On Saturday, July 3, 2021, The Dignity Health Sports Park hosted a fight between upcoming boxing star Chris Colbert (16-0, 6 KOs) vs. Tugstsogt Nyambayar (12-2, 9 KOs).
Nyambayar was a late replacement for Colbert’s previous opponent, Yuriorkis Gamboa. Nyambayar took the fight on two weeks’ notice, and he was moving up one weight class as well.
The fight ended up as a unanimous decision victory in favor of Colbert, with two judges scoring in it 117-111, and one scoring it 118-110. It was a very entertaining fight, despite the one-sided decision.
The fight started fast as most fights in that venue do. Colbert imposed his jab from the beginning of the fight, and he showed a masterful display of the jab through out the night. Nyambayar had some success between the second and fourth rounds with an excellent job punching between Colbert’s combinations, and he took advantage of Colbert’s showboating. When Colbert went to southpaw in the third round, it looked like Nyambayar hurt Colbert.
However, after that, Colbert took control of the fight by boxing behind his jab, and keeping the fight at his distance. Colbert came to the fight in great shape, but it looked like he underestimated Nyambayar. He was getting hit more than usual when he switched to southpaw, and he looked impressed by how well Nyambayar was taking his power.
At the end of the fight, he even admitted that he was impressed by Nyambayar’s power, considering that he is a Featherweight.
“He carried power for a 126-pounder,” said Colbert after his victory. “Boxing is about hitting and not getting hit. I had to use my Muhammad Ali tactics and float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.
Furthermore, after Colbert realized that Nyambayar wasn’t as easy as he thought, Colbert made the right adjustments, and he took over the fight.
Colbert showed great speed and tremendous reflexes; he also has a masterful jab–probably one of the best jabs in the business.
“We had a tremendous training camp,” said Colbert after the fight. “We sparred a lot with a bigger guy in Michel Rivera, so I had a lot of practice using my speed and jab in camp. The jab is always a key in this sport.”
He’s a major player in the Super Featherweight division, and it looks like he has his eyes on the WBA title that Gervonta Davis most likely will vacate.
Colbert has everything you would want in a fighter–personality, speed and ring IQ–but he’s lacking one ingredient to be the perfect fighter–power.
Colbert is just 24 years old, but it looks like he is not going to become a big puncher anytime soon. At the end of the day this is boxing, and this kid certainly can box, so he will be a problem for anyone.
