By Jake Donovan
Adrian Estrella extended his perfect knockout-to-win ratio as a pro, knocking out Japan's Yuta Matsuda in five rounds Saturday evening at home in Monterrey, Mexico.
Already a household name thanks to his fan-friendly style and select appearances on novelas in Mexico, Estrella didn't at all disappoint the capacity crowd on hand in his Monterrey hometown. Fighting the only way he knows how, the action was furious from the opening bell, even if generally one way for the most part.
Matsuda wasn't completely without his moments. The southpaw landed his share of power punches, including several straight lefts in rounds three and four. Any shot of an upset, however, went out the window with the bout's first knockdown, as Matsuda was floored hard towards the end of the fourth round.
Open scoring revealed that Estrella was up 40-35 on all three scorecards after four rounds, though this one never had a chance of going the distance. Estrella took care of that in a hurry, landing a clean-up left hook that put Matsuda down in a heap.
The southpaw attempted to dust himself off and continue to fight, but was wisely rescued by his cornermen, who raced to the ring apron to stop the contest.
The official time was 1:24 of round five.
Estrella improves to 16-0 (16KO) with the win, scoring his fifth straight knockout in five rounds or less. Matsuda dips below .500, falling to 9-10-2 (4KO) in suffering his third straight defeat.
The bout aired live on Televisa as well as via live stream on WBC webcast .
In the televised co-feature, Arely Muci ño barely edged out visiting Tenkai Tsunami in a sensational 10-round flyweight war.
The action was non-stop throughout their 20-minute affair, including an unforgettable 10th and final round that saw both fighters throw in the vicinity of 100 punches each in the two-minute frame.
One judge had Tsunami (19-9, 8KO) by 96-94, while the same scores landed in favor of Muciño (19-2-2, 10KO) on the other two judges' cards to produce the split decision verdict.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board, Yahoo Boxing Ratings Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox