 22 KOs) suddenly rebounded to connect with multiple rights hooks and then a left hand to the chin that dropped Adames to his rear end along the ropes in the final seconds of the round. It was the first time Adames had been knocked down, and it ultimately cost him the fight.
They continued to battle on seemingly even terms, with Adames the heavier hitter but Teixeira’s movement and punches from unusual angles giving Adames problems.
“We are so proud of Patrick Teixeira,” Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoyasaid. “It was a brutal and bloody war, but Teixeira really dug deep to earn himself the most important win of his career against a very dangerous fighter. We look forward to starting the new year with yet another champion in our stable.”
Teixeira won his fifth fight in a row since his only defeat, a second-round knockout to former world title challenger Curtis Stevensin May 2016.
The fight was initially slated to be a title eliminator for the right to become the mandatory challenger for 154-pound world titleholder Jaime Munguia, but on Tuesday, the WBO sanctioned the bout for its interim belt because Munguia announced his next fight would be at middleweight. Munguia likely will vacate the junior middleweight belt, and Teixeira is expected to be upgraded to the full titleholder during next week’s annual WBO convention in Tokyo.
