Gilberto Gonzalez scored a 4th round stoppage over late replacement Hevinson Herrera in three wild rounds of their scheduled 10-round Super Lightweight bout at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.
In round two, Herrera hurt Gonzalez when he landed a barrage of punches on the ropes. Gonzalez came back later in the round to pummel Herrera with thudding shot after thudding shot that had Herrera hurt. Round three started out with Gonzalez being pushed down and appeared to injure his knee. Gonzalez limped around for a minute but that did not stop him from putting it on Herrera by landing a furious assault on the ropes and the bout was stopped at 1:49 of round three.
Gonzalez, 139.4 lbs of Mexico City, MEX is 26-3 with 21 knockouts. Herrera, 139 lbs of Barranquilla, COL is 17-11-1.
Gonzalez landed 51-123 punches while Herrera was 40-148.
“The ref shouldn’t have stopped it, plain and simple,” said Herrera. “I knew I had him hurt, and my biggest mistake was that I wore myself out trying to finish him because I knew I could end it.”
“He landed some good shots, and he’s a tough guy,” Gonzalez said following the fight. “In the end, I think the referee made the right choice. I was hitting him a lot, and the referee made a good choice. I’m glad I was able to put on a great show and come away with such a decisive win.”
Diego De La Hoya remained perfect by scoring a 4th round stoppage over Jose Eestrella in a scheduled 8-round Featherweight bout.
De La Hoya scored a knockdown in round four when a straight right hand knocked Estrella through the ropes. De La Hoya jumped on Estrella and landed a barrage of punches and the fight was stopped at 2:36.
De La Hoya, 123.3 lbs of Mexicali. MEX is now 11-0 with 7 knockouts. Estrella, 123.8 lbs of Tijuana, MEX is 14-7-1.
De La Hoya landed 113-310 punches. Estrella landed 55-194
“There is a lot of pressure on me with my family name and it really motivates my opponents to come out strong to try and beat me,” said De La Hoya. “My team and I worked hard and were well prepared and it feels great to win by knockout and live up to the De La Hoya name.”
Oscar Negrete remained undefeated by scoring an 8-round unnanimous decision over Ramiro Robles in a Featherweight bout.
Negrete, 120 lbs of Los Angeles, CA won by scores of 80-72 and 79-73 twice and is now 11-0. Robles, 123 lbs of Guanajuato, MEX is now 12-4-1.
Negrete landed 238-734 punches. Robles landed 196-800.
“His style didn’t surprise me,” said Negrete of Robles. “My team and I were well prepared but he (Robles) has a great chin. My team and I are working towards a world title so fights like these show I’m here to not only win but give the fans a great show.”
“He’s a strong fighter and he hurt me early on to the body, but I did feel a second wind as the fight went on and so I kept punching,” said Robles of his fight against Negrete.
