Lightweight challenger Miguel Huerta (26-8-1, 18 KOs) used a vicious body attack to stop veteran fighter Daniel Alicea (30-7-2, 22 KOs) in the 3rd round on Friday night at the Cicero Stadium, in Cicero, Illinois. Huerta, ranked # 8 in the World Boxing Council lightweight division, was pounding away unmercifully at Alicea with left hooks to the body in the 3rd round of the fight, causing referee Genaro Rodriguez to stop the bout at 2:05 of the 3rd round. Alicea, 35, had been hurt earlier in the round with one of Huerta’s crushing left hooks the body, and had taken another dozen or so punches to the body at the time of the stoppage.
Huerta, 29, started off the bout well in the first round, mixing up his punches to the body and head. However, when he started landing left hooks to the body, it had a big effect on Alicea, as he appeared to wince with pain, trying to back away to keep Huerta from following up with additional shots. Huerta continued landing almost exclusively left hooks to the body for the remainder of the round, something that the crowd loved as they screamed each time Hueta would go downstairs with one of his hooks. In the 2nd round, however, Alicea caught Huerta with a number of right hands as he was coming forward, snapping Huerta’s head back.
It seemed as if Huerta, who was perhaps too intent on throwing his body shots, had forgot about his defense, and subsequently paid for it by absorbing a large number of powerful right hands from Alicea. Based on his clean punching, I gave the round to Alicea by a wide margin.
In the 3rd round, Alicea started off strongly, driving Huerta to the ropes with several big left hand shots. However, while on the ropes, Huerta unleashed two devastating left hooks to the body of Alicea, hurting him and causing him to back off. Huerta then followed after him, the crowd screaming at this point, and poured in an avalanche of left hooks to the body of Alicea, leading to the referee Genaro Rodriguez stopping the fight at 2:05 of the 3rd round.