Former welterweight champion of the world Vernon Forrest was hoping to exorcise some past demons on Friday night. Forrest was fighting in the same venue where he suffered his first professional loss to Ricardo Mayorga back in January of 2001. He would exorcise those demons, but in controversial fashion.

    In the 10th round, Elco Garcia landed a straight right, and Forrest tried to counter with a lunging
left hook. Forrest swung the hook wildly, and slipped to the mat. Garcia retreated to his corner, thinking it was a knockdown. Immediately referee Pat Russell waved off the knockdown, saying it was a slip, which was correct. But, he failed to do what referees customarily do when a fighter's glove hits the mat, he never wiped off Forrest's gloves. Instead, Forrest sprung to his feet and went at Garcia, who was in the midst of walking to a neutral corner. Forrest immediately landed a flush left hook which floored Garcia, as Garcia tried to reach his feet the fight was waved off. Immediately boos reigned from the crowd, as most in the crowd were confused wondering what just happened. The oldest Boxing saying came to fruition for Garcia, "Protect yourself at all times." The knockout was a strong ending to an otherwise lackluster performance by Vernon Forrest.

    The first two rounds were a little slow. Forrest came alive late in the second landing a solid left-right combo followed by a overhand windmill right. Garcia tried to get something going in the third round, but even when he did land, Vernon was able to counter. Forrest did his best work, and landed his best shots as Garcia was backing up. The fourth round was one of Forrest's better rounds. He landed a solid left uppercut, which snapped Garcia's head back. He then backed Garcia up with a hard right uppercut to end the round. Forrest was winning nearly all the rounds, just not doing so in convincing fashion, and he allowed the gutsy Garcia to hang around.

    The action picked up in the fifth round. Garcia was tentative to come inside, and he got caught by a hard lunging left hand by Forrest which sent him into the ropes. Forrest then followed this up with a hard combo, which seemed to infuriate Garcia and even bring him alive a bit. Garcia then fired back a solid straight right hand, and then urged Forrest to mix it up. Forrest settled back down in the sixth, landing the occasional big shot. At the close of the round, Vernon landed a hard windmill right. The action really picked up in the eighth round. Early in the round, Forrest would stun Garcia with a left hook to the body, but Garcia hung in and came back with some of his own offense. Garcia came back with a strong overhand right, and later stopped Forrest in his tracks with a leaning overhand right.

    Forrest came out firing in the ninth round as he landed a good overhand right and left hook which backed Garcia into the ropes. Garcia fought his way off the ropes as a cut began to develop under his right eye. Garcia was able to land some solid shots this round, but ran into trouble when he got caught backpedaling. Then the vaunted 10th round came, a round which was going well for Garcia until the stoppage. Yes, it was a mistake by referee Pat Russell not to wipe off the gloves, but Garcia like any fighter must realize the cardinal rule in Boxing, "Protect yourself at all times". For Garcia, not protecting himself at all times cost him. Forrest scores a 10th round KO at 1:58. Forrest improves to 37-2, while Garcia of Durango, Colorado falls to 18-4.

    With his Father ringside, Hector Camacho Jr. survived two knockdowns to score a unanimous decision victory over Nelson Estupinan in an eight round welterweight bout. Estupinan caught Camacho off balance with an overhand right in the first round. The second knockdown came from a straight right hand from Estupinan in which Camacho's glove touched the canvas. Besides those two knockdowns, Camacho controlled the fight. Camacho was able to jab and land his straight right, and was successful in countering Estupinan anytime he came inside.
 
     Camacho closed the fight well in the final two rounds. In the seventh, Camacho landed a strong straight left that was set up by a jab that snapped Estupinan's head back. Camacho did good damage this round, mainly because he stepped up his punch output. In the final round, Camacho landed a hard uppercut early, which jarred Estupinan, and closed with a  smashing right cross. The fight then went to the cards with Camacho winning on every card by the score of
76-74. Camacho improves to 39-1-1, while Estupinan of Delicias, Mexico falls to 12-2.   

  
   The one knock on Enrique Ornelas in his young career has been his chin, but in his fight with
Ayodeji Fadeyi he didn't have to worry about it, because he hardly got hit. Ornelas destroyed Fadeyi over two short rounds. Ornelas used a powerful body attack in the opening round, and then came out more aggressive in the second. Fadeyi had no answer for Ornela's onslaught. Finally late in the second round, Ornelas cornered Fadeyi and unleashed combo after combo until referee Pat Russell jumped in to stop the fight. Ornelas wins by TKO at 2:37 of the second round. Ornelas of La Habra, California improves to 21-2 with 14KOs, while Fadeyi of Denver falls to 10-6-1.

    Undefeated Heavyweight prospect Chris Arreola survived his toughest test to date with a 5th round TKO over Dominic Jenkins. Arreola was trailing going into the fifth round, but was able to overcome the  tiring upset minded Jenkins. In the first two rounds Jenkins was able to beat Arreola to the punch. Jenkins got off good in the 2nd round landing some solid uppercuts and hooks. Midway into the round, Jenkins landed a hard three punch combo, which seemed to only
irritate Arreola who fired back with right hands of his own.

     Jenkins was able to landed the cleaner and more effective punches in the opening rounds. Jenkins continued to control the fight in the third round, again getting off quicker and flustering
Arreola. Jenkins started to tire in the fourth round, but was still able to land a lot of punches, to
Arreola's credit he took them, and kept coming forward. Jenkins kept getting off on Arreola as he was coming inside in the fifth round, but Arreola's pressure seemed to be taking effect on Jenkins. Midway into the round, Jenkins rocked Arreola with a hard uppercut, but again Arreola kept charging forward. At this point Jenkins looked exhausted, and Arreola jumped on Jenkins, cornering him. Once Arreola cornered him he just kept throwing punches relentlessly until referee Tony Krebs stopped the fight. There was some boos for the stoppage, but Jenkins was not responding and looked winded. Arreola narrowly dodges his first loss with a TKO at 2:38 of
the fifth round. For Arreola, one of the more talked  about heavyweights in Southern California, not the most sparkling performance, but a gutsy win. Arreola of Riverside, California improves to 13-0 with 11 KOs, while Jenkins of La Mesa, Texas falls to 6-4-1.

     In a four round junior welterweight bout, Lorenzo Reynolds shined as he defeated Mikel Williams by 3rd round TKO. Reynolds scored three knockdowns on his way to victory, and Williams failed to answer the bell for round four. All three of Reynolds's knockdowns resulted from body shots, as Reynolds used his lightning speed to run rings around Williams. Reynolds of Saginaw, Michigan improves to 9-0, while Williams of Monroe, Lousiana falls to 4-13-4.

    In a heavyweight mismatch, Rafael Butler knocked out Andrew Jackson in 29 seconds in the first round. Butler landed a hard overhand right to drop Jackson, and Jackson had no intention on trying to get up. Butler of Rochester, Minnesota improves to 15-1 with 11 KOs, while Jackson falls to 3-3.

    This wrapped up an exciting six fight card from the Pechanga Resort & Casino. The main event and co-feature were televised on Fox's "The Best Damn Sports Show Period". The card was promoted by Goossen-Tutor.
 

10-29-2005