MEXICO CITY—Nery 'Pantera' Saguilan picked up his seventh straight win, scoring an emphatic 2nd round knockout of Wilfrido Buelvas in their headliner Saturday evening at Arena Coliseo in capital city.
The bout nearly ended as soon as it began, as Saguilan came flying out the gate with knockout on his mind. Buelvas absorbed some heavy blows early on, but somehow managed to survive a brutal opening round.
Such good fortunes were not afforded for the visiting journeyman in the following round. A left hook by Saguilan brought a violent end to the fight, prompting a stoppage at 2:09 of round two.
The night was a massive leap forward from Saguilan's last outing. The mask-sporting junior welterweight failed to make weight for his catchweight bout with Marcos Villasana Jr. in March, angering his opponent's camp and those who paid good money to see him in action.
Saturday's performance went a long way towards making amends, as Saguilan improves to 33-4-1 (12KOs). It appears as if he is done with the lightweight division, with the bout his second straight at (or at least targeted for) junior welterweight
The evening's co-feature saw Adrian Hernandez' aspirations of landing a showdown with World flyweight king Roman Gonzalez crash and burn in Mexico City. The former 108 lb. titlist suffered a shocking 8th round stoppage loss at the hands of Saul 'Baby' Juarez in their chief support bout.
The bout was made out of necessity as a stiff challenge for Hernandez, who needed to be tested if he is to be taken seriously as a flyweight contender. Juarez came out to a quick start, creating an uncomfortable scenario for the former two-time junior flyweight titlist.
Hernandez settled down in round three, turning an upset in the making into a competitive and entertaining scrap.
Confusion came at fight's end. The bout was stopped after what was believed to be an accidental clash of heads in round eight. Instead, the referee declared Hernandez was unfit to continue, sending the crowd into a frenzy as Juarez was awarded an 8th round stoppage victory in a major upset.
Juarez improves to 21-4 (12KOs) with the win, bouncing back from a points loss to Milan Melindo, who dropped a unanimous decision to 108 lb. titlist Javier Mendoza in a fight in which he should have been disqualified. While his previous conqueror fell well short, Juarez can move towards title aspirations of his own.
As for Hernandez, it's back to the drawing board though a legitimate question remains as to how much he has left. The fallen ex-champ falls to 30-4-1 (19KOs), suffering his second loss in the span of three fights. A bounceback win over Armando Torres last November came on the heels of a one-sided title reign-ending knockout loss to Naoya Inoue last April.
Both fights aired live on Televisa in Mexico.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
