By Miguel Maravilla
Boxing returned to the Pico Rivera Sports Arena in Pico Rivera, California Saturday night as local junior welterweight Angel Moreno (2-0, 1 KO) stopped Alvin Brown (0-6) in the main event. Moreno quickly dropped Brown with a left hook to the body. Brown was up and continued but Moreno’s constant attack, cornered and finished him at 1:54 of the first.
In the co-feature, featherweight Adan Ochoa (9-1, 5 KOs) from Compton, California won a unanimous decision over Mario Ayala (5-5-1, 2 KOs) of Sacramento went the distance. Ochoa had to work in going the distance with Ayala battles for six rounds. All three judges scored the bout 60-54.
Super featherweight Angel Flores (5-0, 3 KOs) scored a spectacular knockout over Jesus Arevalo (6-2). A straight right dropped Arevalo. He quickly got up but in the final seconds of the round, a huge left hook knocked Arevalo out cold at 2:59.
Welterweight Austin Guidon (1-0, 1 KO) of West Covina scored a first round stoppage over Victor Villarreal (0-1). Guidon landed a crunching body shot as Villarreal went down. Villarreal was up but could not continue as the referee stopped the fight at 1:54.
Joseph Garcia (1-0) of Los Angeles made his debut against Luis Montellano (0-5-2) of Tijuana in winning a hrs fought majority decision. Garcia and Montellano battled it out in going the distance four rounds. The tall and rangy Montellano made it difficult for the debutant. Judges scored the 40-36, 40-36, and 38-38.
Debuting lightweight Eric Mondrago (1-0, 1 KO) of Maywood made quick work of Obed Fernandez (0-8-1) with a 27 second first round knockout.
Super featherweight Pablo Melgar (2-0, 1 KO) of Los Angeles edged Hugo Aguilar (0-7) of Mexico City with a split decision. Melgar was deducted a point in the first for an intentional head butt. It was a back and forth scrap as Aguilar was rough giving Melgar all he can handle as Melgar had his hands full in squeaking by with the decision. Scores were 38-37 Aguilar, 38-37 Melgar, and 38-37 Melgar.
Wild Card’s Katsuma Akitsugi (2-0, 1 KO) of Japan stopped Mike Ortiz (0-1) in one round. Akitsugi rocked Ortiz backing him to the ropes and fired away as the referee, Pico Rivera’s own Daniel Sandoval stepped in to stop it at 2:30 of the first.
In the opening bout, junior welterweight Stephen McKenna (1-0, 1 KO) of Ireland made his debut with a first round stoppage over Trey Branch (0-3) of Bakersfield, California.
Boxing returns to the Pico Rivera Sports Arena on Saturday, June 8.