By Keith Idec and Hans Themistode
Chris Colbert and Jose Valenzuela have agreed to a rematch that’ll take place eight months after their first fight resulted in one of boxing’s most controversial outcomes of 2023.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the second lightweight bout between Colbert and Valenzuela likely will be part of a Premier Boxing Champions card planned for December 9 in Las Vegas. Showtime is expected to televise the Colbert-Valenzuela rematch as part of a pay-per-view show that night, which will commemorate the 100th boxing card at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The December 9 show is also expected to include the long-stalled middleweight title bout between WBA champ Erislandy Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) and Danny Garcia (37-3, 21 KOs).
Colbert (17-1, 6 KOs) won his 10-round lightweight fight versus Valenzuela by unanimous decision March 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) dropped Colbert with a counter left less than 30 seconds into that fight, but Colbert got and made their fight competitive on the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant undercard.
Judges Glenn Feldman, Lisa Giampa and Don Trella scored their fight identically, 95-94 for Colbert, who won six rounds apiece on their cards. The Mexican-born Valenzuela vehemently disputed the decision during his post-fight interview with Showtime’s Jim Gray in the ring, but the 24-year-old southpaw have the opportunity to avenge his second straight defeat when he boxes Brooklyn’s Colbert again.
Without stating that they had reached an agreement for their rematch, Colbert confirmed during an appearance on the most recent episode of “The PBC Podcast” that he feels like he needs to fight Valenzuela again.
“I just wanna clear the air,” Colbert told co-hosts Kenneth Bouhairie and Michael Rosenthal. “I’m not one of those fighters that like to – I like to fight, but I like all my fights to be dominating. Like my last fight wasn’t really too dominating, but we got the job done. And so, now like I been calling it clear the air. This one is gonna be called, ‘Clear the air.’ And I’m gonna go back and do what I do best.”
The 27-year-old Colbert believes he defeated Valenzuela decisively, yet he realizes that enough people feel that Valenzuela won to generate interest in their rematch.
“I thought I beat him,” Colbert said. “I thought I actually beat him easy. If you go back and look at the fight, I landed damn near a hundred jabs. Anybody that get hit with a hundred jabs, damn, imagine – and now we just talkin’ about the jabs. Now imagine if I was to add on more than the jabs. Cuz I got two hands, right? So, if I add on my right hand, the uppercuts, the hooks, how did he beat me? I mean, he had his good moments [in] the fight. He caught me early in the first round. I really, honestly didn’t see it coming. I just [attribute that] to ring rust. But no excuses.
“You know, he caught me early in the first round, first 30 seconds. He had two minutes and 30 seconds left to get me out. He couldn’t do it. He caught me with some nice shots throughout the fight, but that don’t win fights. You’ve gotta be consistent, you’ve gotta continue to do what you do the whole fight and dominate, which he didn’t. But listen, everybody got an opinion. It’s like an assh-le. His opinion is he won. My opinion is I won. It’s like everybody got an opinion, [like] a assh-le.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.