By Norm Frauenheim
FORT McDOWELL, Ariz. – A title was at stake in a fight scheduled for only eight rounds.
Turns out, Louis Rose only needed eight. Ten or 12 weren’t necessary.
Rose (13-3-1, 5 KOs), of Lynwood, Calif., retained a junior NABF version of the middleweight title Saturday, stopping Phoenix challenger Andrew Hernandez (9-2-1, 1 KO) at 2:02 of the round, 58 seconds short of a complete eight.
Hernandez, who was bloodied above his right eye in the fourth, had no defense for a succession of right hands in the final round. They landed, one after another, like a wave hitting a beach.
The last one from Rose put Hernandez down along the ropes. Hernandez got up, but looked helpless, prompting a timely stoppage from referee Wes Melton on a card jointly promoted by Roy Jones Jr. and Iron Boy of Phoenix.
The card lost some of its star power when former junior-flyweight champion Giovani Seguro was forced to withdraw. Promoter Robert Vargas of Iron Boy said his scheduled opponent, Nicaraguan Juan Palacios, told him that he was not ready to fight.
Best of the Undercard: Phoenix featherweight Carlos Castro (12-0, 6 KOs) landed a right hand early, sending a message that would land repeatedly in a decision as definitive as it was unanimous over Johnny Guillen of El Paso, Tex.
Guillen was considered the toughest test in Castro’s early career. He aced the test and nearly aced Guiillen in the process. Castro’s right dropped the once unbeaten Guillen late in the fifth. If there had been more than a few seconds left in the round, it might have been over.
But the tough Guillen (7-1-1, 3 KOs) survived, only to be handed his first defeat when the scorecards – 60-53 on all three — were announced after the sixth.
The Rest: San Antonio welterweight Benjamin Whitaker (10-1, 2 KOs) UD over John Ryan Grimaldo (9-7, 6 KOs) of
Fort Collins, Colo; Phoenix super-bantamweight Paul Romero (5-0-1, 1 KO) UD over Raymond Chacon (5-17) of Los Angeles; Phoenix featherweight Keenan Carbajal (7-3-1, 4 KOs) UD over Jose Silveira (15-16, 6 KOs) of Mexico; Phoenix super-flyweight Alexis Zazueta (6-0, 3 KO) UD over Sergio Lopez (2-3-1) of Las Ve
