Lopez stops Penalosa

Bayamón, P.R.- For the stellar bout of the evening, the close to capacity crowd in the Rubén Rodríguez Colisseum received their champion with chants of “Juanma, Juanma!” giving some credit to the rumor that he is the heir apparent to Felix “Tito” Trinidad.

In the first round the challenger had some success with his jab while Juanma dug to the body with powerful hooks. López landed some powerful shots to the head of his opponent in the second including his straight left and a short powerful right hook while Penalosa managed to get in some shots of his own. Both fighters traded big shots in the third with the challenger landing his lead right hook and the champion his own left to the body while the crowd stood up and cheered.
Juanma would chase Peñalosa throughout the fourth, cornering him several times until in the last ten seconds when Fearless decided to trade again. Round five saw Juanma jump at his opponent who appeared tired yet managed to land several good jabs and a one two combination. Still Juanma would keep up his work rate and connect to the head and body with numerous shots. In the next round, López looked very confident letting his hands go and landing many punches and seemed not to mind whenever his opponent landed his shots.

Again in the seventh the Puerto Rican would stalk his opponent, who now appeared to be fading, but was surprised mid-round by a rally from the Filipino. López would close strong and again in the eight start strong and continue beating his opponent for the full three minutes while still not being able to floor him. As in several previous rounds, Peñalosa was warned for going in with his head in the ninth and action slowed down a little only to start again in the final seconds when both fighters traded again with the champ getting the best of it.

The challenger would not answer the bell for the tenth making it the first time he has been stopped in his carrer. López improves to 25-0 with 23 KO’s while Peñalosa drops to 54-6-2 and 36KO’s. López proved he is among the best in the division and also that he can fight more than one round. Peñalosa on the other hand made it clear that he will not go down easy and would be a tough challenge for anyone should he decide to stay at 122lbs.

In the co-stellar bout, a fight of unbeaten light welterweights, Lamont “Havoc” Peterson (26-0 12KO’s) of Memphis, Tennessee faced off against Frenchman Willy “Small Leonard” Blain (20-0 3KO’s) who is fighting out of Le Reunion, Germany for the interim version of the WBO title held by “Desert Storm” Timothy Bradley. The referee in charge was Roberto Ramírez.

Blain was cut in the first round over his left eye by a clash of heads and Peterson decided to jump right into the action and take advantage of it and landed well both up and downstairs. The second round had Havoc chasing his opponent and trying to corner him while Blain tried to counter and kept on bleeding and receiving hard shots to the body. In the third round, Blain started to let his hands go and used his southpaw jab and both fighters traded heavy blows at the end.

The fourth stanza saw Peterson again work the body while “Little Leonard” had some success countering and landing some combinations to the head. In the fifth, work continued from both fighters with the American landing his left to the body often while is opponent had some success with his combinations to the head. The sixth round was slower and was stopped when Blain complained about his hands, but action resumed after a few seconds.

The referee waved the fight off in the seventh round at 1:49 when Blain again complained about what appears to be his shoulder. With the win, Lamont Peterson gets the Interim version of the WBO light welterweight title, puts his name among the top of the division and sets his record at 27-0 with 13KO’s. Blain was outclassed but showed some good movement on his behalf. He drops his O and goes to 20-1 with 3KO’s.

In the first bout of the evening, Andrés “Pajita” Navarro, now 4-2-1 with 4KO’s forced the referee to stop the bout at :037 of round three after dominating southpaw Enrique Quiñones who drops to 4-9-1. The fight was dominated by Navarro’s aggressive style and willingness to let his hands go and was fought at the lightweight limit.

The second fight, set for four rounds at 126lbs. saw Christopher Rivera (3-1 3KO’s) drop Nelson Casanova (1-1 1KO) three times from short right hooks with the last one leaving him in the canvas as ringside physicians took a look at him. Time of stoppage was 1:39 of the first round and Cassanova got out on his own legs after several minutes.

In a bout set for six rounds, late sub Carlos Peña (5-20-2 4KO’s) and Jorge Meléndez (7-0-1 7KO’s) were booed by the crowd as both fighters were unwilling to trade much for the first three rounds. Meléndez was a little more aggressive and on the fourth round started landing enough so that Peña’s corner waved the towel urging the referee to stop it. The bout was fought at a catch weight of 150lbs and the time of stoppage was 2:17 of the fourth.

In a light weight bout set for six rounds, Orlando Félix (11-1 4KO’s) wobbled Luis Daniel Colón (4-7 2KO’s) in the final seconds of the first round but was unable to finish the job right then and there. Colón wouldn’t be so lucky in round two as he got beaten around until the referee stopped it at 1:30 of the second round.

Also at light weight and for the same number of rounds, Eric Cruz (6-2 6KO’s) and Max Rivera (8-2 4KO’s) set a fast pace from the start. Round three saw Cruz catch Rivera with a powerful right that made Rivera change his game plan and start clinching more often. Both fighters would take knees in the fifth round but Cruz would take advantage of his second wind and made the referee wave it off after hurting Rivera with several shots at 0:59 of the fifth round.

The first bout set for eight rounds to be fought at 115 lbs, pitted Jesús Martínez (18-6 11KO’s) from Mexico against Puerto Rican David Quijano (9-1-1 6KO’s). Martínez outlanded Quijano through the first two rounds and seemed more accurate. Rounds three through seven saw a more aggressive Quijano finding his opponent more often as Martinez now waited to counter and the crowd became impatient and often voiced their feelings. Action picked up in the final round and Quijano finished stronger to take a unanimous division by scores of79-73 and 78-74 twice.

Up next at 118lbs. and set for eight were Anthony Napunyi (14-5 7KO’s), fightin out of Miami, Florida and Dominican Juan Mercedes (23-2 16KO’s). Round one started slow but Mercedes got into rhythm by the second and started landing to the head and body. The work downstairs would continue for Mercedes through rounds three and four and it would have effect on is opponent who was breathing through his mouth by the fourth round. As the rounds wore on, Napunyi was looking beaten down and did not come out to fight for the sixth round. Official call was a TKO in round six.

Puerto Rican Olympian Carlos Negrón(1-0 1KO) faced off against veteran Tyler Hughes (23-24-1 7KO’s) at 185lbs in a bout set for four rounds. Negrón quickly landed his right hand and got his second knockout in two fights both in the first round. Negrón displayed good power against an opponent that was clearly outclassed. 1:06 was the time of stoppage for Negrón who moves to 2-0 with 2 KO’s while Hughes drops to 23-25-1 7KO’s.