By Jake Donovan
It was a night of quick – and strange – stoppages on Fox Deportes’ ‘Top Rank Live’ telecast, including the televised main event as Miguel Vazquez easily cruised past Marlon Aguilar with a second round stoppage on Saturday evening at Musica Hall in Toluca, Mexico.
Vazquez, whose alphabet lightweight title was not at stake, was in control of the bout from beginning to end, though never really had a chance to offer the full arsenal.
What was showcased was a rare display of power punching, including two knockdowns after a boxing exhibition in the opening round.
You had the sense that even if Vazquez showed up and fought in his usual steady (if not monotonous) boxing mode, the crowd still would’ve cheered his every move.
Chants of “Mi-Guel” filled the venue from the moment the lights dimmed to begin his ringwalk, and continued throughout the evening, albeit one that included merely 4 ½ minutes of actual ring time.
After boxing sharply in the first round, Vazquez decided to go to the power well in the second. Precise power punching by the Mexican, including ripping body shots in every offered combination.
However, it was a head shot that produced the first knockdown of the evening, as Aguilar was caught napping before being put on the seat of his pants. Aguilar beat the count – or at least was afforded the opportunity to do so – and resumed fighting, although not seemingly fully recovered.
A follow up flurry by Vazquez confirmed as such, as Aguilar had trouble fending off the house favorite. He dropped to a knee in efforts to clear his head and seemed OK to continue at the count of nine. The referee had other ideas, and in fact acted as if his mind was made up before the count began, waving off the contest without another punch being thrown.
The official time was 1:46 of the second round.
Vazquez improves to 29-3 (12KO), scoring his first knockout in more than two years. Aguilar heads back to Nicaragua, having dropped his second straight as he falls to 25-11-1 (18KO).
While the win doesn’t improve his standing any at lightweight, Vazquez is slowly but surely developing a reputation as a forced to be reckoned with in a division that seems ripe for a changing of the guard.
At the top is Juan Manuel Marquez, whose entire lineal title reign has come in house against other Golden Boy Promotions-promoted lightweights. His next fight will be a third showdown with Manny Pacquiao, which takes place at a catchweight of 144 lb, thus putting the lightweight championship on ice for all of 2011.
Coming behind Vazquez is hard-hitting Brandon Rios, whose reign began with an emphatic fury after stopping Miguel Acosta earlier this year. The rising star returns next month against Urbano Antillon in a bout that has can’t miss written all over it – in terms of action and landed punches, as neither fighter has much regard for defense.
The action part is where Vazquez needs to improve if he is to serve as more than just a titlist in a division always long on star power. An important step was taken on Saturday evening, even if in a non-title capacity.
UNDERCARD
Giovanni Segura continues his reign of terror over the lower weight fighters even after vacating his lineal junior flyweight crown. The latest knockout victim was Eddy Zuniga, who was outgunned from the opening bell, and dropped twice before being forced to wilt at 2:58 of the opening round. Segura (28-1-1, 24KO) has now racked up 10 straight knockouts since suffering the lone loss of his career three years ago.
The theme of strange stoppages carried over into the televised undercard. Chief among them was Jose Cabrera being declared a knockout winner over Omar Lina.
That the bout would’ve resulted in such an ending was entirely possible. However, the controversy in this bout is that it ended on a low blow, when Lina doubled over in pan, only for the referee to misinterpret as a body shot that forced him to wilt.
The official time was 2:58 of the sixth round.
Cabrera improves to 20-2-1 (8KO); Lina falls to 9-4-1 (5KO).
Power punching welterweight Daniel Sandoval opened up the televised portion of the show with an opening round stoppage of Isaac Garcia. Time was 2:39 of the opening round.
Sandoval (20-2, 20KO) didn’t have much time to showcase his full arsenal as the first major flurry he threw seemed to be enough to end the evening in the eyes of the official. According to Garcia’s announced record, he now falls to 14-2 (10KO).
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
