By James Blears

Mexico's Edgar Sosa retained his WBC Light Flyweight belt for the ninth time, by almost cutting Panama's Carlos Melo in half with a scything left hook to the ribcage in the fifth, at the Arena in downtown Mexico City.

 

With only two KO victories to his credit, the pillow-fisted yet slick and quick Melo, simply didn't have the firepower to live with an all-action Sosa, who controled the fight throughout. As early as the second, Edgar was cracking in hurtful body shots and then switching upstairs to the head. A small smudge of a cut appeared at the side of Edgar's right eye towards the end of the fourth and in the fifth he upped gearsand tempo. The huge left to the body felled Melo, who only just struggled up to be overwhelmed by a barrarge trapping him on the ropes. The referee stepped in to wave off the slaughter at two minutes and forty seconds of the Fifth.

 

Nicaragua's Rene Gonzalez retained his WBC Youth Ligtweight crown with a sixth round technical draw against Mexico's Reyes Sanchez, following a ring war. Appreciating Reyes is sometimes a slow starter, Rene threw everything bar the kitchen sink at him in a torried first round. In round two, Rene wobbled Reyes with a right hook and then put him down hard with another. Reyes recovered well and by the third he was distancing himself well and using his longer reach to hammer in left right combinations to head and body.

 

Rene fought back with gusto and by the end of the fifth Reyes' nose was bleeding. Reyes was beginning to gain the upper hand, when a clash of heads prematurely and frustratingly ended a real crowd pleasing scrap...and then some.

 

Mexico's Daniel Estrada, who's nicknamed "El Tremendo" became an overnight star with a sensational eight round knockout of Carlos Velazquez from Nicaragua. Daniel who holds the Caribbean Lightweight title, rained down a tropical storm's worth of punches on to Carlos, who was badly wobbled in the first round by a left hook to the jaw. Daniel dropped Carlos with a short right hook to the face in the third, but the bell saved the tough Nicaraguan.

 

Daniel decked Carlos with a left hook in the fifth, and it was all over when Carlos walked into a short straight right at one minute twenty six seconds of the eighth.