By Ernest Gabion and Luis Sandoval

Home Depot Center, Carson, California - Lightweight Mercito Gesta (22-0-1, 12KOs) was on fire in his Top Rank debut, dropping Jorge Pimentel (23-12, 17KOs) multiple times before referee Raul Caiz Jr. had seen enough and stopped the fight in the third round.

Former Notre Dame football played Mike Lee displayed some of the qualities that were obvious in his last few fights, some promise but a lot of work needed.  In the first, Lee drops Michael Birthmark with a nice right hand but then regresses in to wild swinging in trying to get Birthmark out of there.  The second he shows decent handspeed and poise but then lets Birthmark back into the fight. The third he finally keeps the pressure on dropping Birthmark with an accumulation of punches.  Birthmark tires from the onslaught as Lee finally finishes him off in the third round. Lee now stands at 6-0 (4KOs) while Birthmark drops to 2-6

In his pro debut, Junior Middleweight Alonso Loeza showed just how tough this sport can be.  Within 30 seconds his nose was bloodied, by the one minute mark his face was covered in his own blood as was his opponent Ricardo Malfavon, and by the end of the first he was wobbling back to his corner.

However, by the second stanza he had the crowd firmly behind him as he started his comeback towards the end of the round with a flurry that rocked Malfavon.  By the third round, the war began with both fighters gamely trying their best in the hot converted tennis court. Loeza was bloodied and swollen, and Malfavon was exhausted and weakened , but they came into the fourth and final round and simply gave the fans all they could handle by trading shot for shot until the bell sounded sending the crowd into a roar. Seems fitting that the fight would end up a draw with one score going to Malfavon by way of 39-37 while the other two judges had the fight even at 38-38. 

Local product Jose Roman of Santa Ana, CA kept his undefeated record in tact with a convincing first round stoppage of Randy Arrellin.  Roman came out strong from the outset dropping Arrellin early in the round with a left hook.  Shortly after, Roman caught Arrellin with a nice right hand that signaled the end was near.  Roman pounced on Arrelling forcing referee Raul Caiz Jr. to put the end of the fight at 2:07. Roman improves to 11-0 (9KOs) while Arrellin falls to 8-6 (4KOs).

Promising Junior Featherweight prospect Gabino "Kid Showtime" Saenz improved his record to a perfect 4-0 with all 4 of those wins coming by way of knockout against Quincy Wesby.  After a first round that saw Wesby move to avoid Sanez' power things opened up in the 2nd wth Sanez chasing down Wesby who seemed more interested in holding for dear life than fighting.  A crisp left hook to the body dropped Wesby in 2nd and from that point on Wesby would have nothing to do with Sanez.  In the 3rd Saenz came out strong dropping Wesby with a crisp left hook to the head.  Sanez continued to pressure Wesby forcing referee Tony Krebs to stop the contest at 1:41. Wesby now drops below the .500 record at 1-2.

Celebrated Russian middleweight Matt Korobov going against what was his toughest fight to date in lefty Lester Gonzalez of Cuba. Korobov's youth and stamina made the difference over the crafty Gonzalez as every time Gonzalez tried to press the action - Korobov had an answer. Both fighters seemed to wilt under the hot California sun as the 7th and 8th rounds were a struggle for both.  In the end the fresher Korobov was the better of the two and the judges agreed. Scores of 78-74 three times to improve Korobov's record to 16-0 (9KOs), while Gonzalez drops to 12-4 (6KOs).

In the first bout of the evening, super featherweight prospect Paul Fleming remained undefeated with a convincing first round knockout of Juan Jose Beltran. Fleming moves to 10-0, with 7 knockouts, while Beltran falls to 20-25 and 15 knockouts.