Chris Colbert (15-0, 6 KOs) told all who would listen that he would lay a beating on Jaime Arboleda (16-2, 13 KOs). Yet, no one listened. So instead, Colbert went out and demonstrated exactly what he meant.
With pink hair spray-painted on, Colbert flamboyantly attacked his man from the opening bell at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. He stayed on the outside where he remained just in range to let his hands go, but also just out of reach for his opponent. Colbert, 24, may have only had five knockout wins to his name coming in, but that didn’t stop him from flooring his man early.
Having been on the canvas in previous fights, Arboleda did what he always does, get up. The Panamanian fought hard, but found the chin of Colbert nearly impossible to locate as he ducked, weaved and slid out of the way.
As the swelling began building on his man’s face, Colbert took his usual cocky attitude to another level. The Brooklyn native dropped his hands and placed them behind his back. From there, he placed his chin into the air and dared Arboleda to hit him. As much as he wanted to, he simply couldn’t. For every punch that was thrown his way, Colbert would answer with three of his own.
With only two rounds left, Colbert was heavily ahead on all three judges’ scorecards. All that was needed was for the 24 year old to put things into cruise control to coast to a decision victory. That, however, wouldn’t have been any fun.
In the early portion of the 11th, Colbert sent his man down with a right hand. A struggling Arboleda made it to his feet shortly after, only to have another unwanted trip to the canvas roughly one minute later.
In what was an ongoing theme, Arboleda got up yet again. Growing tired of watching the Panamanian crawl back to his feet, Colbert rushed in and forced the referee to step in after a barrage of punches in the 11th.
Final Grade For Chris Colbert: A
Jaime Arboleda wasn’t a world-beater. Nor was he viewed as a legitimate title threat. But the manner in which Colbert walked through him was impressive.
Mostly everyone expected him to outbox his man in order to win, but with a stoppage victory over a tough opponent, Colbert placed the rest of the 130 division on notice.
