Javier Fortuna had a lot of trouble actually getting a fight done this year, bouncing from dates with Luke Campbell and Jorge Linares to tonight’s fight on FS1 with Antonio Lozada, but he got back in the ring and scored a stylish sixth round stoppage win, keeping himself in the mix at 135 pounds.
Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KO), the 31-year-old former titlist at 130, has the speed and skill and style to be a problem for the top names at lightweight, and made his case as best he could with a limited opponent like Lozada (40-5-1, 34 KO), who is now winless in his last four and never managed to follow up his 2018 upset of Felix Verdejo with anything notable.
Fortuna put Lozada down in the first round, then battered him until referee Gerard White stepped in at 2:34 of the sixth. He mostly had his way here, his speed way too much for the cumbersome Lozada to handle.
The win could set Fortuna up for a bigger fight early in 2021, perhaps, and the options are out there. He could float around and fight just about anybody, but if he stays in-house with PBC, then there’s Gervonta “Tank” Davis as the biggest name option, and that could be a fun fight. It might also be the best fight Davis’ team will actually make.
Undercard Results
- Fernando Molina UD-6 Jose Zaragoza: Molina is an 18-year-old prospect at 140, fighting out of Guadalajara, says he prefers the Cuban style to the stereotypical Mexican style. But there’s definitely a “Mexican style” in his offense, he comes in throwing three or four punches at a time, doesn’t sit and wait a lot, leads the dance. Granted he’s very young and the opposition is limited, but Zaragoza (5-3-1, 2 KO) gave this a solid effort and gave the kid some rounds, useful fight. Molina won on scores of 60-53 across the board, and did score a knockdown in the second round.
- Austin Dulay UD-10 Jose Luis Gallegos: A good performance at level here, a bounce-back win for Dulay (14-2, 10 KO), who lost a clear decision to Diego Magdaleno back in February, and also lost to Chris Colbert in 2018. Colbert’s a really good prospect, but the Magdaleno loss was a bit more troubling. It could have just been one of those nights, though, as that was the best Magdaleno had looked in a while. Dulay is 25, a Nashville fighter, has some skills, and looked in control most of this fight, winning on scores of 99-91, 100-90, and 100-90. It got a bit sloppy with some head clashes, and Gallegos (19-10, 14 KO) didn’t go away easy and landed some decent shots, but Dulay was good here, setting himself up to keep grinding toward contention in 2021. He really does have some skills, and he’s clearly not giving up despite a couple setbacks.