By Jake Donovan


Jhonny Gonzalez spent his 30th birthday in style with his 50th win as he stopped Rogers Mtagwa in the second round of their ESPN Deportes-televised main event Thursday evening at County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas.




UNDERCARD ACTION

El Paso’s favorite son Antonio Escalante keeps his career afloat after winning for the first time in more than a year with a 1st round knockout of second-generation fighter Pipino Cuevas, Jr.


Escalante entered the bout having suffered two humiliating knockout losses of his own, including landing on the wrong end of a highlight reel 3rd round blitzing at the hands of Daniel Ponce de Leon a year ago. A shocking 1st round knockout against Alejandro Perez earlier this year threatened to serve as the end of his days as even a fringe contender.


Determined to go out on his own terms, Escalante wasted no time in disposing of Cuevas Jr., whose only talent he inherited from his famous fighting father was the inability to see the scorecards. No knockdowns were scored, although Escalante hit the canvas after falling backwards on his own accord. Cuevas threw a punch as Escalante was stumbling, but referee Jon Schorle correctly ruled it a slip.


Soon thereafter, Escalante stood Cuevas up with a right hand high on Cuevas' head. The shot sent Cuevas back into a neutral corner. Escalante approached and unleashed a finishing flurry, including three right hands and two left hooks that left Cuevas out on his feet and forced Schorle to stop the fight.


The official time was 2:08 of the opening round.


Escalante improves to 24-4 (15KO) with the win, his first since last August. At the very least, there’s no place like home, as he now makes it 8-0 in his hometown of El Paso.


Cuevas fall to 14-8 (12KO) with the loss, his fourth straight. All eight losses have come by knockout.


Undefeated welterweight prospect Javier Molina endured the toughest test of his career, but the 21-year old came up aces with an eight-round decision over Louisiana journeyman John Revish.


Scores were 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56 in their ESPN Deportes-televised opener.


Molina improves to 9-0 (4KO) with the win, his fourth of 2011 and with more assignments ahead. A member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic boxing squad, Molina continues to tour with promotional stablemate and 2004 Olympic Gold medalist Andre Ward. The two next appear in Atlantic City, with Molina appearing on the undercard of Ward’s Super Six Finals championship bout against Carl Froch.


Revish has now lost four straight as he falls to 10-5-2 (8KO).


All-action featherweight Miguel “Mickey” Roman picked up his third straight win – all by knockout – with a first round knockout of Antonio Meza.


What appeared to be a typical feeling-out round resulted in a sudden ending that never made it beyond the opening stanza. The first punch of real consequence turned out to be the one that ended the bout, a left hook to the body from Roman that put Meza down for the count.


Roman and Meza exchanged jabs from afar and body shots in close for the first two minutes. Then Roman sent out a jab, followed with a left hook to Meza's head, then finished with a left hook that reached behind Meza's right elbow and thudded to the body.


Meza, visibly reeling, remained on his feet for a moment before kneeling down on his left knee. That's where he remained for the full count of 10 from referee Jon Schorle.


Roman improves to 36-8 with 28 knockouts. Meza falls to 25-11-1 (17).


Carlos Villa (3-0, 2KO) scored the show’s third opening round knockout with a one-minute blitzing of Javier Nunez (0-2) in a matchup of local junior welterweights. Official time was 1:09 of the opening round.


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.