Alberto Machado won the WBA junior lightweight title tonight on HBO in dramatic fashion. Machado, who was taking on previous titleholder Jezreel Corrales, was getting outboxed pretty badly throughout the fight and consistently getting caught and hurt by the same overhand left from Corrales, but hurt Corrales with a left hand in round 8 which dropped him to the canvas.

Corrales would get up before the 10 count but was a little glassy eyed, and the referee called off the fight, seeing Corrales as unfit to continue. That made Machado a KO winner. Corrales, who blew the weight limit yesterday by four pounds, lost the WBA title on the scales, so the belt was only available for Machado to win.

Corrales was obviously disturbed by losing this fight in this fashion, especially considering that he was winning pretty easily (I had him up 69-63 at the time of stoppage). He tried to call for a rematch during the post-fight interview with Machado, but was sort of brushed off in the immediate moment.

I’ll tell you, folks, this is why they say one punch can change a fight. It did tonight, and we have a new junior lightweight world champion because of it.