Hurlingham, Argentina: Light: Juan De Leon (13-3) W KO 6 Jose Acevedo (13-1-1). Light Heavy: Hernan Perez (7-3) W TKO 8 Walter Sequeira (23-8).
De Leon vs. Acevedo
Mild surprise as De Leon scores sixth-round kayo over champion Acevedo to win the Argentinian title. Acevedo lead over four forgettable rounds, but De Leon then took over. He connected with a series of body punches in the sixth, and then a right to the head had Acevedo holding on to De Leon as he slid to the canvas and was counted out. “El Titan” De Leon, the Argentinian No 5, makes nine victories in a row and gets his fourth inside the distance victory. Acevedo was making the third defense of the title.
Perez vs. Sequeira
Perez comes off the floor to stop Sequeira. With his greater experience, Sequeira dominated early in this one. He put Perez down in the fourth and looked on his way to victory but then suffered a fierce attack of cramp that cut his mobility. Perez took over, and in the eighth, he had Sequeira trapped on the ropes and was unloading with heavy punches. Sequeira tried to respond but had no mobility and dropped to the floor. The referee started the count, and Sequeira tried to rise but clearly in pain dropped again, and the referee stopped the fight.
Perez wins the vacant South American title with his third inside the distance finish. Fifth, inside the distance loss for Sequeira.
Talpa de Allende, Mexico: Super Fly: Francisco Rodriguez Jr (34-4-1) W PTS 10 Martin Tecuapetla (15-13-4,1ND).
Rodriguez takes a majority verdict after ten grueling all-action rounds. Tecuapetia was busier at putting Rodriguez on the back foot and outworking him in the first round. In the second, Rodriguez connected with left hooks and uppercuts to the body but with Tecuapetia firing back in the third. From the fourth, the heavier punching from Rodriguez put him in front. Tecuapetia kept marching forward, but Rodriguez constantly switched guards and continued to drive body punches through Tecuapetla’s guard.
Tecuapetia walked through the punishment, scoring with hooks and uppercuts of his own and forcing Rodriguez to fight hard to the last bell in an exciting scrap. Rodriguez looked a good winner, but the judges came up with a majority decision with scores of 97-93 and 97-95 for Rodriguez and 98-95 for Tecuapetia. Very tough test for the former WBO and IBF minimumweight champion who gets his fifteenth consecutive win. He is well placed in the flyweight division, being rated WBO 2/WBA 4/IBF 5(3), so he has a good chance of a title shot this year. Former IBF light fly title challenger Tecuapetla has won only 2 of his last 11 fights but against strong opposition, including four past/present world champions.
