By Jake Donovan
Dominguez quickly recovered and soon gained control of the bout for good. He mixed up his attack in the second, scoring repeatedly with head shots and right hands to the body. A right uppercut had Resendiz in trouble midway through the round, though the fleshy Mexican was quickly able to regroup.
That didn’t discourage Dominguez from forcing the issue, coming on later in the round and scoring a knockdown courtesy of a counter left hook right before the bell. Resendiz was on a knee while taking the count, but an abrupt cut to a commercial break with five seconds left in the round left viewers wondering if he rose to his feet and would fight on.
The mystery was solved when the block of commercials ended and round three began. Given the way the round played out, Resendiz might have been better off just staying on a knee for a full ten-count the round prior.
Worse than the fact that he no longer had anything to offer was that the round itself lacked any notable action. It was all Dominguez, though not exactly both guns blazing, as Resendiz merely fought in survival mode. Every punch was met with a clinch, with the journeyman spending the rest of the round fighting behind ear muff defense.
His body language alone indicated the end was near. It came without another punch being thrown. The bell signaled to begin the fourth round, with Dominguez on his feet ready to fight, but a conference in Resendiz’ corner, deciding their guy was finished for the night.
The official time was 0:05 of round four.
Dominguez advances to 31-5-2 (18KO) with the win; Resendiz falls to 22-24 (14KO).
While it marks the fifth straight for Dominguez, it’s hardly the most impressive among his recent streak. The fringe lightweight contender scored a pair of wins over Saul Carreon and then-unbeaten Jesus Gonzalez last year to inch closer towards alphabet mandatory status.
The win on Saturday served more as a placeholder than anything else, as well as a makeshift main event for a Fox Sports telecast that was to be originally headlined by a junior flyweight rematch between former champion Ulises “Archie” Solis and Bert Batawang.
No explanation was offered for why the bout was pulled.
TELEVISED UNDERCARD
With time to spare in the telecast, another all-Mexican lightweight bout made its way to the live broadcast.
Misael Castillo made the most of his unexpected airtime, but didn’t stick around for very long, making quick work of Luis Acevedo. The undefeated lightweight was in control throughout the brief affair, with the fight ending along the ropes, where Castillo had Acevedo trapped. Two right hands made their way home, followed by a left hook, leaving Acevedo defenseless and with referee Guadalupe Garcia no choice but to stop the fight.
The official time was 0:48 of round two.
Castillo now advances to 12-0 (11KO) with the win, this being the most significant of his young career. Acevedo dips to 18-9-1 (10KO).
Raul Hirales Jr. remains unbeaten, although doing so came with a scare in his strangely scored split decision over journeyman Tomas Sierra in their televised swing bout.
The six-round super bantamweight bout was fought at a high pace, but there seemed to be no question that Hirales – easily the crowd favorite, with chants of “Raul!” filling the arena throughout and after the fight – was the winner. The undefeated Mexican scored knockdowns in the fourth and fifth round, in addition to being a step ahead of Sierra for the most part.
Not so, said the ringside panel. Sierra was announced as a surprise winner by a margin of 58-57 on one scorecard, but scores of 57-55 and 58-54 in favor of Hirales ensured that the right guy won in the end.
Hirales improves to 9-0 (5KO) with the win in his first bout of 2010. Sierra, who fought for the 20th time in 14 months, dips to 9-18 (5KO), having now lost four of his last six.
The opening bout of the broadcast saw featherweight prospect Andres Romero escape with a fifth-round disqualification win over Genaro Camargo in their scheduled eight round bout.
It was an evenly fought bout for the most part, only to reach a sudden and surprise ending early in the fifth round. Camargo left his stool and immediately charged head-first into Romero, leaving him with a bad cut over his left eye. Time was called, and action never resumed, after the cut was deemed way too severe to continue.
Camargo celebrated as if he won the fight by stoppage, throwing his gloves into the crowd and performing a backflip in center ring.
His smile was reduced to a sinister grin once the official verdict was read, which was Romero announced as the winner by disqualification, at 0:05 into the fifth round.
Romero improves to 15-2 (8KO) in his first win since suffering the lone stoppage loss of his career, a sixth-round knockout at the hands of tough featherweight contender Miguel Roman.
Camargo falls to 29-9 (23KO), snapping a three-fight win streak.
The show was presented by Top Rank Inc. and Zanfer Boxing.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
