By Francisco Salazar
(ONTARIO, Calif.) - It was not easy for Jose Roman. The punches that would normally drop previous opponents were not doing a whole lot. But he was able to find a way to grind out a decision win.
Roman was able to win by unanimous decision over eight rounds over Marco Antonio Lopez before an almost sellout crowd at the Doubletree Hotel Events Center.
In his previous bout prior to Friday, Roman stopped Martin Cardona in the third round on April 24. Lopez was stopped by Felix Verdejo in the fifth round on April 25.
It was a competitive bout early on, but Roman seemed to swing momentum his way midway through the second round. Roman was able to land a well-placed counter left hook to the head, sending Lopez down to the canvas. Undaunted, Lopez momentarily stunned Roman with a left hand of his own moments later.
Roman was on the attack in the next couple of rounds, while Lopez looked to counter with right hands to the head.
As the bout went into the middle rounds, Lopez looked as though he controlled the tempo of the fight, while it was Roman who looked to counter any offense Lopez would throw.
Both fighters let their hands go in the final two rounds. Both connected with hooks and crosses, but it looked as though Lopez controlled the tempo of the final round by outboxing Roman and making him throw and miss.
All three judges scored the bout in favor of Roman, 79-72, 78-73, and 77-74.
Roman goes to 21-1-1, 14 KOs, while Lopez drops to 24-7, 15 KOs.
Lightweight Cesar Villarraga (8-0, 4 KOs) won a one-sided six round unanimous decision over Jose Luis Araiza
Villarraga, who represented Colombia in the 2012 Olympic Games, was in control throughout the fight, beating Araiza (34-13-1, 25 KOs) to the punch during most of the fight. He rained down lefts and rights to the head of Araiza, never missing a beat. Araiza attempted to launch a rally in the third round, but Villarraga was able to swing momentum his way later in the round by landing repeated left hooks to the head. Villarraga was able to successfully outbox Araiza the rest of the way.
All three judges scored the bout in favor of Villarraga, 59-55, 59-55, and 60-54.
Heavyweight LaRon Mitchell (8-0, 8 KOs) stopped Roy McCrary at the end of the third round.
The southpaw Mitchell, a 2012 United States Olympic Trials Finalist, had his hands full with the taller McCrary, who held more than threw punches. With each passing minute, Mitchell was able to feint his way inside of McCrary's guard, landing an occasional hook or cross.
Towards the end of the third round, Mitchell hurt McCrary (4-4, 3 KOs) with repeated punches to the body. Moments later, Mitchell dropped McCrary with a left to the head. After getting up, McCrary was met with a left hand to the head, dropping him again to the canvas. He attempted to get up, but fell down to the canvas, prompting referee Raul Caiz, Jr. to stop the bout at 2:59.
Fernando Fuentes (6-5, 1 KO) won a four round unanimous decision over Joe Perez in featherweight action. Perez (5-4-1, 4 KOs) started off well in the first, but it was all Fuentes the rest of the fight. Fuentes outhusled and outboxed Perez during most of the exchanges. Fuentes switched from conventional to southpaw, landing lead left hands to the head and body. All three judges scored the bout in favor of Fuentes, 40-36, 40-36, and 39-37.
In the opening bout of the Thompson Boxing card, junior featherweight Humberto Rubalcava (3-0, 3 KOs) stopped Isaiah Najera in the first round. The shorter Najera, who was making his pro debut, was dropped twice in the round before Raul Caiz, Jr. saw enough and waved the fight over at 2:36.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing