Venezuelan Carlos “Triple C” Cañizales won the WBA world light flyweight eliminator by technical decision over Cuban Daniel Matellon, at the start of the WBA KO a la Drogas, tonight at Casino Buenos Aires in the Argentine capital.

Cañizales had to overcome the inconvenience of a headbutt that caused a wound in the right superciliary arch in the second round, from which he recovered in the following rounds. 

The referee deducted two points from Matellon twice in different rounds for this reason. Due to the profusion of bleeding from Cañizales’ wound at the end of the eighth round, the fight was stopped by technical decision. The judges’ scorecards favored the Venezuelan 77-73, 76-74, 77-73. 

“The headbutt affected me, but I managed to recover. I was sure I would take this victory. Now I’m waiting for my chance to go for the title, which was my big goal tonight”. With this victory, Cañizales earns the opportunity for a new world title fight, now as mandatory challenger.