“Rafa” Stops Becerril at the End of Five
Former two-time world champion, Rafael Marquez, 40-6 (36), coming off his eight-round loss to then WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez, went through the paces, going on to drop and stop a game Eduardo Becerril, 12-8-2 (4) in the co-featured bout of the evening.
Uppercuts and straight rights found their mark, setting the tone in the first round, as Marquez looked sharp. Becerril was a complete fish out of water against the former champion.
Working the jab set up Marquez’s repertoire of shots, keeping Becerril in all kinds of trouble and reducing him to a punching bag in the second frame.
Becerril had a better third round, managing to land a couple of winding left hands against the former champion in the second half of the round, although Marquez landed the heavier shots as he turned his opponent against the ropes at the of the round.
Becerril went back to his corner with a bruise under his right eye, the product of a big left uppercut landed by Marquez earlier in the round. Marquez would land a beautiful left hook in the fourth, putting Becerril on the seat of his pants. Becerril proved game, coming back trading immediately, with Marquez taking back the reins by round’s end.
Perhaps losing focus, Marquez was tagged with some combinations in the next round. Although Becerril did see his best round, he would take some heavy leather, going on to force the great Lupe Pintor (Becerril’s trainer) to call the fight off between rounds.
The fight took place at half-pound over the super bantamweight limit.
Gonzalez Retains World Title with Stoppage over Salado in Seven
In the first fight streamed through toprank.tv, Nicaragua’s Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, 29-0 (24), put on a clinic, taking apart Tijuana’s Omar “Saladito” Salado, 22-4-2 (13), scoring three knockdowns en route to a stoppage in seven heats, retaining his WBA light flyweight belt.
Salado was down in the first round, getting caught off-balance by a wide head shot. Unhurt, Salado got up with the champion quickly jumping in once more, dropping the challenger again and keeping up the pressure for the rest of the round.
The speedy champion put his shots together in the next couple of rounds, landing sharp left hooks and uppercuts, with Salado getting a warning for a low blow midway into the third frame.
Salado became the recipient of big rights by the champion for the rest of the round, walking back to his corner sporting a small cut on the bridge of his nose.
An accidental headbutt opened up another cut on Salado’s face in the fourth, this time alongside his right eye. The game Mexican tried his best toward the end of the round, throwing looping shots, which flew harmlessly above a ducking Gonzalez.
Referee Julio Alvarado had the ringside doctor take another look at the cut in the fifth frame and let the fight continue.
It was a sparring session-type of round for Gonzalez in the sixth, landing at will, as Salado kept coming forward, getting smacked from all angles.
A series of left hands in the seventh sent Salado down once more, yet Alvarado somehow allowed the beating to continue. Salado’s corner eventually did the right thing and stepped in to call for the fight to be stopped.
The time of the stoppage was 48 seconds into the seventh round.
Hernandez Defeats Uribe in Four
Mexico City lightweight Sebastian Hernandez, 1-0, defeated local fighter Andres “Samurai” Uribe, 1-1 (1), in a fun, four-round banger.
Hernandez put Uribe down in the opening seconds of their bout with a left hook, leading to a couple of clean left hooks to the body, which were wrongly called low by the acting referee. Uribe threw wide shots for the rest of the fight, doing his best to survive the onslaught coming his way.
The wild punching Uribe came out swinging in the second, with another series of body shots by Hernandez that put him down- also called low by the referee once again three-quarters into the round.
Unfazed, Hernandez stayed on the body, battering his opponent for the remainder of the round.
A wild right hand briefly stunned Hernandez in the third, as Uribe took control back in spots with body shots, using the distance. Uribe received a warning for rabbit punching at the end of the round.
With both men landing at the same time of the fourth, it would be Uribe going down once more in the fourth. Despite the lack of finesse, the crowd appreciated the effort put on by both fighters in the fourth and final round.
Scores were 40-35 (twice) and 39-37, all for Hernandez.
Berchelt Stops Hernandez in Two
Super lightweight Ricardo Hernandez saw his record drop to 0-3 at the hands of a very good-looking prospect in the three-time Mexican amateur national champion Miguel Berchelt, 6-0 (6), via TKO in two.
Berchelt moved well, flicking his jab in the first, throwing probing shots while very relaxed and fluid. Berchelt would land whatever he wanted easily toward the end of the first.
Berchelt worked the body well in the second, with Hernandez trying to fight back, momentarily taking the fight to the ropes.
Hernandez would go down via liver shots moments later. After his opponent beat the count, Berchelt, smelling the stoppage, turned it on, forcing referee Tomas Roque Sanchez to stop the beating at 2:07 of the second round.
The Toprank.tv stream went out without a glitch in a telecast and card that was seen for free in the U.S. and Canada.
