By Manuel Perez: In a controversial ending, Jorge Solis (37-1-2, 27 KOs) stopped Monty Meza Clay (28-2, 19 KOs) in the 5th round in a IBF Featherweight Title Eliminator on Saturday night at the Auditorio Telmex de UG, Zapopan, in Jalisco, Mexico. Trailing four rounds to none and looking poor in the fight, Solis, 29, seemed to hurt Clay with a combination in the 5th round.

Clay retreated to the ropes and was ducking and dodging shots when suddenly the referee stepped in and halted the fight, even though Clay had been hit by nothing while on the ropes and was still moving his head and torso well to make Solis miss his shots.

Clay, 27, tried arguing his case with the referee but the stoppage stood. Clay seemed more than okay, and looked as if he was merely slightly stunned by the shot and was in position to make it out of the round at the time of the stoppage. It’s too bad, because Clay had dominated the fight up until this point and he deserved better.

Using his height advantage, the 5’8” Solis threw a lot of jabs at the 5’2” Clay in the opening round. However, Clay constantly pressured him, landing hard combinations to the head and body whenever he was able to trap Solis along the ropes. Solis looked afraid, and didn’t even try to land any hard shots in the round.

Clay followed Solis around the ring in rounds three and four, blasting him with hooks to the body and head. Solis, whose only loss of his career was an 8th round stoppage to Manny Pacquiao in April 2007, stuck to his jab in both rounds and seemed reluctant to try and throw any power shots.

His jabs, however, were no match for Clay’s power shots. Solis stayed on the move in both rounds, clicking his jab and missing the few right hands that he attempted in the rounds. He looked little better than a C-level fighter up to this point and not a fighter that should be fighting in an IBF eliminator match.

In the 5th round, Clay continued pressuring Solis, hitting him with lefts to the body and rights to the head. Solis landed little punches in the round up until the point where he seemed to hurt Clay with a combination a minute into the round.

Clay retreated to the ropes immediately, covering up well and ducking and blocking the wild punches from Solis. At this point, the referee jumped in and stopped the fight, even though Clay was taking no punishment and seemed more than okay on the ropes. All in all, it was a terrible stoppage, as Clay was fighting well at the time the fight was stopped and not getting hit with any of Solis’ wild shots.

In other action on the card, welterweight prospect Genaro Castaneda (6-1, 3 KOs) Stopped Michael Ledesma (0-1) in the 1st round of a scheduled four-round bout. Both fighters came throwing wild shots in the 1st, looking like amateurs as they missed badly. Castaneda landed a big left hook that sent Ledesma crashing to the canvas in the first minute of the round. Ledesma made it to his feed, badly hurt, and continued to try and fight on. Moments later, Castaneda landed a second big left hook that sent Ledesma to the canvas once more. This time, the referee stopped the fight.