Lopez retains title with wild 2nd round stoppage over Concepcion

San Juan, P.R.- The main event of the evening featured unbeaten Puerto Rican star Juan Manuel “JuanMa” López against Filipino promise Bernabe “The Real Deal” Concepción for Lopez’s WBO featherweight title. Both fighters wore pink and white showing their support for breast cancer research.

The fight got off to a fast start when JuanMa hurt Concepción with the first left hook he landed and dropped him later in the round only to be dropped himself close to the end of the round by a counter left hook. Both fighters looked ready to keep on fighting but the bell ended the action.

Lopez again dropped Concepción early in the second with a perfect straight left that appeared to really hurt Barnabé and again halfway through the round to finish the fight. Concepción appeared hurt but willing to continue when referee Luis Pabón waved it off at 2:37 of the second round.

Both fighters showcased their power but JuanMa was a little stronger and much more precise. As was the case with Sonsona, Concepción received a standing ovation even after loosing by stoppage as he had the crowd on the edge of their seats for as long as the bout lasted. JuanMa improves to 29-0 with 27 KO’s and sets himself up for the match against Rafael Márquez while Concepción drops to 30-3-1 with 17KO’s.

After the fight, López stated that he “wasn’t hurt” by the punch; only he opened his eyes to find himself in the canvas. With Bob Arum, Orlando Piñero (Lopez’s manager) and Fernando Beltrán (Rafael Marquez’s manager) in attendance for the press conference after the fight, talks of a future match-up between Lopez and Marquez were the main topic of discussion. Beltrán confirmed that on his fighter’s side the contract was already signed and only Lopez’s signature was missing.

López spoke about that fight extensively stating that it is the fight he has been wanting for two years now but has had to wait for the four fights between Márquez and Israel Vázquez to end before he got his chance. He added that before signing, some things must be ironed out but is confident the fight can be officially announced soon.

The televised portion of the show started with Nonito “Flash” Donaire of General Santos City in the Philippines defending his WBA Interim super flyweight title against Hernán “Tyson” Márquez of Sonora, México. Márquez started off with a lead right hookk from his southpaw stance and land two more punches to barely take an uneventful round. Donaire countered well and landed several straight lefts to take another slow round in the second and started to show off his defense making Márquez miss frequently. Márquez took the third round by being more aggressive and even pinning the “Flash” against the ropes who seemed tentative to let his hands go.

Nonito opened up in the fourth and smartly used his jab to make for an entertaining yet close round. Márqeuz appeared to be dealing well with Donaire’s upper body movement in the fifth until several hard shots followed by a short left hook dropped him halfway through the round; he hit the canvas again close to the end of the round but referee Roberto Ramírez didn’t rule it a knockdown. Donaire owned the sixth tagging his opponent from both stances throughout the entire stanza and took the seventh on precision and number of punches landed.

Márquez appeared to get a second air in the eight until a perfectly timed counter left uppercut from the champion dropped him. The challenger beat the count but on advice from his corner, the referee stopped it at 2:59. Nonito improves his record to 24-1 with 16KO’s and leaves the division to campaign at bantamweight while Márque drops to 27-2 with 20KO’s.

After the fight, donaire took a moment to speak with 15rounds.com and shared his thoughts on the fight. About his slow start, Donaire said he was looking to counter but since his opponent didn’t throw any jabs and was so short it made it hard for him. The Flash said it was also his first time fighting a southpaw and he wanted to get loose before he poured it on.

About his opponent’s power, Nonito said that although he had heavy hands, he was never hurt by Márquez and knew from the start he could finish his man before the limit. Still, he added that he had an injury on his left side and his legs were killing him, two factors that made him decide to finish the fight. He thanked the fans in attendance and expressed his desire to travel the island and get to know it better.

Jonathan “Polvo” Oquendo (18-2, 11KO’s) was up next against Eden Sonsona (21-5, 7KO’s) of Paranaque City, Philipines. The fight was for the NABO Super Bantamweight Title and set for 10 rounds. Both fighters landed in the first round but Oquendo, of Vega Alta, Puerto Rico may have had the edge with some powerful rights to the head and good body work on his southpaw opponent. The second was a close round with both fighters landing their respective straights as their clearer punches. Sonsona had a very good third round landing with both hands and backing up his opponent for the second half of the round.

Oquendo managed to make the fourth round close by being more aggressive but Sonsona gave as good as he got. An unintentional head butt at the beginning of the fifth opened a cut over Oquendo’s right eye and jump started the most entertaining round in which both fighters traded to the delight of the crowd. By now both fighters were visibly exhausted and hurt but went at it in the sixth again when Oquendo momentarily switched to southpaw to great effect and took the round. Referee José H. Rivera ruled it was a low blow that dropped Sonsona early but after that both fighters traded big shots in a round where the Puerto Rican seemed to edge his opponent in accuracy alone.

After another head butt to start of the eight, the referee took a point from Sonsona even though it didn’t seem intentional. Oquendo was then warned for hitting low twice and when the ref didn’t take a point from Oquendo, the boos from the crowd started filling the air. Finally, after what didn’t seem to be an intentional low blow, Oquendo was penalized a point and immediately afterwards dropped Sonsona with a straight right hand to the head. Another right hand dropped Sonsona in the ninth but this time the Filipino warrior didn’t have enough to beat the count. Official time of stoppage was 1:05 of the ninth round and both fighters were rewarded with standing ovations from the pumped up crowd.

Sonsona sees his record drop to 21-6 with 7 KO’s and has a long way to climb back after this defeat while Oquendo, now 19-2 with 12KO’s may have set himself up for a title challenge possibly against fellow countryman Wilfredo Vázquez Jr.

Cruiserweights Carlos Negrón of Villalba, Puerto Rico and Gustavo Enríquez of Ciudad Juarez, México fought next at a bout set for eight rounds. Former Olympian Negrón (9-0, 7KO’s) started using his jab and working the body from the first bell and dropped his opponent midway through the round with a right hand but couldn’t finish him right then and there. Enríquez (15-9, 12KO’s) started the second round aggressively but was quickly dissuaded and dropped from another right hand. The third fourth rounds were slower ones dominated by Negrón fighting from a distance and with the use of his jab while the Mexican chased. Scores were 40-35 on all three of the judge’s score cards.

Up next were lightweights Jose González, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico (11-0, 7KO’s) and Mathew Robinson of Bridgeport, Barbados (3-2, 1KO) in a bout set for four rounds. Both fighters appeared to start slowly but halfway through the round González caught Robinson with a counter right hand that appeared to hurt him. A few seconds later, a straight to the body put the man from Barbados down for the count. Official time was 1:49 of the first.

Action for Top Rank’s and PR Best Boxing’s “The Challenge” got underway when heavyweight Victor Bisbal, Salinas, Puerto Rico (17-1, 12KO’s) quickly disposed of overmatched David Whitton, Quebec, Canada (10-13-1, 6KO’s). The bigger more aggressive Bisbal ended the fight with a left to the body that dropped Whitton who couldn’t beat the count. Time of stoppage was 2:33 into the first.