Walters (25-0-0, 21 KOs), who hails from Montego Bay, Jamaica, is riding high on his sensational knockout victory against Filipino Nonito Donaire last October at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Facing Marriaga for the second time, Walters was aware of what the Colombian was capable of, aiming to score an upset, having lost to him in their amateur fight that caused his disqualification in the last Olympics.in China.
Clearly Walters showed his dominance over Marriaga as he capitalized on his superior physical advantage and weight for the unanimous decision win.
But Marriaga put up a good fight, landing some good shots in the early rounds. But with Walter’s weight and size superiority, Marriaga was at the receiving end for most part of the fight.
Judges scorecards: 118-109, 117-110, and 119-108, all in favor of Walters.
While it was a legitimate win for Walters, he may have opted to take a penalty for failing to make it on the scale in order to gain an advantage during the fight and it appears that his weight advantage really helped in his UD victory.
Veteran boxing writer Ed de la Vega believes that Walters did not take the weight limit seriously despite the risk of losing his title.
“In my opinion, Walters did not focus much on the weight limits because he wants to come in the fight much bigger than Marriaga so that he can have an advantage and assure a win,” de la Vega said.
With the win, Walters improved his record to 26-0-0, 22 KOs while Marriaga dropped to 20-1-0, 18 KOs.
